By Steven Czyrny
Is market research for small business enterprises really necessary? In reality, market research is not that big of a deal for a small business, but any form of business growth will be stunted without it.
Doing and buying market research is like having mirrors in your car. For the most time they do very little, but you are thankful for them when disaster is looming up fast behind you. Here are five other benefits to market research for small businesses.
1. Market Research Removes your Feelings From The Equation
If you are aware of the IKEA effect, you will know how close and emotionally invested you can get in your own creations. Any form of product or artistic work that you create is going to strike an emotional chord within you, which means you are less able to see its flaws.
Nobody is saying that the general public is right when it comes to what is good and bad, but when other people review your work, they do not have your emotional investment in the product. They may have their own agendas, which is something you have to be aware of, but they are not blinkered by their own pride of creation.
2. Market Research Uncovers Systemic and Industry Flaws
A company called Credit Karma found a systemic and industry flaw in the credit scoring industry. TransUnion, Equifax and Experian all forced people to sign up for subscriptions before letting people get their credit reports. Sure, the subscriptions were free at first, but they rolled over into paid subscriptions.
Credit Karma’s market research showed how infuriating people found this, so they started their own free credit report company where people may get a free credit report forever (never becomes a paid subscription). Credit Karma is now known worldwide because it saw an industry flaw and fixed it. Your market research could do the same if you are brave enough to take a few risks.
3. Market Research For Small Business Is Valuable
How valuable it is to you depends on your business type. If you are selling real estate or insurance, then market research is as valuable as a warm lead. If you are in the entertainment industry, then market research can determine and direct your next smash hit. What’s more, there are even some businesses where market statistics have a high resale value, especially where big data is concerned.
4. Understand How Your Competitors Are Affecting Your Campaigns
Have you ever seen a funny set of memes or pictures on social media, and you thought they were great, so you shared them with your friends only to discover your friends are not interested in them. They have seen them all before and they are now annoyed because they have seen them too often.
A similar thing happens with marketing campaigns, especially when one competitor has already saturated the market with whatever idea you thought you would try. Market research and business demographics can help you avoid wasting time in such a manner.
5. Find a Better Direction for Your Marketing
The odd thing about marketing is that you can set up twenty campaigns and only two or three of them generate any interest where the rest flounder of fade into nothingness. What is more perplexing is how you can pile your energy and time into one campaign, and yet its chances of success are about the same as the campaigns you paid less mind to. Market research can help you figure out which campaigns are the most likely to succeed and can help you understand why.
Results From Your Own Campaign Material
Market research for small business enterprises can only take you so far. Part of the research process needs to include results and analyticsfrom your own campaigns. This is especially important if you based your campaign on research that you bought since you need to verify its validity in some way. Take in outsider research and test your own target audience. Do not neglect the results and analytics you pull from your successful/failed campaigns.
Hungry for apples? The “Hungry for apples” slogan is classic, but if you are looking for marketing advice from genuine experts, then check out some of the other posts on our insights page.