Role of market research in demand generation strategies

Role of market research in demand generation strategies VLMS Global

For every organization, all marketing techniques need a strong understanding and analytics about customers, industries, and segments. But what is essential to frame a data-driven demand generation strategy is market research. Market research for demand generation is excitingly the initial step of any planned process. You need reliable research for it from buyer personas, selecting platforms, creating content, and others. And the customer has to be the center of it. 

What exactly is market research?

Market research is an excellent process to get a sneak peek into every aspect of the industry. It gives you all critical insights and discloses a market's inner layers. In other words, it is a key that unlocks the collection of business insights that helps marketers better understand their market and how to drive growth. Most importantly, market research helps make accurate demand-generation strategy decisions. 

Reasons to utilize market research in 2023

  • Record and analyze the accurate audience segment
  • Get on-point insights about market trends
  • Gain real-time insights about rivals in the market
  • Make smart decisions about investment to achieve greater

Some important types of market research

  • Interviews

Interviews can be formal and informal, offering valuable insights, opinions, and experiences directly from individuals. These conversations provide high-quality and more profound information on customer perception and market dynamics.

  • Focus group

Focus groups include live discussions among a small group of people about the service or a product. These discussions help businesses perform product demo sessions, receive feedback or personal opinions, and targeted answers to some questions.

  • Experiments

Experiments consist of manipulating changes in the product, campaigns, or any activities to track how these changes influence customer behavior and preferences. These changes help make informed decisions and sound strategies and unlock insights that push business growth.

  • Competitive analysis

Competitive analysis includes understanding and analyzing competitors' strengths, weaknesses, planning, and market dominance. By evaluating their moves, you can gain a competitive edge, enabling you to revamp your marketing approach and shine out.

Steps to execute market research in demand generation

No matter what type of strategy you design for market research, you must employ an exemplary process. This process will ensure proper execution and avoid loopholes like inconsistencies and inaccuracies in data.

Understanding ideal buyers and targeting them

The initial market research step starts with the audience or customers. To take impactful market research forward, you must critically understand the end user. This understanding will impact decisions that directly affect them. Creating b2b buyer personas is crucial for the demand generation strategy; marketers must prioritize this step. 

Selecting data points, you want to consider

Data points, or your goal for conducting market research, must be decided before you start. This is another step before beginning the genuine market study and comprehending the consumer. Having data points helps you concentrate your vision to collect correct data without being sidetracked.

Some data items, such as specific user behavior, can be qualitative. Some of them may be qualitative, such as the typical amount of time people spend browsing your website or other statistics.

Carrying on research from suitable methods

You can use any previous two processes to focus on specific market research techniques. You will also clearly understand how to do your research efficiently at this stage.

This phase involves combining the methods above research to gather the necessary information from your ideal customers.

Analyzing data from market research

You will have a ton of data to determine if your market research was effective or failed. No matter how well your marketing or studies turn out, you'll discover a wealth of information to fill in the gaps. This is very likely to happen to beginners.

This crucial last data analysis phase determines your future study goals and decision-making. This step allows you to catch specific research errors, preserving your demand creation approach before it starts.