Wikipedia gives an interesting definition of the term market research: “Market research is the systematic collection, storage and analysis of data or information relating to problems related to the marketing of goods and / or services “. You will easily deduce its importance for any custom animation video business! Market research is not an activity that can be improvised. To do it best, it is necessary to rely on qualified professionals able to “let the data speak” and exploit it for the benefit of your business, regardless of the market niche in which you operate.
When should you do market research?
Surely if you are about to open a start-up and enter a niche for the first time. In this case, a correct market analysis will allow you to seize the right opportunities and minimize the risk factors. You will need analysis and research even if you are already in the market but want to launch a new product or service. The activity will allow you to learn more about your target, their needs and competitors who already offer something similar. Even if you have a rebranding in mind or want to launch a new advertising campaign, good market research will help you position yourself better and get the best ROI – return on investment. In short, marketing is not improvised, it is much better to make strategic choices guided by data. And the data is provided by market analysis and research. This is why it is so important to do them.
Of course, you can rely on an experienced professional in this sector, also to have useful material for:
- Determine the price of your product or service relative to your market positioning
- Draft or update your company’s business plan
- Analyze historical competition or emerging competitors
- Evaluating customer satisfaction, an aspect of vital importance for every company today.
It goes without saying that good market research can positively affect all your communication activities, so it is always important – periodically – to commission one, in order to correct the game on how your company communicates to all stakeholders.
How to do market research in 6 steps
Summarizing and expanding what was said in the previous paragraph, market research allows you (also) the following activities:
- Search for new trends
- Data-driven strategic choices
- Identification of new needs of the target
- Identification of new competitors
- Conquest of new market segments or new markets (including foreign ones)
By crossing marketing with economics, the competent professional is able to carry out research and market analysis for your company or business.
Here’s how, in 6 steps:
Define the goal of the search (what kind of data do you want to collect and what will you need?)
Analyze the target market from the point of view of the target audience, the geographical context and the demographic context in which you want to position yourself
Identify the target on which to search
Identify the communication channels through which to reach the target
Prepare the survey through which you will collect the data of your research. You can develop a questionnaire, or interviews. If you opt for the first choice, the user will answer the questions independently, including through an online survey software platform. For the interviews, on the other hand, hire a professional who can conduct them with a predetermined target, record them and transcribe them to extrapolate the data
Analyze the data you have obtained and use it for the purpose you identified in point 1 and to make your data-driven choices.
Online market research: 4 tools that can help you
Do you want to analyze the trends of the online market? You can rely on these tools, assisted by your freelance marketing expert. In fact, if you intend to open e-commerce or to dedicate yourself to selling products and services online, it is necessary that you first carry out research and a market analysis. You can rely on one (or more than one) of these tools:
- Google Trends – for free, you can know the most popular words or topics on the net in a given period of time and also those of the next “trend”
- Google ADS (Keyword Planner) – check if your idea interests by analyzing the keywords that revolve around it with this excellent tool
- Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, and SurveySparrow are software for managing online surveys. Use them to understand how your new product or service could be received (very useful if you already have a customer mailing list and want to expand your commercial offer).
- Facebook Insights, SimilarWeb, Website Grader are some of the useful tools for benchmarking or to analyze the competition.
Get to work today and find a marketing expert who can help you conduct market research to give your business a (real) edge.
