Build Your Business - Build Your Research

Many large corporations are able to allocate huge amounts of money in their budget for market research. This is because they know the critical nature of understanding your target market in order to successfully communicate with prospects and customers. For most small businesses, this level of research would send them broke before they even get started. This is not to say the same principles can’t be achieved in a smaller scale.

What are the hidden motivators in your target market? If you are an industry expert and think you know exactly your prospects’ needs or desires, you may be wrong. People who attempt to ‘guess what the market wants’ risk losing their entire investment. The best way to obtain reliable information you can use in your own graphic and web design material may simply be to ask your customers why they buy from you and how they would improve the business. Don’t ask, do you like our design, ask what does this material communicate to you? Everyone has their own artistic opinion. Graphic and web design is about communication, not artwork. This will ensure you get the feedback that will bring you better results.

Even if you are new to business and haven’t got a customer base to draw ideas from, you can always invest in your own research. Brainstorm with anyone and everyone you can, particularly if they are within your target market. Ask other entrepreneurs or creative thinkers their thoughts and experiences regarding your proposed venture. External perspectives are always valuable since we can often get too close to our own projects and lose sight of the bigger picture.

A highly recommended way of obtaining market research is to prepare and conduct your own survey. With your own survey you can manage the information you choose to obtain. A good way of motivating people to participate is to offer incentives for completing your survey.

Doing research via surveys will help in many aspects of your business such as customer relationships, business systems and defining your target market. You can use your current customers as case studies and discover who your future customers will most likely be. Simple questions can be used to obtain demographic information from your customers. If you give a reward to people who complete the survey, you will significantly improve your response rate and quality of information obtained. Incentives will vary depending on your market. A reward with a high perceived value will produce the best results. The cost of giving rewards should be considered an investment since the information obtained should help generate more sales if used effectively.

Existing businesses can research their target market by analysing their database of current and previous customers. Running a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) system such as info@hand can provide you with valuable information you can use to increase profit. The value your CRM provides will be directly proportionate to the quality of information you have added to the system over a period of time. What you put in is what you get out. For this strategy to be successful, your database will need to be of a minimum size to gain an accurate cross-section of your target market.

To expand on the knowledge you gain from surveys and your database you should then study your competitors. Is there a highly successful business in your industry? Find out what makes them so successful. One reason for their success is usually that the benefits of the product or service strongly appeal to the target market. You should try to get your hands on as many brochures, fliers and other sample material as you can. This will allow you to study their brand(s) closely and analysis their marketing messages. Websites are easily accessible and often give you insight into your competitors’ strategies. This is not so you can copy what they do; actually it may be quite the opposite. You may find opportunities your competitors have missed.

You could also buy research information from market research specialists. Even though you need to spend to get this information, it can be worthwhile because it has been professionally researched. Just remember not to blow your whole budget before you begin. The last thing you want is analysis paralysis.

When you have successfully done your research, you can start to look at building your brand.

This is an extract for the ebook 'BUILD YOUR BUSINESS' To download your copy REGISTER ONLINE today!