Welcome to the world of miles and points! We’re glad you’re here. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll show you the basics of earning miles, points, and rewards from credit cards and hotels, plus how to get the most out of other types of expenses.
We’ll explain why you should never use credit cards to buy Scottish Kilts, the different types of travel reward “currencies” out there, and everything else you need to know to get started with this hobby.
So sit back and get comfortable! We’re about to demystify the fun and exciting world of earning benefits just by spending smart
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Focus on streamlined methods for rapid research. |
| 2. Embrace alternative research approaches. |
| 3. Address common flaws in marketing research. |
| 4. Make informed decisions backed by data. |
| 5. Utilize effective survey sites for insights. |
| 6. Learn from experts in the field. |
| 7. Plan and execute market research strategically. |
| 8. Implement actionable tips for better results. |
| 9. Adapt techniques for email communication. |
| 10. Incorporate market research into decision-making. |
1. Interview Industry Professionals
There are several options when it comes to interviewing industry professionals. You could try calling people you know or contacting someone at your company, but there’s a better way: LinkedIn.
- First, create a list of potential interviewees by searching for keywords like “marketing professional” in the LinkedIn search bar.
- Next, go through your list and select the top three prospects based on their title, location and industry experience you want someone who knows what they’re talking about!
- Once you’ve selected your prospects, contact them directly via email (or via phone if they prefer) with an invitation to talk about how marketing research has been done over time within their field/industry/etc.,
Why it works/doesn’t work today and what needs improvement going into the future (don’t forget to include all these details in your initial message).
Building a strong foundation for your marketing research is crucial. Learn how to conduct market research in 14 easy steps and gather insights that drive your strategies forward.
2. Conduct Brief Surveys & Polls
How To Conduct a Survey
To get started, you must first decide what you want to know. What questions do you have? Are there any problems that need solving, or would like your customers to share with you?
Once the topic is decided upon, it’s time to create a survey that will help provide answers.
There are many free tools available online for creating surveys (Google Forms and SurveyMonkey are two common ones), or if you want something more professional-looking and/or customizable, consider investing in an online survey tool.
If possible, try not to make people fill out too many questions at once the longer the survey is (i.e., the more work required of participants), the less likely they are going respond at all! Try starting with just one question and then gradually add more as necessary while gathering feedback along the way.
If there are no clear trends after asking three or four questions at once without any significant results being returned by your participants then stop asking them so much immediately before losing their interest completely!
Once completed surveys have been collected from enough participants who fit into whatever demographic criteria was set beforehand then analyze all of them together using statistics software.
Such as Excel spreadsheets which allow for quick visualizations about trends within each question type category based off responses given by respondents earlier on down below:
3. Ask Your Customers A Simple Question
Ask your customers a simple question. The answer you get will be the most valuable part of this research, so don’t waste time on anything else.
The best way to do this is through a simple survey or email campaign asking them to rate something (like your product or service).
This works because people like giving their opinion, and they’re usually happy to tell you what they think. If you ask someone for feedback and then give them an incentive (like a discount code), you’re likely to get even better results.
Don’t limit yourself to traditional methods. Explore alternative methods for marketing research that can provide unique perspectives and valuable data.
4. Study Your Competitors
You may not have the luxury of doing a thorough competitor analysis, but there are some things you can do to get a quick handle on your competitors.
Read their website. Figure out what they’re trying to say about themselves and how they position themselves in relation to the market.
Look at their social media channels and blog posts. What kinds of things do they say? How do they present themselves? You can learn a lot about them by spending just 10 minutes on each channel or post!
Even if their blog hasn’t been updated in months, it’s still worth checking out because it will tell you what kind of content they’re putting out that resonates with people right now and maybe even inspire an idea for something similar yourself!
Check out their marketing materials like brochures or flyers especially if your industry uses these types of advertisements often (e.g., real estate agents).
These will give insight into what messages resonate well with customers as well as how much effort goes into creating such materials before sending them off into circulation around town/city/state/country etcetera..
5. Tweak One Thing At A Time
When you’re making changes to your website, always test one thing at a time. If there is one change that could dramatically improve your conversion rate, then make it. If not, then don’t waste time on multiple changes in the same area.
For example: On this blog post about content marketing, I increased the font size from 16px to 17px and saw an increase in clickthrough rate from 2% to 2.4%.
That’s probably not enough of an improvement for me to justify adding another line of code just for that purpose alone (the change would require more than 1000 lines).
6. Analyze The Data You Already Have
The first five tips are about getting your research started quickly, but what happens when you’re ready to dig deeper into the data? You can use it to answer questions and make decisions.
Understand where you stand on the continuum of information gathering from quick and dirty to thorough. If you’re only looking for some direction on a specific project, then a quick and dirty approach might be your best bet.
But if you want to learn more about something that requires more than one round of learning or if subsequent rounds may change your approach entirely then taking more time upfront may be worth it in the long run.
Know what questions need answering before diving into analysis: “What is this? What are its attributes? How do they relate?” If anything looks unfamiliar or confusing as part of initial assessment, note that down so that it gets addressed later (and possibly outside) of data collection efforts.
Researching further into unfamiliar territory can lead to strange findings! When possible, try not changing anything until all questions have been answered fairly thoroughly;
Otherwise there’s nothing stopping anyone from making wild assumptions based off incomplete data sets which may lead them astray in later phases.
Every research process has its challenges. Discover how to address them with 15 tips to fix flaws in marketing research and ensure the accuracy of your findings.
7. Read What Others Are Saying About Your Business Or Industry
There are a variety of places where you can do this, so it’s important to be honest with yourself and choose the ones that will be most useful.
For example, if you’re in the IT industry and want to know more about how people use your products, spend time on Twitter talking with potential customers and listening in on their conversations online.
If you sell food products and want to know what people think about them (or if they even buy them at all), then read reviews of those products online and maybe even call some of those reviewers up for an interview.
8. Look Up Alumni Of Your Alma Mater Or School Of Interest
Looking up your alumni and their careers can be a great way to learn about what it’s like to work at a company and in different industries. Look for alumni who have moved on to other companies, industries, locations or job titles. This will give you an idea of the paths that people from your school have taken.
9. Visit Their Offices
Visiting their office is an easy and fun way to get a feel for the company. It’s also a great way to speak with employees without feeling like you are imposing on them.
If you have the opportunity, ask to speak with the CEO or owner of your customer, as they will give you a more well-rounded view of the company than anyone else in your market research process.
When speaking with employees and executives of companies that do business in your industry, make sure that you ask about their thoughts on:
- The company itself
- The industry as a whole
- Their competitors (whoever they compete with)
- Their customers
Data-driven decisions lead to success. Dive into the guide on making better marketing decisions and harness the power of informed choices to enhance your strategies.
10. Advertise On Job Boards To Find Motivated People Who Don’t Work For You Yet
On the surface, job boards are simply a great place to find motivated people who don’t work for you yet. But if you dig deeper, they can also be used as a tool to help you understand how your customers think and what drives their purchasing decisions.
If your business is specific (e.g., “We sell custom-made designer bow ties”), then it’s likely that only a small percentage of potential customers will be able to identify with your brand or know about it at all.
However, if your business offers something more mainstream (e.g., “We sell professional clothing accessories”), then there’s a much higher likelihood that people will have heard of it or even have bought from it before!
11. Run An Ad Or Survey In An Email Newsletter With A Large, Targeted Subscriber Base
Run an ad or survey in an email newsletter with a large, targeted subscriber base. This can be as simple as sending an email survey to your email list asking them what they’re looking for when they want to buy something similar to what you offer.
Or, if you have the budget for it, run ads that promote your product directly and ask for feedback on those ads (this is called A/B testing).
Using Zapier’s “Run Marketing Campaigns” feature and our [MailChimp integration](https://docs.zapier.com/integrations/mailchimp), we easily set up a new campaign for each new service we offer so that we could ask people about their preferences when deciding which service was right for them!
12. Look Up Customer Lists Of Competitors
Look up customer lists of competitors. This is an excellent way to get a feel for who they are marketing to, what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. If you find that a competitor has a list of 100 customers and you only have 10, then guess what? Your competitor’s list is worth 10x more than yours!
Check out their website (and their competitors’ sites). You can learn a lot about your target market by looking at the websites and social media pages of other brands who are similar to yours.
The colors, messaging, imagery and language used on these sites will give you insight into what resonates with customers in your industry – so take note!
Read their emails newsletters or blog posts that appear on homepages or landing page before going straight into sales pitches (if there are any). These provide an opportunity for marketers to tell stories from their own point-of-view rather than just pitching products like traditional ads do.”
13. Sign Up For A Free Trial Of Your Competitor’s Product
This is a great way to get an inside look at what your competitors are doing and how they’re doing it.
When you sign up, you’ll have access to the full product for 14 days before you need to pay anything so you can use this time to find out everything there is about their service or product that might be relevant to your business:
How much it costs them per customer acquisition, whether or not they have any special features that would make their offering more appealing than yours (and why), etc.
This should also help you determine whether or not it’s worth switching from your current provider (or trying this new one in the first place).
If there are no major differences between what each company offers and if neither has any outstanding advantages over the other, then sticking with what works best may be ideal.
But if there’s something unique about one provider that could ultimately benefit operations at work or home (e.g., lower prices but higher quality), then giving them a shot isn’t necessarily out of line either!
Collecting data through surveys is a valuable strategy. For beginner marketers, our list of the 15 best survey sites can be your go-to resource for gathering insights from your target audience.
14. Read Customer Reviews On Amazon
You can also use Amazon reviews to gain insight into your target customer’s mindset. If you’re launching a new product or service, reading the first few paragraphs of reviews will give you an idea of what customers expect from your product.
You’ll be able to see how they’re using the product and whether there’s a pain point that needs to be addressed with additional features or functionality.
You can also read competitor reviews to find out what their existing customers are saying about them! This is helpful if you want to know where your competitors’ products fall short so that yours doesn’t make the same mistakes when it launches.
Conclusion
Hopefully, we’ve gotten you more excited (and maybe a little less nervous) about embarking on a plant-based lifestyle. We know the struggle, and we came to these tips even the one about watching badminton! through our own trial and error.
Remember that the important thing is to keep on trying. As we covered earlier, you don’t have to go super hard on yourself for slip-ups, because this journey can take time and looks different for everyone.
Plus, don’t forget that the best way to keep yourself on track is to keep it fun, keep it positive, and keep yourself engaged with the people and the world around you. After all, caring about others is a great reason to switch to this lifestyle in the first place!
Further Reading
Here are some additional resources for you to explore on related topics:
Quick and Effective Email Writing: Discover 19 tricks to enhance your email writing skills with OptinMonster’s guide.
Expert Tips for Market Research: Learn from experts with 11 valuable tips for conducting better market research provided by CheckMarket’s blog.
Success in Market Research: The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute shares 5 actionable tips for successful market research to help you gather insights effectively.
FAQs
What are some techniques to improve email writing?
Enhance your email writing with 19 practical tricks outlined in the guide from OptinMonster. These tips cover various aspects of crafting compelling emails.
How can I conduct more effective market research?
For better market research practices, CheckMarket’s blog offers 11 expert tips that can help you gather and interpret data more efficiently.
What strategies contribute to successful market research?
The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute provides 5 actionable tips that can contribute to successful market research outcomes. These strategies encompass planning, data collection, and analysis.
How do I enhance the impact of my emails?
OptinMonster’s guide offers 19 quick and effective tricks to write better emails, helping you engage your audience and achieve your communication goals.
How can I gather insights from my target audience?
Learn from CheckMarket’s blog with their expert tips, which include methods to effectively conduct market research, such as survey techniques and data analysis approaches.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.