It’s tedious, can be time consuming and a little intimidating if you don’t know where to start. It can make you feel overwhelmed, might disappoint you and can frustrate the heck out of you. It can make you feel like a twelve year old staring at his first algebra assignment. For these reasons most small business owners I talk to avoid this imperative first step in their marketing strategy. What is it? Research!
The information gained through marketing research is information that can guide your most important strategic business decisions. Market research is effective when the findings or conclusions you reach have a value that exceeds the cost of the research itself.
There are five broad categories of market research:
- Market Segmentation
- Purchasing Power and Buying Habits
- Psychological Aspects of the Market
- Marketplace Competition
- Environmental Factors
What are the benefits of market research?
1) Will help you better communicate.
Learn about your potential clients — who they are and what they want the most. Nothing improves communication skills better than a little person to person contact.
2) Will help identify opportunities.
Check the competition. Are they missing something you can capitalize on? What can you do better than they can? Are you clients in need of something nobody else is offering?
3) Will minimize risk.
Just like any situation, if you come prepared you will be less likely to loose and more likely to win.
4) Will create benchmarks to help you measure progress.
How well are you doing? By setting the standard high from the start, you will be in a better position for sustained growth.
With the power of the Internet it is now very easy to conduct market research using one of the many online survey software sites that make conducting surveys and collating good market research intelligence quick, easy and extremely cost effective. I use Constant Contact or Zoomerang
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