Conducting target market research is key to running a proper and capable business. It’s the main reason your products and services continue to provide.
Since time changes quickly, it’s vital to keep track of your current target market. Knowing what your customer wants is crucial if you want your business to survive.
How exactly is target market research properly conducted? With so many tools available in the market, you can assume that it’s simple and fairly easy to do. Well, not exactly. Even if you have all the right tools, knowing how to properly utilise them is the solution to all your problems.
Who are your customers?
Sometimes we have to take a step back into our roots and determine what our goals are. Knowing your brand and what you aspire to bring to the table is an essential part of business. This will let you know who your customers are and how you aspire to serve them.
What is your brand’s purpose? Who do you intend to serve? These are two fundamental questions you should remind to ask yourself every now and then. Knowing what your brand aspires to be will eventually remind you who your customers are.
Start by deeply analysing the features and capabilities of your products and services. Ask yourself, to whom can your products and services be handed to? To what extent is the limitation of your audience?
Remember, you can’t have everything (and everyone). With so many consumers in the market, it’s impossible to cover all sorts of different people. Focusing on a target market is your goal.
Gathering vital data
Once you’ve understood the kinds of people you should focus on, it’s time for the heart of the entire planning process: research. Gathering vital data is a key component of marketing. To do so, you should understand the definition of demographics.
Demographics is composed of vital data that can help you find who your target audience is. Here are some notable characteristics you should look out for: Age, gender, education, ethnicity, and income.
If you already established a prominent website (which I highly recommend doing), then you should try investing in progressive profiling. This allows your customers who are visiting your website to provide you with essential info such as gender, age, or country in a quick and short span of time. These iterative forms are filled up and should eventually provide you with the necessary data your business needs in order to succeed.
Other than that, researching includes a lot of hard work on the desk with a computer or a device. You have to research on the internet to understand how your target market behaves. What exactly do they want anyway? Try looking online by visiting forums, or try searching for survey results. Better yet, try conducting a survey of your own to truly understand the needs of your consumer.
Know the enemy
In war, knowing the enemy is a key to success. This is also true when it comes to the world of marketing, albeit in a more friendly way. It may be a friendly competition, but you need to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of your rivals.
You have to basically spy on your rival competitors to know how they survive in a tough competition. Marketing tools are available for you to utilise. Try keyword monitoring tools, where you can check your rivals’ keywords that are being used in their campaigns. Or maybe you can utilise web ranking tools; this way you can know how people are interacting with your rivals websites.
There are so many ways you can discover the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Doing so should give you a clearer understanding of your target market.
Social media as a platform
Everyone’s on social media! It would be waste not to exploit the opportunity by using social media as a ground for your target market research. Demographics are showcased by many users on social media. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have millions of users just ready to be detailed in clear view.
By using social media as a platform, you can conduct effective research and determine your target market. As previously mentioned, look for forums and communities on Facebook or Twitter; get a clear understanding of what your audience wants and needs.
For expert knowledge on everything related to SEO services in Singapore, contact OOm (Optimal Online Marketing). As a capable SEM agency, we provide our clients with customised solutions pertaining to the world of digital marketing. If you want your business to thrive online, look towards OOm for more refined marketing tactics.
