When it comes to marketing, we all seem to agree that audience knowledge matters. Hey, if you know more you can do more, right? But with most marketers, knowledge comes from their experience in the industry – and if you don’t have any, tough dice.
So, what happens when someone wants to enter a new market? Or work in a new industry? Or reach an audience they’ve never marketed to before? That’s where market research comes in! From audience profiles to customer segmentation studies, market research lets you walk onto any playing field as the automatic MVP.
So how does it get started? Myriad of methodologies aside, let’s talk today about surveys.
What would you want to know?
Take a moment to ask yourself this question:
“If you knew more about your customers, what more could you do with your marketing?”
Really, take a moment to ponder. If you’re not sure, I wrote out a few marketing thoughts below. This is back to Marketing 101 folks, the basics, the groundwork for how we do what we do. Dust off the text book, and think about the following axioms:
If I know why my customers choose to purchase from my competitor, I can address any deficiencies and capture their business.
If I know more about my customers’ weekly routine, I can establish promotions that are more conducive to their need-states.
If I know my customers’ biggest hurdle in purchasing from my business, I can make the process work better for them.
The foundation of helping people choose to engage is in the answers to these types of considerations. Sure, we’re going to get a lot closer to home when it comes to considering these kinds of things for your business. But hit the question above one more time now, and consider for yourself, what more could you really do with that one, critical nugget of information?
Maybe it’s about a subset of your audience, a niche you’re trying to capture or retain. Maybe it’s about why a certain revenue stream in your pipeline is suddenly not performing up-to-par. The situation’s going to be different for every reader of this article, but the commonality is this:
Marketers need answers!
So, think again. What effective strategies could you employ if you just had that insider information into the people who purchase from your brand? Let me know what you come up with, because I’d love to hear it! Shoot me an email at matt@s2research.com, and let me know what you wish you knew about your audience!
Go straight to the source
Surveys let us get the information we need, directly from the audience we’re trying to reach. The right survey can address where they live, what they do, what drives them to purchase, how they prefer to be reached, and more! All it takes is the right questions, in the right order, asked to the right amount of the right people, and presto, you have information. Good information! Statistically-sound, quantifiably-relevant information!
This is exactly the kind of information that a market research professional can help you gather. So, now we just need to work together to reach the right people.
How to reach the right people
Reaching the right people with your survey requires two things:
Known knowledge
Access
Known knowledge
Known knowledge is the truths you know about who you’re trying to reach. These are often basic, but help take your total audience down from ‘everyone’ to something more focused. If you’re looking to sell your product throughout Southern California, for instance, it’s safe to assume that your audience lives in Southern California. If your product is ‘luxurious’ or is sold at a more exclusive price-point, you can rule out audiences with a lower income or less discretionary spending.
Thinking about the old marketing funnel concepts from school, this is the part where you broadly ask yourself “who do I think would want this product?”
Access
Access, surprisingly, is easy. For years, I’ve worked with survey research vendors who have ‘panels’ – a very, very large network of nationwide participants who are paid to participate in surveys with this company – and they use this fantastic network to filter their panel to just the folks who fit the mold you’ve built with your known knowledge.
But that’s not all! In the ever-growing business world of 2019 that we’ve concocted, several of these fantastic research firms have partnered together to create a mega-network of panels. That means, now, we have access to any audience you can imagine.
Wealthy attorneys in the Midwest? You’ve got it!
Stay-at-home mothers who frequently listen to hip-hop? No problem!
Middle-aged men with college degrees working in the F&B industry? Absolutely!
Whoever you’re trying to reach, they’re already within an arm’s length of your surveys right now! So, what are you waiting for?
Get the answers you need
If you’re in the business of moving people to act, at some point you’re going to run into a question that needs to be answered. And who you gonna call? The Ghostbusters are duking it out with Casper, which leaves Market Research to the rescue!
You should consider conducting a custom, creative, comprehensive market research survey of the customers that matter to you. You’ll be surprised by what we find! Contact S2 Research today, and let’s talk about people!