When a consumer comes across an ad for something they need at the moment, this is most likely not by chance. It is the company that sells the product that used a variety of marketing strategies to get the offer to the right person. They selected a target audience, created a quality campaign, and used the online world and social media to get the message to the right people.
If you are equipped with the right information about your target market, you can leverage that information to make your business grow and reach an immense number of customers. The online world offers businesses an opportunity like no other marketing platform.
In this article, we’ll break down the basics of performing research for online marketing, and tell you how you can benefit from the right strategies.
What is market research?
Market research includes every action you take to gather data about your target audience, their behaviors, their social usage, etc. This is a vital part of a business strategy, and it can yield tremendous results when it comes to digital and social media marketing.
Let’s say that you decided to promote your products and brand on social media. Social media is one of the best places to advertise your business due to the big number of people using it. But, where do you promote your brand? What platforms are your target buyers using? More importantly, who do you target in your ad campaign on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter?
Businesses should also have a website where customers can get important information, communicate, as well as make purchases. The first step is to Set up a website, and you can find out more about how to do it here. But, when you have the website, how do you get it to the customers? How do you make sure that they’ll find it?
You can’t expect people to go online and start searching for your brand. Some will do this if they are familiar with it, but your reach can be immensely wider if you target your strategies to get to your customers first.
There are many types of market research that you should conduct to gather useful information. These include the following:
- Marketing campaign effectiveness. Perform research to see how many people have clicked on your ads, visited your site, commented on your social media, followed your accounts, etc.
- Brand research. This is focused on how many loyal customers you have, what’s the level of brand awareness among your buyers, etc.
- Consumer research and segmentation. Market research that is focused specifically on understanding your customers, what they want, when and where they want it, etc.
- Competition research. This form is focused on the competition and helps businesses gain insight on how to pull ahead. It yields information such as proper pricing, marketing strategies, and other important data points.
- Usability testing. This is focused on the product i.e. how your customers use it and what you need to improve, eliminate, and add to your services.
Want to learn how to conduct research easily? Find out more here!
Good marketing strategies rely greatly on research. This is a work in progress, which means that you should never stop researching for marketing purposes if you want your strategies to succeed.
It surely sounds exhausting and challenging, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Nowadays, thanks to technology, companies can conduct research through various means. If you want to gather data with minimal effort and in the fastest time possible, you can use tools like Attest to customize, send out, and get reports on surveys. You can find out more here and use the company to make this a thousand times easier for your business.
Nowadays, there are different ways to collect data. Primary research in the form of interviews and surveys is the most commonly used option. By using tools like Attest, you can customize many surveys and forms and send them out to your target audience. The data you’ll get from this tool is evaluated and turned into a report, ready to tailor your marketing strategies online.
The advantages of research for your digital and social media marketing
If done right, research can deliver amazing benefits to your online marketing strategy. Let’s take a look at some of the most impactful ways that research can empower your digital and social media marketing.
1. Understand your customer base
When it comes to online marketing, everything revolves around your customer. Who they are, what they need, where they hang, and when they go online – all of this is vital if you want to get your message to the right people.
Learning more about your customers will help you make your entire business more customer-centric, which is said to boost your profitability by 60%. Companies that use customer data in their online marketing are able to reach a wider audience, get the product to the right people, and make more sales.
Research is how you come to understand what your target audience needs. It helps you determine who your buyer persona is in the first place, along with many important aspects concerning your buyers.
The data you collect can help you segment your market and target different segments with different product and services. In other words, you can split your audience into possible segments and get the product they need to them without pushing things they do not need at them.
Generally speaking, research for your social marketing and digital marketing should help you answer the following questions:
- Who will need/ want what you are offering?
- What’s the income level, age range, marital status, and location of your customers?
- What social platforms are your customers using?
- What do they search in engines to find the products you are offering (keyword research)?
- What influences their purchase decision?
- What’s their preference for types of content – text, video, etc?
- How do they prefer to purchase things online?
- Who are the influencers they follow (for influencer marketing)?
Understanding what your customers want and do online is vital to your marketing strategy. This is the only way to target your strategy to the right people and get your message in the right places.
2. Spot business opportunities fast
After you’ve done your research, you’ll know not only who to reach out to and where to find them, but also how to reach them. The information you find online regarding their searches, behaviors, as well as your competition can point out some great business opportunities. The sooner you find these, the more chances you have of succeeding in the market.
Essentially, this will show you how to create more profitable product upgrades, find new places to market your business and products, and form partnerships with influencers and other businesses.
Let’s say that you learned that your audience is very frequent on Twitter. That means it is time for you to form a good Twitter strategy. Or, you found a person that is trending among your target audience now. That’s your new influencer to wow and join forces with.
3. Find ways to expand your offerings
Research may also help you discover products that are in demand, under-serviced markets, or places where your customers go to find the things you are offering. You can also come across new opportunities for your business such as new platforms they use, new sites they frequently visit (to place ads on them), etc.
It will also help you widen your audience scope when your business gets to a new level or comes up with a new product or service. This is why it is important to perform research regularly, not just at the beginning of your marketing journey.
4. Invest in the right places
There’s no point in paying for ads all across the Web or spending a fortune on digital marketing that you don’t need. When you understand the target audience better, you’ll know where to reach them and what to invest in.
This way, you can organize your marketing budget and aim it in the right direction. You can spend more money on social media platforms that your target buyers frequent, in ads published on the right sites, in content that uses the right keywords, etc.
Essentially, proper research will help you save both money and time. It identifies your growth opportunities, tells you where your unreached segments are, and helps you spread your marketing budget where it will be most effective.
It takes time, but it is totally worth it!
Market research, especially good research, takes time, effort, and money. This should be done regularly and at different stages of your business if you want it to give you a positive return. The reality is that research is the core of a good marketing strategy, especially in the online world.
Due to the big competition, it’s no longer enough just to be present on different social channels to attract your audience. You need a smart marketing plan driven by accurate data. Hopefully, this article helped you realize the importance of research and gave you some tips on how to do it well.
Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.
