Market research

Understand where you fit in the market

Avoid mistakes, build confidence, define your competition, level your competition!

Conducting thorough market research for your business is a must and the only way to really understand where you fit in the market, where your target market lies and who is your competition.

When it comes to gaining maximum return on your marketing investment, there are no short cuts, if you are looking for a get rich quick scheme then you will be searching all your life. If you are ready to build a sustainable marketing plan that will bear fruits for the future, then these tips will help.

Here are some of the processes that we have used. They are not hard and will help you get well on the way to levelling your competition!

For further information or help, please call us on 1300 780 626.

Primary research

Primary research is the term given to market research conducted directly by your business, more preferrably by you. In this phase of the market research your goal is to: gain an understanding of what your customers and prospects like and dislike about your business and your industry; where improvements can be made; where they see the future of your industry; is their spending on the increase or declining; and what will their needs be for the future.

Many poeple will say ‘but I know what my customers think’. I know this because I said the same thing but is amazing what you learn when you can actually survey your customers and prospects and ask open questions. You will be amazed at the amount of doors that will be opened when you tell your prospect that you are conducting market research.

Tip: When conducting the primary research, try and write down exactly what the person your are surveying says, don’t interpret. This will help when you refer back in later years and really helps with your marketing.

How to get started

Draw up a survey asking open questions.

Sample primary survey questions for a printing company only -

With regards to your print & media spend, is it growing or declining and why?
Approximately how much are you spending on print and other forms of media per annum?
Where do you see the future of print going?
What do you see is important from print and media based companies in the future?
What or who is driving your printing requirements?
What do you and don’t you like about our competitors / the printing industry?
What do you think needs to be improved with in the printing industry?
What are the most important factors to you when purchasing print?

External research

The goal of your external research is to understand what is happening in your industry, who your competitors are and where you fit in the market. This part will help you develop where you can offer a Niche service. This part doesn’t consist of talking to customers, although you will need do a fair bit of research. If this is your first time doing this, then you are going to learn so much and be further infront of your competiton then you were before.

Places to visit to help you get started on your External research-

First step is to visit your industry body. They will have a lots of information available.
Visit your State government. From our experience they are very keen to help businesses.
Australian Bureau of Statistics - www.abs.gov.au .

Online research

In this day and age if you are not generating revenue or at least leads from online traffic sources, then you are missing out. Many businesses believe that by setting up a website they have an automatic online presence, but then ask ‘why’ when they are not receiving any leads.

There are many tricks to turning you website into a money making, lead generating machine, but again to be sustainable you need to conduct thorough market research. If you are listening to an online guru that tells you it’s easy, then think again, as that is the get rich quick philosophy. If you want your business to be strong and sustainable for the long term, then here are some tips.