If you’re considering hiring a market research agency, then you’re about to make a wise investment that would most likely provide significant advantages to your business.
A market research agency may develop, conduct, and analyze customized market research for your business and provide the critical data and pointers, allowing you to make strategic decisions based on facts. Furthermore, they’ll ensure that the feedback you receive and the conclusions you draw are completely objective. So, let’s dig a little deeper and explore what a market research firm can possibly bring to the table for your business.
Feasibility Research
If you are an SMB, then it is likely that you do not have unlimited resources at your disposal. So, before you make any significant investment, feasibility research is a must. A market research agency with its experience, knowledge, and resources can be the perfect guide to find the feasibility of setting up a successful venture.
So, even if you have a brilliant idea, it is always good to have their inputs. Most probably, with their help, you would be able to sharpen your ideas, and that would increase the practicality percentage. In short, they would aid you to transform your idea into a plan.
Consumer Research
A well-conducted market research study by an agency allows you to see things from the customer’s perspective. You would get insights into the ‘needs’ and purchasing power of your target consumer. Whether you’re looking at advertising, packaging design, product placement, or user experience, a study like this will reveal what catches people’s attention and drives their purchasing behaviour. You would also come to know how customers interact with your product.
Competition Research
A market research agency would provide you an unbiased report of your competitor’s market share, their marketing strategies, limitations and advantages. Knowing what your competitors offer can help you stand out with your products, services, and marketing, or even work out a competitive pricing.
Opportunities Research
Tapping into the potential of being the first mover or creating an innovative product can give you a powerful start to your business. Feeling the pulse of what’s popular or trending and what’s out of fashion is an important input that you would need. A market research firm can assist you in identifying new opportunities and potential areas of expansion based on their market scans of consumer trends, competitor moves, popular sentiments affecting the category and so on.
Business Forecasting
It is always helpful to be able to forecast future sales and demand, or estimate profit or loss. Forecasting can be approached in two ways:
Quantitative forecasting is primarily concerned with figures, such as sales predictions, budget predictions, or numerical projections. It is frequently based on the history of a company’s figures and industry stats. It is often employed when the situation is ‘stable’ and past data is available.
Rather than relying on history, qualitative forecasting relies on expert opinion and judgment. It can be used to assess a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and to forecast its performance outcome. As a result, qualitative forecasting is employed when the situation is hazy and little data is available.
Setting Benchmarks
Benchmarks can be used to evaluate any business process, approach, function, product, or service. The process helps identify performance gaps and compare industry best practices to yours. After reviewing your business’s previous performances and forecasts, a market research agency can help you set optimum benchmarks. Research shows that companies who set a benchmark, tend to outperform their counterparts.
Campaign Effectiveness
A market research agency can mine data on the effectiveness of your marketing initiatives and create surveys to get customer feedback on your marketing communications. Measuring awareness of your marketing campaigns and recording consumer responses are other aspects they usually help with. Such analyses can help you continuously improve your campaigns and craft messages that reach and resonate with your target audience.
Regulatory Compliance
Many businesses, especially start-ups, get into trouble due to their lack of awareness of regulations that protect the rights of consumers. A market research agency would ensure that you comply with laws and regulations that are mandatory for your industry or sector of business. Who wants legal trouble while building a business, after all?
In case you are ready to roll with a market research agency, but are not sure which one to go with, put your project on DIGISTEPS!
