How to fuel Marketing Strategy in 2021 with Desk Research?

Over the last year, we witnessed a surge in digital technology adoption by companies and consumers alike. The digital acceleration brought a massive change in Digital consumers' behavior. Today's digital consumer has a lot of power. They research, read reviews and compare from a varied available online source before making a purchase decision.

Consumer buyer roadmaps defined at the start of 2020 totally went out the window. New digital consumer personas and journeys have determined the future of the eCommerce industry. Changing consumer shopping priorities include what products/services they purchase, how they shop, which channels they use and high expectations from the shopping experience and support.

Adoption of a marketing strategy in 2021 that compliments today's digital consumer shopping behavior and the journey is an absolute necessity. To get your market strategy right and rewarding, you must have a deeper understanding of who your potential buyers are, your specific market, and what influences the purchase decisions and target audience members. 

This blog will provide you with a plan and outline for thoroughly studying your market, target audience, competition, personas and more.  

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What is Desk Research for Marketing?

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Market Research is an exhaustive process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting data about an industry market, geography, product/service to be offered for sale in that targeted industry, potential customers, their spending habits, location and needs and the particular competitors in that space. ‍

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Accurate and thorough data is the foundation of all successful businesses as it provides a wealth of information. It allows business owners to determine a sound business strategy and plan allotment of resources.

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Market research provides relevant data points to help solve marketing challenges as well as known risks that a business will most likely face - an integral part of the business planning process. In fact, market segmentation strategies and product differentiation strategies are impossible to develop without performing market research.

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Why Should Marketers do Desk Research?

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Desk research for marketing allows you to meet your buyer where they are. As our world (both digital and traditional) becomes smaller yet louder and demands more, this proves invaluable. By understanding your customer's problems, pain areas, and desired solutions, you can aptly craft your product or service marketing messaging to naturally appeal to them.

The market research also provides valuable insights into a wide array of aspects that impacts your marketing strategy, including:

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• On which channels or sources (online/offline) do your target audience and current customers conduct their product or service research.
• Which competitors do your target audience looks to for gathering information, evaluating options, or making purchases.
• What's trending in your industry as well as in the eyes of your buyer.
• What are in in-general and unique challenges of your target market that you can help solve with your offering.
• Which factors drive and influences product/service purchases among your target audience.

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What are the Categories of Market Research?

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Primary and Secondary Research are two main types of market research that your business can conduct to collect insightful and actionable data for drafting your market strategy.

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Primary market research is the gathering of first-hand information about your market and the customers within your market. Primary market research is further of two types: exploratory market research and specific market research.

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Exploratory market research is open-ended that may involve open-ended interviews or surveys with a small group of respondents. It helps you define specific potential problems that would be worth tackling and usually involves detailed, unstructured interviews seeking lengthy answers. Exploratory market research is undertaken prior to specific research.

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‍Specific market research, on the other hand, is precise and is used to dive into issues or opportunities, solve a problem that exploratory research has identified. Interviews are structured and formal in approach with a precise audience segment. Of the two, specific market research is expensive.

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Secondary market research includes reports and studies by government agencies/bodies, industry and trade associations, labor unions, media sources, regional/national chambers of commerce, or other businesses within your industry. It contains industry trend reports, market statistics, etc. and is published in pamphlets, newsletters, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers. Secondary market research is gathering all the public data to draw insights and conclusions.

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Secondary sources include the following:

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• Public sources. These sources are the easily accessible layer of data and offer a lot of valuable information. They are free to find and review. It includes statistics from government departments, business departments of public libraries, etc. For U.S. public market data, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor & Statistics provide very helpful information on various industries nationwide.

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• Commercial sources. Contrary to public sources, commercial sources of information involve subscription and association costs. It includes research and trade associations, such as Dun & Bradstreet and Robert Morris & Associates, banks and other financial institutions, and publicly traded corporations. Commercial sources are market reports, consisting of industry insight by research agencies like Pew, Gartner, or Forrester. Downloading these reports require fees to be paid.

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• Educational institutions. More research is conducted in colleges, universities, and technical institutes. However, this valuable information is many times overlooked. Research reports from educational institutions can provide valuable insights into many aspects that affect your decisions.  

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• Internal Sources. Your real self may be hiding somewhere; look for it within. Internal sources have a lot of valuable data about your business. Several key stats like average revenue per sale, customer retention rates, most products sold, most days when transactions happen, and other historical data on most frequent customers, lost customers, and many more can all help you draw insights and conclusions on what your buyers might want right now.

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What are the types of Market Research?

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• Interviews.
• Focus Groups.
• Product/ Service Use Research.
• Observation-Based Research.
• Buyer Persona Research.
• Market Segmentation Research.
• Pricing Research.
• Competitive Analysis Research.
• Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research.
• Brand Awareness Research.
• Campaign Research.

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Desk Research Services by TransForm Solutions allows you to hit the right targets, make the right decisions, and yield the best results. We offer in-depth company and industry analysis, research into trends and developments, competitive landscaping, regulatory environment, and its impact and market entry strategies.