Marketing · Sales and Marketing · Strategy
Making the most of research
The scores are in, the results have been counted and verified – your market research (MR) is complete and you have your data. It will hopefully shape where you might develop a new product or idea, or give you better insight into keeping the customer satisfied. But you can also use it to promote your company to the wider world – and get your brand name into the general public consciousness.
“Smart businesses can maximise the benefits of their research by sharing their conclusions to an audience much wider than just their current customers,” says John Gilbert, director at north London MR agency Circle Research. “If you’ve undertaken the research to, for instance, test the viability of a product, you probably only need the answers to one or two specific questions. But if you’ve done your surveys properly, the researchers will have asked several more questions, or facilitated many more discussions, which put those two relevant answers into context.
“And that extra background contextual information could contain many other separate incidental findings that you can use in other ways. Your research may have been set up to gain information around a specific business challenge but, promoted in the right way, it can have a much wider impact.”
So how and where can you use your research findings?
Product development
First and foremost, your research informs where you go with a specific idea, product or service – so the priority is to take heed of the findings, according to Jas Gidda, director at Bermondsey-based agency Vision One. “Market research is a science, a formalised, structured way to identify the path you need to take,” he says. “So don’t ignore or dismiss the results – act on what they tell you.”
Business strategy
Good qualitative research will reveal much wider knowledge about how your organisation and its products are perceived. Outcomes of focus groups discussing why and how they’d use a particular product could reveal many other insights about your customers, in terms of age, gender, disposable income, likelihood to purchase – which could shape your entire strategy and direction of travel, or reveal the need for additional research in other areas of the business.
“For this reason it’s important to be completely transparent with your team about the results,” adds Gidda. “They need to know if the research validates the company’s proposed actions, or if it has thrown up unexpected or disappointing outcomes.”
“You want a headline research outcome that makes people sit up. Then contact news outlets to make sure your press release gets to the right desk” Julia Whitehead, director, Ask Joe Public
Tell your customers
“Use your research to tell your customers that you listen to them,” says Gilbert. “Include relevant research findings in your marketing materials to show that your consumers are shaping your business. Make it clear that ‘our customers told us they wanted X, so we have done X’. It’s a powerful message, it says: ‘I’ve invested in understanding your needs and I can differentiate from the competition'"
Reach out to your industry
Sharing impactive results in presentations at local or national networking events, in your MD’s speech at a conference, or on stands at trade shows can get your name better known throughout your sector. “Naturally, pick and choose which parts you wish to reveal,” advises Julia Whitehead, director of south London MR agency Ask Joe Public. “You don’t want to give your competitors any sensitive information around finances or upcoming products – but getting your brand out there with a research-based positive message about your company can attract potential clients and partners to your business.”
Using social media
“Research results can often form the basis of ‘thought leadership’ messages that underline your brand as forward-thinking, innovative and in touch with the market,” says Gilbert. “These can give you excellent content to share through LinkedIn and potentially Facebook and Twitter. Engaging and lively content gets your company noticed and opens the door for future connections.”
Inform the press
A well-written press release highlighting noteworthy aspects of your research can get your company some outstanding publicity – for free. “This is an excellent opportunity to get your company’s vision and progress out to a wider audience,” says Whitehead.
A word of warning, however: make sure your results tell people something they don’t know, or the publicity could even backfire. A few years ago the Daily Mail published – and derided – the results of a police satisfaction survey that found suspects didn’t enjoy a night in the cells and complained about being prevented from going home.
Whitehead adds: “You want a headline research outcome that makes people sit up. Then contact news outlets to make sure your press release gets to the right desk, with your own contact details at the bottom offering them the chance to interview you further. You can’t guarantee they will run the story, but doing these things increase your chances of some free publicity!”
The key in making the most of any research, says Gilbert, is to get the right messages to the right people. “Pull out different messages from your research depending on what channels you’re using, and the audience,” says Gilbert. “A conference full of accountants may need to know detailed figures, a brochure for customers or potential backers might include evidence of, say, your investment in the community and how that is perceived. Whatever the audience, keep going back to those results – you’ve paid for them, so use them
Article courtesy of NatWest
Original article
