Does it pay to make market analysis in 2019?

SOURCE: Sapio Research

Market analysis is one of the essential components of a marketing plan. It offers companies feedback on their competitors, their competitors’ offering, clients’ preferences and many other similar aspects. Even if it comes with proven benefits, many start-ups choose to skip it because it can be expensive. So the question is Should you invest in market analysis in 2019? You may think that you have many other ways to find out if your brand is successful in the market. Well, the fact is that market research is more effective than any other tool because it’s an objective and systematic collection and analysis of data about the factors that impact your business.

Here is why you should make market research in 2019.

It will help you determine your position on the market

All business managers find important to identify their company’s position on the market at different moments in time. The market analysis will help you monitor and measure your brand’s progress, it will prove useful when you will have to decide strategies and make decisions.

If you perform market research periodically, you will be able to rely your strategies on fresh data. It will help you identify the trends of the market and operate accordingly.

Also, it’s important to know where you stand against your competitors. Analysis can help you measure your reputation and position and make a plan to take action and change your image.

It identifies opportunities and problems in the marketplace

Before launching a product, research can help you determine if the market needs or wants it. For you as the creator of the product may not be obvious that the market lacks an audience for it, but the analysis will help you identify possible opportunities. Once you gather data, you can make modifications to make sure that you launch something that will suit your audience.

When you plan to introduce a new product on the market, it’s advisable to find out your clients’ reactions before it’s fully developed. It will allow you to modify it before launching it on the market and it will guarantee that it addresses a public.

It helps you reduce risks

Through a thorough market analysis, you will find out the needed information to help you decide on a certain subject. For example, you may plan to expand overseas, but the analysis will show that the market is over saturated in the state where you planned to open a new store. This will help you refrain from making the move and you will search for other states where you would have greater chances to succeed.

Research can also help you determine what products have greater chances to sell in the future so you can focus on advertising them to achieve maximum profit. When running a business it’s always a good strategy to plan ahead.

It helps you connect with current and potential clients

Once you get the results of the market research, you have enough information to help you determine what subjects are important for your clients. You will find the most effective way to communicate with your audience because you know what they want to buy, see, hear, and what they like and hate. Market analysis will help you tailor your communication strategy to say to them what they need to hear to take action.

It helps you set trends

Sometimes the existing trends do not suit your business values, but this doesn’t mean that the market is not open to new tendencies. If you want to start a new trend but you don’t know if it will get the attention you need, you can use market research to find out your clients’ opinions. You analyse your customers’ behaviour and you determine if a particular trend has chances to prove successful.

It finds the most persuasive promise you can make

As you already know all brands make a promise when they enter the market. If you think of the most famous brands on the market, you will have no problems in identifying their promise to their clients. All it takes is to look at their logo, it will tell you what they want to do to help you. It can be access to affordable services, secure technology, tasty meals or something else. Sapio Research recommends using a simple message, if you find difficult to come up with one, you should always market research to identify it.

How does market analysis come up with the information you need?

The main objective of market analysis is to gather data from the public. It uses multiple methods to do it; some of the most common ones are survey, focus groups, interviews, experiments, field trials, and observation.

The survey is used when you want to measure something among a certain group of people. It can be administered in multiple ways from text messages, to phone calls and even interviews.

A focus group will help you explore opinions and attitudes. It involves groups from 30 to 50 participants, who are compensated with products, money or by other means to take part in the study.

Interviews can help you find more about your clients’ psychology. They come in multiple formats according to their purpose, they can include fill-in-the-blank questions, and word associations and so on.

You can use experiments or field trials to find out more about certain hypothesis and variables. Testers can use various techniques to expose individuals to certain products or services and to find out their reaction. Consumers’ preferences are always recorded and further analysed.

Observation can help you find out what people do, and sometimes it may differ from what they say. Observation may include in-store observation, eye tracking, contextual inquiry, or cover usability testing.

After the pieces of data are collected, specialists interpret them and extract information. You receive the information in the form of easy-to-understand details, charts and graphs that can help you make decisions. You will find valuable insights in the data market analysis will gather for you, so it may be a mistake to skip this process.