Market research is the process of gathering valuable information about the needs and preferences of consumers. It helps in determining if there is a market for a product or service and is a key part in developing any business. It gives businesses an insight into the profiles and spending habits of consumers and provides companies with the data necessary for making good business decisions.
Digital marketing is the method of promoting a brand, a product, or a service through one or more forms of electronic media, such as the Internet, mobile instant messaging, wireless text messaging, podcasts, online radio channels, digital television, and mobile apps. Digital marketing enables businesses to analyse their marketing campaigns in real time and figure out what works and what needs to be improved.
With this in mind, how relevant is market research to digital marketing?
Market research has gone mobile
Conducting market research used to be too time-consuming, not to mention expensive. Thanks to the internet, market research has evolved from pen-and-paper surveys, one-on-one interviews, and focus group discussions into something more mobile, instant and convenient. Mobile market research capitalises on the widespread use of devices, such as smartphones, to ask questions, distribute polls, and analyse product usage. Market research has also made use of social media, collecting and analysing millions of posts across various social networking platforms to discover trends and reveal more information about consumers.
Through market research, businesses have several ways to improve their content, strengthen their calls to action, and eventually improve conversion rates. It has led to digital marketing searching for ever-more effective ways of using social and mobile media to be able to reach the people researchers need to get in touch with.
How can market research improve digital marketing?
Market research, especially when conducted through social media channels, lets businesses observe and learn the language of their audience. By learning the language and mimicking it in promotional ads, companies will be able to speak to their audience in a way that connects. In turn, there is a big chance that audiences will click through to a webpage, making conversion possible. Aside from the language, companies will also be able to uncover trends and their consumers’ common activities that can then be integrated into their digital marketing efforts.
Knowing what consumers like or dislike through social media and other channels helps businesses identify major influencers in a particular audience. To make the most out of this information, digital marketers will do well to build authority and establish relationships with these influencers. By doing so, companies could increase the range of their digital marketing efforts, using influencers to retweet, review a product or service, or simply mention a company’s brand.
Market research also makes use of tools that help businesses gather information about their audience. Plenty of software and services are available to enable market research teams to scan and monitor mentions of their brand, relevant keywords and key phrases, and even their competitors. Research and digital marketing is going hand-in-hand to drive forward the best ways to monitor, collect, analyse and interpret data to boost business’ understanding of their target markets and tailor their strategies effectively. These strategies can now be tweaked in ‘real time’ as results of their effectiveness are fed through swiftly – making campaigns more flexible and reactive than ever before.
