We’ve recently been involved in market research for several clients as part of brand identity projects, working alongside market research agencies, and its got us thinking about how its importance is often underestimated. So, what exactly is Market Research and how can it help your brand?
Market Research in Brand Identity
Market Research is a great way to find out how your customers think and how this in turn effects their behaviour and attitudes. It can be split into two key types – quantitative and qualitative, both of which are highly effective and provide very different types of insight and information.
Things your customers like, dislike, would like you to do more of, new ways of looking at things, untapped markets that you may have overlooked – all of this adds up to a more informed brief and a clearer picture – all extremely important when creating a new brand identity or new marketing materials.
By tailoring your brand to your customers you have a better chance of fitting their need and therefore a better chance of business success.
Quantitative research in branding
Quantitative research is basically all about numbers – being focused on the collection of stats and numerical i.e. exactly how many of your customers think your branding needs a refresh, exactly how many would buy a particular product or service and provides a clear way of finding out what your target audience really think.
Qualitative research in branding
Qualitative research takes a totally different approach and focuses more on how customers/stakeholders/staff feel by encouraging them to discuss motivations, emotional reactions and associations i.e. a focus group to discuss thoughts and perceptions on a new brand concepts that you have received from an agency, face to face interviews to establish a thoughts on a new product that you are looking to relaunch. This tends to be more of a rich data source collected from small groups of people whereas quantitative is more suitable for collecting lots of data for a large group of people.
What are the benefits of market research in branding?
Thats all very well we hear you say but what actual benefits will this bring me? Well, here are a few for a starter:
Increased insight – your existing customers are a real asset and by listening to their opinions you can work out how satisfied they are, if you are meeting their expectations and most importantly if not work out ways to rectify this.
Decreased risk – its a way of testing new ideas and products prior to launching which is ultimately a real investment and can stop you going ahead without having thought of certain crucial refinements, meaning that the final output is likely to focused around what your customers really want
Clearer understanding – by measuring your progress like this you can identify how well your organisation is actually performing and iron out gaps in your what you are offering, shortfalls in your ranges and can also show how perceptions may have changed based on improvements being made.
Want to find out how market research can help inform your brand identity? Give us a call or drop us an email and we will be more than happy to discuss what will work best for you.
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