Marketing Research 101: Helpful Tips to Keep in Mind

When done properly, a market research will give a business an advantage as it will help determine new products or services that can bring in more profit. A market research also helps evaluate whether companies are able to meet their client’s needs and preferences on existing products and services. Small business owners owe it to marketing research that they are able to identify any critical business issues that they need to immediately address, any additional product or service that they should start providing, any tweaking of package designs that they need to implement, or any modifying of service methods that they need to undergo to better serve their clientele base.

Why Conduct a Market Research

An excellent market research will show your business who your customers are, where to find them, and when or how they will most likely buy your products or avail of your services. The results of your market research will serve as your foundation in creating an effective business marketing plan or an efficient gauge to evaluate the success of your existing plan. When done poorly, a marketing research can spell the downfall of your entire business.

Primary versus Secondary Research

A primary market research aims to gather information by way of analyzing the efficiency of the current business practices and the current financial status of the company. It is also aimed at getting to know about the competition and how they work as opposed to your business processes. Here, research can be done through surveys, interviews, questionnaires, etc.

The secondary research, on the other hand, is carried out to evaluate data that has already been published. The results of the secondary research can be used to determine your targeted demographics, recognize competitors, outline your business benchmarks, etc.—all of which are aimed at

Research Tips to Keep in Mind

While conducting secondary research can be very useful, relying solely on its results may put your business at a disadvantage. Do not miss out on other relevant factors that are relevant to business growth; make sure to do your primary research as well.

Do not limit your sources to those that you can find online. Using the common search engines for your market research will limit your information to those available to the general audience and may not be accurate for your business. For an in-depth research in your targeted customer line, you should use more specific resources such as your local small business center, the local library, etc.

Talk to real customers. Ask them what they need and what they expect from your products and services. Small business owners have the tendency to survey only the people they know—family, friends, colleagues—who aren’t necessarily the best subjects to interview.

StateAndFederalBids is your one-stop shop solution for all your market intelligence needs to learn and grow in the government contracting business.