It becomes quintessential to research the market for the product or service which one is planning to venture a business into. However, prior to starting any business, there are many others essential tasks too including the research work too. Thankfully, the startups have the option of outsourcing the research work to market research firms.
Companies generally prefer saving themselves from the hassle by outsourcing the work to them. Still, even after hiring known market research firms, businesses fail to come up with a great business and marketing plan which eventually leads to the failure of the venture.
However, one can anticipate how fruitful the results of the research done by the research firm is by searching for the answers to the questions given below. This way one would be able to check how efficient the marketing firm which they have hired is. So take a look.
• Who are the targeted customers?
The research should answer this basic question clearly. It should be defining the target customers. Target customers are those who have an inclination towards the kind of services or products you provide.
By focusing on this segment of customers, one can actually increase the sale of its products. For instance, if one sells a brand of lipsticks then the targeted audience would be women. The age can be ascertained by the shades that it is selling.
• What do customers need or want?
If the market research firms which you have hired are not able to tell you what your targeted customers then it is surely a sign of poor researching. The customers love trying the same product with new range or advancement. For instance, if one is doing research for a lipstick brand he should ascertain which color is preferred more by women.
• When do customers purchase the product or service?
The time or season when people prefer buying your product more, also helps in building a great business plan. For instance, if people prefer buying products similar to yours more in the evening then while planning an online marketing campaign, you should promote the posts during that time. Moreover, one should also offer discounts during that time slot to increase the sales even more.
• Where do customers purchase similar products or services?
The research should be stating the mediums through which other similar products or services are purchased. Broadly, there are two mediums one is the online medium and other is the offline one. The research should be telling where people prefer buying the product that you are planning to sell. If the medium is online then one should also check from which site is it is being bought more.
• Why do customers purchase similar products or services?
The research should be specifying the reason why a particular brand in the range of products similar to yours is preferred more over other brands. Besides this, one should also ascertain if their product is an item of necessity or luxury.