The World of Market Research

 

A recent study reveals that while US food and drink prices soar, 64% of consumers are switching brands to cheaper alternatives indicating consumer trends are veering towards frugality. Industry leading tech and finance companies are initiating mass layoffs. With consumers and businesses growing increasingly cognizant of an impending recession, doubt as to the state of the US market looms large.

Entrepreneurs, investors, US businesses, foreign companies, non-profits, NGOs and INGOs can leverage the world of market research, by tapping into qualitative or quantitative insights to dispel these doubts.

Our Founder and CEO, Jenny Karubian demystifies the world of market research in Episode 2 of ‘FAQs with Jenny’. Watch the video or read on to explore how market research solves market uncertainty and more.

 

WHAT IS MARKET RESEARCH?

Leveraging brevity, Jenny defines market research as ‘the systematic analysis of key client questions with the aim of determining business strategy’.

These key client questions – which include questions relating to target audiences, consumer-centric product and service optimizations, and market analytics across local, regional and global markets – produce a range of valuable insights relevant to each business stage and aid in intuitive business strategy creation.

The classes of insights discovered by these key client questions can be categorized as follows:

  1. Industry insights
  2. Market insights
  3. Consumer insights

 

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

These are insights garnered from the perspective of industry players which seek to unravel how industries take shape, why, and what the future may hold for companies within the relevant industry and connected enterprises.

For instance, a kerfuffle in the US tech industry at the start of 2023 set off by reports of mass tech layoffs by industry leaders like Amazon, Google, Apple, and Microsoft, and concurrent reports of Microsoft’s US$ 10 billion investment in OpenAI – the artificial intelligence research laboratory responsible for the development of AI chatbot, ChatGPT, have ignited a blaze of speculation as to the future of the tech industry. Parallel reports of Google’s parent, Alphabet taking a US$ 102 billion hit in market value following the boom and bust February 6 launch of its new AI chatbot, Bard, which carried inaccurate information sparked a flurry of concerns about its competency, fanning the flames further.

Market research can help douse these speculations by surveying the US tech industry landscape to probe why tech companies are culling workers en masse, the prospective growth opportunities within the tech industry generated by AI-led development, and provide a high-level overview of the future of tech.

Who can benefit from industry insights? Investors whose interest in specific industries have peaked following headline-making industry news, risk-averse investors looking to diversify their portfolio in volatile stocks, companies looking to design business strategies based on industry best practices derived from competitive analyses, connected enterprises interested in branching out into connected markets, non-profits, NGOs and INGOs looking to glean insights into industry practices regarding key socio-political issues like climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement, the gender wage gap, LGTBQ rights, etc. can leverage customized market research processes to acquire synthesized findings on industry news.

 

MARKET INSIGHTS

These are macro-level insights generated based on an analysis of consumer responses. The requisite processes adopted to generate these insights involve a deep data dive to understand consumer-led market trends.

Market insights involve an exploration of consumer needs, behavior, motivations, and pain points which then leads to data extraction and synthesis aimed at illuminating the state of the market. These insights produce data relating to market segmentation, market trends, market potential, and market forecasts.

Who can benefit from market insights? Startups gathering market intelligence on their target audience and looking to understand the state of the market, companies considering launching into new markets, corporations looking to dominate markets with informed business strategies, non-profits, NGOs, and INGOs looking to develop policy frameworks and suggestions based on market trends can benefit from a range of market insights.

 

CONSUMER INSIGHTS

These are micro-level insights based on an analysis of consumer responses. These insights have the power to fuel business growth by informing key business decisions with everything from branding to pricing, diversification, product development, marketing and much more.

Who can benefit from consumer insights? Companies of all sizes and organization types – including startups, SMEs, large corporations or non-profits, NGOs, or INGOs – can leverage market research to unravel and analyze the intricate web of insights derived from their target audience.

These organizations can find answers to all key questions relating to everything from how consumers are responding to economic upswings and downturns, to what are industry-specific consumer trends, pain points, and purchasing habits, amidst a plethora of other consumer insights. Companies looking to launch new products, services or marketing campaigns can also conduct creative testing for product, service, or marketing campaign optimization.

 

WHY SHOULD I CONSIDER MARKET RESEARCH FOR MY BUSINESS?

While highlighting that there are a multitude of reasons why companies should invest in market research, Jenny narrows it down to the top 4 reasons: Know your audience, determine unmet needs, understand the competitive landscape and understand emotional drivers.

 

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

One of the most crucial requirements to business success is knowing your audience. Companies can leverage market research solutions to define their target audiences by – among other factors – age group, geographical location, income levels, classes of persons and gender. Once all these data sets are collated, a market research agency can identify consumer personas that capture the range of consumer types that fall within your company’s target audience.

These consumer personas will prove to be an asset in informing your business’ branding and marketing strategies as it sets out a blueprint so you can understand your target audience, attract consumers and boost engagement.

 

DETERMINE UNMET NEEDS

Market research has the potential to discover your target consumer’s unmet needs. By curating market research questions to identify your target consumer’s pain points along the consumer journey, you’ll have access to invaluable insights that fuel innovation, offer human-centered strategies for product or service optimization, and identify local, regional, and global market gaps.

 

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

The competitive landscape is riddled with questions for companies looking to launch into markets. Businesses looking to grow and promote a brand may be befuddled by burgeoning industry trends and overwhelmed by the amount of industry players.

However, with industry insights gleaned from competitive analyses, your business can identify your product or service’s key selling points and marketing potential, the ideal consumer-specific pricing strategy via a price point analysis, your business niche, competitor supply gaps and a whole host of other industry analytics that’ll help you navigate through the business terrain often plagued by spells of cold and harsh consumer climates.

 

EMOTIONAL DRIVERS

Sensory marketing, an emerging marketing trend that relies on stimulating consumer senses to trigger a nostalgic response has proven to be one of the strongest tools in every marketing team’s arsenal of persuasion.

In order to adopt this marketing strategy, businesses need to invest in consumer insights market research to unlock consumer data on which smells, sounds, sights, tastes, and sensations most often induce feelings of nostalgia among its target audiences.

Harvard’s Venkatesh Murthy credits the brain’s anatomy for the close link between smell and memory. This link, building on Big Think’s neuroscience of branding, can be harnessed to evoke a desired response or action from consumers.

For instance, if you’re a realtor looking to trigger a positive visceral reaction from prospective purchasers attending an open house, you might consider baking a fresh batch of cookies the morning of to make the house smell and feel more like home. This powerful link between olfactory senses and memories can be similarly leveraged by brands looking to appeal to consumers subliminally.

 

AT WHICH BUSINESS STAGE SHOULD I INVEST IN MARKET RESEARCH?

Jenny recognizes and explores 4 key stages at which businesses should invest in market research: Prelaunch, entering into new markets, waves of social change and key business decisions.

 

PRELAUNCH

Jenny highlights that clients often invest in market research at the prelaunch stage. Where entrepreneurs, startups or established businesses are uncertain as to whether their new product or service idea will generate the expected ROIs, market research can provide insights into the market viability of the new product or service by introducing it to respondents via a focus group, survey or ethnographic study.

Clients will then decide to pursue the product or service launch based on the in-depth market research findings.

 

ENTERING NEW MARKETS

This is especially relevant for foreign companies, NGOs or INGOs looking to expand their reach into regional or global markets. For instance, if you owned a business in Europe and wanted to launch your product offerings in the US market, you would need to understand your target US consumer across a range of social indicators – like age, income level, geographical location, likes, dislikes, needs, and pain points – in order to understand how to optimize your marketing strategy for your target US audience.

 

WAVES OF SOCIAL CHANGE

According to Jenny, key moments of social change like an economic recession or changes in consumer trends and the job market noted in the aftermath of the pandemic, require an in-depth exploration via market research processes.

Market research analytics has the potential to signal to investors and businesses which way the winds of hope blow and has the potential to illuminate the state of the market whenever there is a wave of social upheaval.

 

KEY BUSINESS DECISIONS

Lastly, Jenny shares that risk-averse businesses looking to maximize their ROIs on crucial business decisions relating to everything from rebranding initiatives to product packaging design changes and marketing strategy, often opt to delve into market research findings to understand the potential pitfalls of a bad business decision or alternatively the growth prospects of a good business decision.

Investors looking to diversify a portfolio also invest in market research before engaging in asset allocation.

 

IN CONCLUSION

The world of market research offers entrepreneurs, investors, US and foreign businesses, non-profits and NGOs, a multitude of consumer, market, and industry insights that have the potential to drive business growth at each stage of the business journey.

If you want to leverage market research and talk customized market research strategy, book a free consultation here.

 

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