What is Marketing Research & How is it Different to Market Research?
While the term is used interchangeably with market research, they’re not the same thing.
You’ll hear a number of definitions for this but the most accurate definition of Marketing Research we could conjure up is;
Marketing research is studying a market to gather data points and feedback that translates into actionable data. It’s used validate the viability & feasability of a solution, whilst looking at distribution methods.
Marketing Research is carried out by a business for its own use to validate & plan commercial efforts.
Market Research is a broad overview of an industry & businesses in it.
What is Marketing Research in a nutshell?
Alongside market research, marketing research takes this a step further – mainly looking at distribution/marketing. Marketing research is an important bolt-on to your current market research data.
- Sales tools / efforts
- Distribution; Marketing & Advertising channels
- Public Relations
- Pricing
- Competitive Analysis
- Marketing Strategy
What is The Most Important Part of Marketing Research?
Customers! The lifeblood of every business.
There are a number of methods to carry out your research including; Surveys, Questionnaires, Focus Groups, Interviews.
Customer Research
- Study your target industry in a broad manner before drilling down into subcategories; you may find that your theoretical solution fits into multiple verticals.
- Figure out which information is pertinent to your solution. See if surveys exist already for your hypothesis with a large enough sample size. If not then;
- Develop a basic framework for your survey that ensures questions are not leading with a mix of closed and open-ended questions. Generally speaking, closed answers are generally quantitative and open-ended questions are qualitative.
- Ensure it’s GDPR compliant and you can use that feedback for follow-ups to turn them into early adopters or beta users.
How do I distribute my survey(s)?
Paid Option;
Google Surveys is a brilliant option for this, it is paid but it can narrow down your target market to distribute your survey without having to contact individual participants.
Free Option;
Google Forms helps you create surveys that you can send out as a URL. If you have a Google account, it’s also quite easy to track responses. For businesses, there are options to collaborate with your teammates.
Once you have your survey built, you can send out it to potential users/prospects through your desired channel. This does require some patience and it can turn into a numbers game. If you’ve defined your target market, you’ll have a much easier time getting responses.
