subject: Utilizing Marketing Research To Help Brand Your Business [print this page] Marketing research is a vital component if your aim is to brand your business, particularly online. With the barriers to entry nearly eliminated as far as new businesses launching, it is more important than ever before to make sure that there is a solid, well thought out plan of action going forward. This means that necessarily there will have to market research in place prior to any major marketing initiatives taking place. Let's look at some of the things you'll want to bear in mind as you ramp up your marketing research.
Whether you chose to do this work in-house with staff, outsource it to a third-party marketing company, or do it yourself, there are some basic things you'll want this to accomplish. You need to make sure that the information you gather covers not only the current business climate for your particular market, but also your competitors, overall economic conditions at the time of compiling, demographics, brands, trends, market saturation and possible opportunities. That is a short list; there are many more, and you should be able to come up with a few specific ones that apply to your business.
Some of the specific types of market research that are common and could be useful to any business can include:
- Ad Research -- This involves looking into performance of ads already in the market, and their effectiveness and ultimate profitability.
- Brand Research -- Which brands are favored, and how much and why not? How do consumers view the brands?
- Eye Tracking -- What are the items that customers gravitate toward? What catches their eye? What colors, types of ads, language and customer behavior (on a website, as observed by click behavior) are leading them to a sale or an exit?
- Trend Research -- Looks at the "cool" factor, what's hot and what's not, cultural shifts and current fashions in popular culture, including music, movies and technology.
- Copy Testing -- What impact does the ad or sales copy have on its intended consumer? Does it gold their attention, direct their steps and have an emotional payoff?
- Web Buzz Research -- Collects and analyzes what people are saying about the products or companies in chat rooms, forums, blogs and social networking sites.
- Customer Satisfaction Research -- Gauging the overall satisfaction of a purchase or service.
- Demand Research -- Determines the demand for a particular
- Marketing Effectiveness Research -- Compares the results of different and specific marketing techniques.
- Price Testing -- Looking at various pricing models to determine what the market will bear.
- Viral Marketing Research -- Looks into the viability of social media marketing and social networking campaigns, and marketability of each.
There are far more ways to implement and use marketing research in your business, but the key here is to use the information you acquire to help make sound, informed decisions.
by: Mike McCoy
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