Conducting a market study is much easier than it looks. It doesn’t matter if you have a big company or if all you have is a business idea in your head, anyone can do it. But, how will you do a market research and get the effective results, as there are several market research methods available for each purpose? Now, the time has come to get to work and start researching the market. You just need to follow these very easy steps.
Define your research objectives
To begin, it is necessary to ask yourself what are the objectives of your research. Having your research objective very clear will help you to better plan your questions or criteria on which data collection will be based. Market research can be carried out for very different purposes. The most common objectives are – help the development of a company or business, satisfy customers’ needs with an ideal product or service, and determine the degree of success or failure that a business idea can have.
Define the target audience of the market study
Yes, it is mandatory. To help in this task, it is essential to create your buyer persona, who is the representation of the ideal customer and who will most likely purchase your products/services. This more detailed understanding will help in the construction of more assertive questions and the data collected will be more useful. If you want more general research, doing research with the target audience in mind is the best choice.
Decide the method
Now that you know the purpose of your research, it is time to decide which method you will use to collect the data. Will it be online polls, observation, or interviews? There are many alternatives available that allow you to obtain data from your customers or potential customers directly. Remember, it is also important to select a field sample.
Collect the data
Once you are very clear about the method you are going to use and the number of people you will be using as a sample, it is time to collect the data. For that, you need to design your instrument. If you selected the interview or poll as a method of data collection, you need to prepare a questionnaire. Market research is a technique that will let you know everything that nobody ever wants to confess, such as that your product is a little expensive, that your business idea doesn’t interest anyone and even that your product needs improvements.
Study the competitors
After all, if they are successful and are present in the market, it means that they did something right. And there is nothing wrong with finding out what it is and trying to always do better. Some tools that will help you find potential competitors are –
SEM-Rush: It is a tool well indicated by marketers, has complete resources to analyze and monitor competitors,
Google Keyword Planner: It can also be used to study your competitors. Just enter competitor’s URL and you will have access to data,
Collect data from other sources
Cross-platform data is crucial to understand whether the business is moving against the flow. Therefore, you can analyze research from other reliable sources and collect other data to complete your research. The important thing is that all the people involved in the research commit themselves to collaborate throughout the research.
The participants must willingly answer the questionnaires and should be all sincere. And many have the following question – where to start the research, especially if you don’t have an audience built? Start with people close to you, such as friends and acquaintances. The search can be simple, like a question on WhatsApp and thus follow the conversation.