3 easy steps to stay on top of market research

Doing market research for your brand is one of those things that sounds a little boring and daunting and might be something you’ve avoided until now. But the truth is that market research simply means keeping your finger on what’s going on with your industry and ideal client.

Market research helps you better and more fully understand your industry and audience so that you can better build your brand and business – which is why you need to stay on top of it regularly in your business.

What is market research?

One mistake that I often see business owners make when building their brand is that they make decisions and actions based on assumptions. Instead of building their brand based on actual data they’ve gathered from their audience, they are doing things because they think it will work or they assume it is what people want/need from them.

This approach won’t get you very far. You might be able to build a brand this way but it won’t be one anchored by proven data and it won’t get you the best end result. The businesses that do the best are the ones that do their homework. Do your research, analysis, and strategic planning first.

That is where market research comes in.

When you hear the words market research, it might sound formal and complex but it’s actually pretty easy to do for your brand.

Basically what it comes down to is getting to know your audience, industry, and brand so that you can build your business on a strong foundation. It gives you real information about what your audience wants, what others are doing in the industry, and how you can best fit into the space so that you can build your business and brand accordingly. It helps you better position and present your brand.

If you don’t understand your client, you don’t know how you can help solve their problems. You don’t know what kind of marketing messages will work. You don’t know if your product or service is actually something your customers will buy.

Why you need to conduct market research regularly

Market research can yield so much value for your business, but you can’t just do it once and never think about it again. Granted, the first time you do it will be the most in-depth and time-consuming so that you can gain a full understanding of the market, but you can’t stop there.

Doing market research regularly helps you keep up with the growth and changes of your audience and industry. It helps you ensure that your brand is staying aligned with what you want to do as well as what people actually want and need. It can also help you stay on track with each new offering or piece of content you produce.

You’ll want to make market research part of your regular business maintenance routine so you can stay in tune with what is going on in the industry and with your audience. Especially with an online business, things can change and evolve quickly, and doing the research helps you stay on top of things.

3 steps to regularly keep up with it easily

Keeping up with market research regularly is one of those easier-said-than-done things, but there are a few things you can do to make the process easier.

Create a system to track things in an organized way

The worst thing you can do is collect information and let it become a jumbled mess. Because if you can’t sift through and make sense of the info you find, you won’t be able to do anything with it. I recommend setting up a spreadsheet or similar system to track all of the data you collect. I have a market research command center where I can add info and sort through it easily. It has sections for things like places my ideal client hangs out, pain points they experience, skills they wish they had, etc.

Ask questions, stay attentive, screenshot, and save

Once you’ve got a system set up, you can start collecting data. That can look like formal surveys, asking your audience a question on IG stories, or posting a question in a Facebook group. You can also keep your eye out for other conversations going on in Facebook groups that provide you with valuable info for your brand and business. Whenever you see something that gives you valuable info, screenshot and save it then add it to your spreadsheet once a week or so.

Analyze as needed

Now that you’ve got a hub for all of your data, you can easily go into the system as needed to evaluate the info and apply it to the offerings, content, and structure of your brand.

Recap

Market research is an important part of the brand-building and business management process. But more than that, you need to conduct regular market research so you can stay on top of what’s going on in your industry and with your audience so you better understand where your brand fits in and how you can serve them.

Next Steps

Need to conduct some market research for your brand? Jump into the Brand Strategy Blueprint course where you’ll get access to an entire lesson (and more) on market research.