Why do Market Research?
Research will help ensure that your business and branding strategy are on target and may save you the wasted time and resources you might otherwise incur.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” – Henry Ford
This infamous quote still holds true today. Innovators and industry game changers seldom (this is not to say never) ask consumers what they want. They charge forth with their vision and bring innovation to the masses; think of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and yes, Henry Ford!
If every business today was on the brink of innovation, this would pretty much cancel out the need for market research, however many businesses today are simply doing more of the same to satisfy market needs or are replicating existing business models with more cost efficiencies to grab their share of the market or are copying foreign concepts and bringing them to domestic markets. This leads us to the conclusion that in such cases, businesses asking people what they want may actually be tilting things in their favour and helping them create ownable and memorable brands.
In overly saturated markets with so many “me-too” products, where differentiators and uniqueness attributes are becoming more minimal, tapping into that “one thing” which might propel a brand to higher levels becomes a must.
Enter market research.
Whether it is to help determine winning product attributes, communication messages, branding cornerstone, pricing strategy or audience segmentation, to name a few purposes, research will help ensure that your business and branding strategy are on target and may save you the wasted time and resources you might otherwise incur.
Sometimes, research will merely act as an insurance to help you know that you are on the right track. At other times, it will help you determine your brand’s base and vision. In either case, you will be thankful. Otherwise, if luck is not on your side, you might find yourself proceeding by trial and error and having to pay additional dollars to reshape your brand’s perception in the minds of consumers, which may very well end up being costlier than having done a preliminary market research to answer certain unknowns.
If you would like to discuss your brand strategy and potential need for market research, contact us to book your free consultation.