Why is marketing research essential for any company wishing to succeed in the marketplace?
Shaping a positive brand image and building brand awareness is a must in today’s market, which is saturated with products of all kinds. There is strong competition in almost every industry. The increasing availability of goods associated with technological developments, shorter distances, a fast pace of life and lower prices is resulting in increasingly low customer loyalty. High consumer awareness poses further challenges for manufacturers/service providers. A strong brand in this situation is a factor that can tip the balance in favour and is the easiest to base a sales strategy on today. Customers are more likely to choose products from brands they know well and trust.
How will marketing research help you reach your customers better?
Marketing research addresses the subjective behaviour and preferences of your customers. Thus, by gaining a thorough understanding of your target group, it allows you to better respond to their needs and expectations. Marketing research is complementary to market research, which involves the acquisition of hard data. Areas included in marketing research include
- analysing the effectiveness of promotional activities – allows you to assess how your marketing activities, such as advertising campaigns in the media, affect sales or brand awareness;
- customer segmentation research – allows you to identify common characteristics of consumers buying your products;
- customer service research.
In addition to the above, it is very important to find out customers’ attitudes towards your brand. And in this respect, you need to investigate your brand awareness and image.
To find out the extent to which your brand is known among your target customers, you need to conduct the following research:
- spontaneous awareness – the survey participant is asked to indicate all the brands he/she associates with the product/service. The respondent is not shown any brand names to choose from;
- assisted awareness – respondents are presented with a list of brands and asked to select all those they are familiar with. To verify brand awareness in a particular segment, brands that are not related to your product in any way can be included in the cafeteria;
- TOM (Top of Mind) awareness – this indicator refers to the frequency with which certain brands are indicated as first in line.
Finding out what customers think about your brand is another important step to building market position. In such a survey, you can ask customers to both score or rank your brand on particular aspects, or ask open-ended questions to which the customer will provide a broader answer.
When you conduct a marketing survey early enough, you will be able to respond to customer expectations in a timely manner. And by doing so, you will not be afraid of the actions of your competitors and a decline in your sales performance.
How do we carry out marketing research?
Marketing research is carried out using modern quantitative and qualitative methods.
Quantitative techniques are different types of surveys. In this case, the client’s objective is to obtain meaningful results that are representative of the entire population of the target group. Thus, before starting the survey, we define a sample that is a true representation of the specified population. In doing so, we take into account variables such as gender, age, place of residence (size of town, province, etc.), level of education, income (of the individual and/or of the household), number of people in the household. When we obtain data from enterprises in the sample, we categorise, for example, the size of the entity, employment, location, the industry within which they operate.
We conduct surveys using the following techniques:
- CATI – telephone interviews using the latest generation of CADAS computer system, which ensures rapid completion, ongoing follow-up and automatic coding;
- CAWI – online interviews that respondents can complete at any time via a computer or mobile device with internet access. Each respondent receives a survey with a unique link so we accurately code the results. Surveys can contain text, graphic and audiovisual content;
- CAPI – survey interviews conducted in the field using an application on a mobile device, which provides a range of question options, similar to a CAWI survey;
- PAPI – a traditional survey in the form of a paper questionnaire. This type of solution allows surveys to be collected in a short period of time from people gathered in a specific location (audience surveys).
Qualitative market research techniques involve asking open-ended questions directed at obtaining broader information from respondents. Traditional methods include focus group interviews (FGIs) and individual in-depth interviews (IDIs). In both cases, the research takes place under the direction of a moderator, who brings the conversation to the relevant topic and asks supporting questions according to the assumptions of a pre-prepared scenario. The moderator is also responsible for obtaining comprehensive appropriate responses from all research participants. Each qualitative research session is recorded so that transcriptions can be created and qualitative analysis can then be performed on their basis. In addition, it can be transmitted online to the client, who has the opportunity to observe the study.
Traditional qualitative research provides declarative information. In contrast, to obtain data on unconscious attitudes and reactions of customers, we conduct biometric research. Neuromarketing makes it possible to obtain data from the customer’s reactions to sensory stimuli: visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, tactile. We measure at ASM Neuro Lab with the following techniques:
- eyetracking,
- facetracking,
- EEG/GSR/EMG.
Data taken into account during marketing analysis
We design each marketing study individually and take into account the data that best meets the client’s needs. Thanks to the methodology we have developed, we combine traditional and neuromarketing research.
What benefits can be gained from marketing research?
Marketing research enables you to gain market influence and build your company’s position by tailoring your offer and communication to customer preferences. This can give your company a competitive advantage and increase demand for your products/services. Thanks to marketing, you can maximise the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and thus significantly reduce expenditure. The information you gain about your brand image, its positioning in relation to other brands and the quality of your service will be used to plan and implement improvements. And if you commission a segmentation study, you will receive detailed information about the social and psychographic characteristics of your customers, enabling you to plan your communication with people with this profile.
