Effective market research provides actionable insights for businesses of all sizes. These insights help them to truly understand their markets and consumers, enabling them to successfully plan for growth writes Dr Eamon Fulcher and Geraldine Trufil, co-founders of Split Second Research.
It’s been often said that starting a business is like jumping off a cliff and building a plane on your way down. The questions for you, the business owner, are whether you have sufficient resources, the right skills to create something that people will buy, and the knowledge of how to market your brand to the right people, before you run out of time. Either you will build that plane or hit the earth too soon.
It’s no wonder then, that entrepreneurial worry is a real thing. Side effects involve negative physiological effects (feeling sick, having headaches, the unpleasant sensations associated with worry), negative behaviours (drinking alcohol, poor food intake, insomnia), and negative psychological responses (pessimism, feeling overwhelmed, lonely, and so on). These are triggered by many factors such as doubts about one’s business proposition and validity, that the business is not growing fast enough, what would happen if the business fails, and so on.
Entrepreneurs who do manage to build that plane, develop ways of coping. These coping mechanisms include more efficient business planning, more research, seeking help and advice regularly, and creating subgoals.
One of the secret weapons of successful businesses is research. A successful audit uses research to do a deep dive into what your customers really want from your business and how to get it in front of them to maximise your growth. It’s about having the right information, whichever stage a business is in.
There are five key questions a business needs to answer to be able to grow:
1. Is there sufficient demand for my product or service?
2. Why would customers choose my product over my competitors’ products?
3. Who are my target customers? What do they want ideally?
4. How should I communicate with my target audience?
5. Do I need to make changes to my product marketing strategies?
These questions can be addressed by conducting effective and accurate market research. This can offer you a metaphorical parachute to soften your descent, giving you more time and resources to build your plane.
Conducting a business audit backed by research helps to accurately uncover your customer’s wants and needs. It can assess how well a business meets those needs compared to competitors. By using advanced techniques, such as segmentation and persona development, and with the help of AI, businesses can tailor their marketing efforts to resonate with specific consumer segments.
Instead of wasting time and money relying on hunches, an audit can help you validate your communications - such as your taglines, imagery, packaging, and ads – by testing them on your target. This ensures they resonate effectively before spending time and money launching them.
At Split Second Research, we provide brand audits that include neuromarketing elements to dig deeper into consumers’ brains, often described as the “secret weapon” of big brands. Household names including Coca-Cola, Danone, Nando’s, BBC, ITV, and many more have trusted us to deliver accurate, actionable insights. We believe smaller businesses should have that same opportunity for growth.
Search for us on Facebook and LinkedIn, and find more about The Growth Strategy Project for small businesses over on our website www.splitsecondresearch.co.uk/growth.
Written by Dr Eamon Fulcher and Geraldine Trufil, co-founders of Split Second Research
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