Successful entrepreneurs use market research  to track trends, make better business decisions, and maintain their competitive edge. Whether you are starting your business or looking to expand, these studies are vital to understanding your target markets and increasing your sales.

Here are some areas where market research can help you build a stronger business.

1. Enhance your brand image

 How does our brand compare to those of our competitors? ”

You can use market research to improve your branding image by exploring the following topics:

Knowledge of your brand – How well do customers know it ?

Comparisons to Your Competitors – How do customers see your business compared to your competition?

Brand studies are usually conducted through interviews with customers or by holding focus groups. This allows you to explore different topics in depth and get feedback from participants.

2. Better understand your customers

Entrepreneurs sometimes need more specific information about the size of their market, their target customers, and the best ways to reach them.  Here is some information we wanted to get from potential consumers of this new product.

We designed an online questionnaire that was submitted to 1,000 consumers across Canada. This type of consumer study helps us identify the profile of the target audience, in order to position the brand strategically. By focusing your efforts on the right target market, you’ll get results faster, increase your efficiency, and your marketing campaigns will perform better overall.

3. Evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing

Many entrepreneurs want to promote their business better and generate more sales. Market research can help you by providing you with information on the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. We may create studies to obtain customer feedback on the format of your marketing messages. We can also measure the visibility of certain marketing campaigns and activities and the reactions they elicit from your customers.

Using this kind of data can really help maximize the impact of your marketing budget , allowing you to design marketing strategies that reach and engage your audience.

4. Find new opportunities

Market research can help you identify new opportunities for your business. They can help you identify geographic regions that are suitable for growth and / or determine whether the market is ready to accommodate your products or services.

Or, you are considering changing your distribution channel and need to assess the impact of this decision on your customers.

General sectoral data such as the number of companies and their geographical distribution

Obtaining this type of data is a necessary first step to evaluate a new market and thus determine the business strategy and the activities to be favored.

5. Obtain a better understanding of the characteristics of your product.

If you are developing a new product or looking to improve an existing product, you need to know whether you have selected the correct features and packaging.

When we do a study on a new product, we collect customer feedback on a particular concept and / or prototype. We also compile data on consumers’ reaction to the product and its features: presentation, design, ease of use, colors, packaging, etc.

We may also seek to determine how consumers might purchase this product, in order to design an appropriate distribution plan. We can also survey them on their reactions to marketing messages, creative content and promotional ideas planned for the product launch.

We normally start with qualitative research (interviews or focus groups), as this dialogue-driven formula allows us to garner very useful and more detailed feedback from consumers. Whenever possible, we provide them with a prototype or sample of the product, so that they can see it up close and use it.

We then validate the information from our research by conducting an in-depth survey of a similar, but larger audience (for example, over 100 consumers). We thus obtain relevant data to make informed decisions on improvements to the concept and / or design of the product.

Let us know what  you think

Have you  used market research in the past? Did they help you make business decisions? Let us know your comments below.