Marketing is no longer just about items like marketing budgets, sales goals, and other numbers. In today’s world of inbound marketing, brands have to start thinking of their potential customers as people with real problems who need help finding a solution.
This means that marketers have to think of their audience as they make decisions in every aspect of their business including sales.
Researching your target market will help you better understand the demographics and behavior patterns that can determine your company’s success.
It can also give you a competitive advantage when it comes to finding new customers, increasing your conversion rate, or improving customer retention rates.
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Strategic marketing research can significantly impact sales growth by providing valuable insights into consumer behavior and preferences. |
| 2. Defining clear research objectives is essential to ensure that the collected data is relevant and actionable. |
| 3. Utilizing a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods helps to gather comprehensive insights for effective decision-making. |
| 4. Analyzing research findings can reveal trends, patterns, and opportunities that can guide targeted marketing strategies. |
| 5. Implementing the outcomes of strategic marketing research can lead to better customer engagement, increased conversions, and improved sales performance. |
Identify Your Target Market
You’ll want to identify your target market right away. The sooner you know who your target market is, the better this information will help you create a better product for those people.
Once you have this information, it will be much easier for you to know how to increase sales by targeting that specific group with the right marketing strategy.
The first step in identifying your target market is figuring out who it should be based on the type of business that you are running and its goals for growth. There are many different ways that companies can define their target markets; these include:
- By location (local vs regional vs national)
- By industry
- By demographics (age, gender)
Once these groups have been identified as potential customers by their location or industry affiliation, research can focus on narrowing down further until finding a perfect fit within demographics such as age and gender as well.
This process takes time but may be necessary depending on how niche-specific your business model needs to become before reaching maximum growth potential within its current market sector size constraints.
So bear this in mind when deciding whether or not going after certain segments would make sense at all given current limitations such as budget constraints etcetera).
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Know Your Competitors
You should also be aware of your competitors’ strategies. You need to know what they’re doing and what their strengths and weaknesses are, so you can determine how you can compete with them.
You should know not just who your competitors are but also what customers think of them. Do they have a good reputation? How do they compare with yours? Are there any gaps in service or product offerings that you could fill?
The more information you gather about your competitors’ marketing strategies, the better prepared you will be to come up with effective ways to beat them at their own game.
Create A Sales Forecast
Calculate your sales forecast.
An a. How much are you expecting to sell? Be honest with yourself. If you’re just starting and don’t have a lot of data, try estimating conservatively and then adjust as necessary after you get some more information from customer research, surveys, etc.
Once you have an idea of how much money is coming in from sales this year, divide it by the number of months left in the year (you can use 12). This will give you an average monthly number that’s fairly accurate for planning purposes (though not exact).
b. Multiply this number by 100% to get an annual percentage increase or decrease over last year’s sales figure.
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Create A Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
The first thing you need to do is come up with a USP. A USP is a promise of value to the customer, and it’s the key to your brand. In other words, it’s what makes you different from your competitors.
This can be hard for some people who are used to making products that just perform better than their competitors’ products (or at least seem like they do).
A good way to start creating your unique selling proposition is by asking yourself why customers choose you over the competition? What makes your product or service stand out? Once you have an answer, start writing down everything about your business and its mission statement in one sentence that incorporates those reasons into one simple sentence: “Our business provides X because Y, therefore Z.”
Utilize Social Media To Reach New Customers
Social media is a great way to reach new customers and increase your sales. The first thing you need to do is know your audience, then research that audience so you can find out what they want and how they want it.
Then once you have this data, use it to speak directly to those people with ads on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other outlets so they’ll see exactly what appeals most to them.
Use PPC Advertising To Reach New Customers
PPC advertising is one of the best ways to reach new customers. By paying a small fee per click, you can pay for ads that appear on Google and other search engines when users are looking for products like yours.
This is an especially effective way to target potential customers who have already demonstrated interest in your product or service but haven’t yet bought it.
And because PPC ads are so focused on targeting specific keywords and phrases relevant to your business and its offerings, they’re also a great way to test out different sales messages before launching them on Facebook or Instagram.
If you find that one ad generates significantly more clicks than another or better yet, if visitors convert into actual buyers after seeing it you’ll know which message resonates with people most (and should be used again).
Retarget Ads To Potential Lost Customers
In this installment, we’ll be discussing a marketing strategy that helps bring back potential customers who have previously engaged with your brand.
This strategy is called retargeting and it can help you reach out to lost customers and make them feel more comfortable with your brand.
Retargeting ads are based on users’ previous online activity, so they’re highly personalized. You can use these ads to connect with people who didn’t buy from you before but might be interested in purchasing from you now.
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Create An Email List
Email marketing is a great way to reach new customers and retain existing ones.
There are various types of email marketing; you can use newsletters or advertisements, but you don’t have the time or money to do both right now.
Instead of focusing on either one, focus on building an email list by using opt-in forms and landing pages on your website. This will allow you to engage with prospects more effectively and increase sales eventually
Use Landing Pages To Connect With Potential Customers
Landing pages are a great way to connect with potential customers. They can be used to collect email addresses, or they can even be used to sell products. However, landing pages should be designed in a way that makes it easy for visitors to convert into customers.
If you want your landing page to match your company’s brand, there are some things you should keep in mind:
Make sure that the design of your website and its content is consistent throughout all social media channels (i.e., Facebook Page, Twitter account). This will help you build trust among potential customers and make them feel like they belong within the same community as you do!
When designing a logo for yourself or an organization/company (such as Coca-Cola), make sure that it relates to what kind of business entity would want people visiting their website.
Whether it be something fun like ice cream parlors that don’t sell anything except desserts from local farmers’ markets such as New Hampshire State Fairgrounds where their products come from organic ingredients while still being able to compete with other bakeries nationwide.
Because they offer unique flavors such as blueberry cheesecake deserts which never existed before until now when someone created this recipe by accident.
While making tacos one night after drinking too many margaritas at home alone without any friends around except maybe 3 dogs who weren’t paying attention because they were sleeping anyways…
Analyze Your Marketing Strategy And Make Changes as Needed
You should always be looking to improve your marketing strategy. You should always be looking to improve your sales strategy. You should always be looking to improve your business.
And, most importantly, you should always be looking to improve yourself and the quality of the life you are leading.
If you’re not constantly analyzing and improving, then it’s likely that someone else will pass you by. So don’t waste time! Start checking up on yourself frequently and make sure that everything is in order–both inside and out!
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Marketing Research Is The First Step In Building A Strong Sales Strategy
Once you’ve identified your target market and competitors, it’s time to take the next step: getting all the information you need about how to best position your product.
This phase of strategic marketing research involves creating a sales forecast and testing out various strategies for success. Here are just some of the things that should be considered during this phase:
Create a unique selling proposition (USP). A USP is a statement about what makes your product different from other similar products on the market.
Develop an elevator pitch or “elevator speech.” This is an ultra-brief summary of who you are and what you do something that could be delivered in 30 seconds or less while riding in an elevator with someone who might become a potential client or customer.
Conduct market research by talking directly with potential clients/customers to determine their wants/needs, likes/dislikes, etc., so that better decisions can be made going forward.
Effective communication is at the core of successful marketing research. Learn how to use open-ended questions to delve deeper into consumer insights, uncovering valuable perspectives that drive strategic decisions.
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have made it to the end of this article. We hope we’ve provided you with some helpful tips on how to improve your sales using strategic marketing research.
We know that running a business can be stressful and time-consuming, so taking advantage of tools like these will help you not only save time but also get better results in the long run.
If you don’t feel comfortable doing these things yourself, there are companies out there who specialize in market research and can provide valuable insights into your industry’s landscape as well as ways that you could stand out from competitors by creating new products or services based off their findings.
If anything mentioned here seems overwhelming or just plain intimidating – take comfort knowing that most people feel that way when starting something new!
So don’t worry about feeling overwhelmed just yet because after reading through everything once more (or twice), things should start making sense soon enough. The best is yet to come 🙂
Further Reading
Explore these resources to deepen your understanding of strategic marketing research and its impact on business growth:
8 Ways Market Research Can Grow Your Business Learn how market research can be leveraged to unlock new opportunities, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive business expansion.
The 5-Step Marketing Research Process Dive into a comprehensive guide outlining the five essential steps in the marketing research process to make informed decisions and achieve better results.
5 Ways to Improve Your Business with Market Research Discover practical tips on how to optimize your business strategies using market research insights, leading to better targeting and improved performance.
FAQs
Explore these frequently asked questions to enhance your understanding of strategic marketing research:
What is the importance of market research for business growth?
Market research helps businesses understand their target audience, identify opportunities, and make informed decisions that can lead to sustainable growth.
How can I effectively implement a marketing research process?
To implement a successful marketing research process, start with defining clear objectives, gathering relevant data, analyzing insights, and translating findings into actionable strategies.
What are the key benefits of using market research in decision-making?
Market research enhances decision-making by providing data-driven insights, reducing risks, uncovering consumer preferences, and guiding the development of effective marketing strategies.
How can market research help me stay ahead of my competitors?
Market research enables you to monitor industry trends, competitor activities, and consumer behavior, allowing you to identify gaps in the market and position your business competitively.
What are some innovative techniques in modern market research?
Modern market research techniques include social media analysis, sentiment analysis, predictive modeling, and interactive surveys, which offer deeper insights into consumer preferences and behavior.
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.