Your growing business needs market research just as much as any large corporation. Market research gives you insight into your customers, your competitors’ customers, strengths and weaknesses of other products in your category, and new opportunities for growth.
Market research delivers the insights you need to make smart decisions faster, moving your vision forward with more clarity and confidence. Whether you’re launching a new product, learning that your product shouldn’t launch at all, or tweaking your go-to-market strategy before meeting with retail buyers, market research benefits small businesses and brands in lots of ways. We’ve compiled a list of the top reasons why market research is a worthy investment.
Consumers are always changing and adapting their interests, and entrepreneurs can use research to find new consumer needs, test product/service ideas, and identify business categories ripe for innovation. Research provides the supporting evidence you need for your business case, helping you tell the story with investors or retail buyers.
Most products connect with more than one demographic and often for different reasons. In many cases, the first target may be obvious, but in order to maximize growth potential, it’s important to identify and understand all potential targets for your products and/or services. Most importantly, it’s critical to understand why they have a great chance to connect with your brand.
These new targets may benefit from your product or may be using it differently from other consumers on your radar. Regardless, having multiple groups of potential new customers is a major advantage to any business when looking for ways to grow the business.
Backing up decisions with research is essential to the success of nearly any business. Without research, companies are essentially making blind decisions (a nice term for “guessing”). Market research gives buyers, investors and bankers the confidence to know that decisions are based on data, not gut instincts.
Entrepreneurs can test ideas or products to see how the market will respond. This testing allows small businesses to see if their product/service is viable, how consumers might respond to it, and if any changes need to be made. This is a crucial step before spending big money to launch a new product. Make sure there is space in the market for your product/idea!
Knowing what your competition is up to is crucial for staying ahead in the game. Market research helps small businesses to keep an eye on the competitions’ offerings, audience, and marketing spend (share-of-voice). If your sales are slipping, it helps to know that your competitor has ramped up their marketing budgets, giving you the chance to adjust your strategy to minimize damage.
You can gain insight into what’s working for them, as well as show where they might be vulnerable. Their vulnerabilities are your opportunities! By monitoring your brand and your competition, your business can learn how to differentiate from the pack.
Persuadable Research recently worked with a client who was looking to understand attitudes and perceptions in their product category. Here’s what their CEO had to say:
The research generated powerful insights that led us to make some critical changes to how we market the brand and communicate product benefits. In less than a year, we’re already seeing sales velocity increases!
Jason Pellegrini, CEO
Quantum Health
Growing businesses often have the impression that market research is not a viable option for them: large companies often have their own research departments, and customized research studies feel like an expensive luxury. The truth is, market research is one of the most important tools for the success of your brand. Why guess when you can know?!
Don’t be intimidated by the big guys’ marketing departments. Persuadable Research can help your small business with affordable, custom research. Learn more about the benefits we can offer your business today!