Market research and advertising go hand-in-hand. Really, they do. Market research is often a foundational piece of strategy for an organization. It helps align who to market to? What messages to market? Also, where or what channels to market through? The simple who, what, and where answers are worth their weight in gold in market research.
If you're asking yourself what type of client could use market research, our answer would be anyone. However, there are a handful of types of clients, profiles if you will, that are the best fits for market research and Voice of Customer (VoC).
If you have a client who fits one of these 4 buckets, you have an account that is ripe for market research. Here are 4 ways market research can help improve your advertising from our market research company in Syracuse.
In every single business meeting, there are questions being asked that can be answered by market research or data. Market research offers answers to your most challenging business questions.
1: The "I don't know who my customers are" client.
This is a dangerous place to be in but also a common one for some clients. Some feel they know their customers but often times it's an incorrect assumption. Market research can help an advertising agency segment and profile customers. Through a simple customer survey you can collect key demographics and tie this to any database or CRM data you collect. This allows the market research to segment high-value customers from low-value customers.
The benefit of chunking customers by spend is it allows an advertising firm to get very tactical with outreach. The ad agency can hone in on those customers that drive revenue and sales rather than the customer base in total. The benefit of digital over traditional is it allows us to get personal and tactical with our marketing strategies. Segmentation will open the door to allow you to do that.
2: The "I don't know how to grow our business" client.
This is often the largest barrier for small businesses. They know their customers, they know what they're doing is working, yet the growth of the business has slowed or is stagnant. Market research can provide you with answers. This is tackled through a non-customer survey with a market research company.
The focus of this study is on growing a business and attracting non-customers. Surveys can ask non-customers if they are aware of your client's company, what their perception is, what factor(s) matter most to them when making a choice, etc. This feedback is absolutely crucial to help an advertising agency pick which messaging and hooks will work best to attract new customers.
3: The "I am not sure how to differentiate our business" client.
This is another common question being asked by businesses. Knowing exactly what separates a company apart from the competition is vital to the success of an advertising campaign.
The difference is market research can collect these differentiators from those who matter most: your customers. What you think is a differentiator may not be what your customers report as your differentiator. Market research can confirm your gut feeling or surprise you with new insights (or both).
This can be tackled through a simple Covey matrix. First you ask importance of several factors of your business (responsiveness, value, customer service, shipping time, etc.) on a 1 to 5 scale of importance or as a multiple choice (percents). Then you ask those same factors in terms of how satisfied your customers are. After plotting the scores, the top right quadrant is the factors that are most important and the factors they are most satisfied with. These become your core marketing messages.
Overall customer service was "the" key differentiator for this client.
4: The "I don't know where to start" client.
Market research should be the foundation of any marketing strategy or advertising campaign. It forces an advertising agency and client to take a step back and view the marketing approach from a 30,000 foot level. It forces everyone to take a more strategic view of the direction. We always recommend starting with market research to help a company understand who to market to, what messages to use, and what platforms to use to advertise.
Market research, user experience (UX), and websites are great starting points.
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Drive Research is a market research company in Syracuse. Our team works with clients across the country to assist with getting answers and data to help fuel marketing and advertising.
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