Welcome to the Market Research section of the strategy, where you will establish the foundation for the entire strategy. That’s ahead in here you’re going to learn three important things.

Number one, learning about your product details to understand why customers find your product attractive and how best to sell to them.

Number two, creating a target audience persona to understand who your customers are and how best to target them.

And number three, doing a competitor analysis to understand your competitors’ weaknesses, and how we can beat them.

Product Detail in Market Research

we will take the first step in your market research journey: understanding the details of your product. This is important and it’s important to have it as a first step because understanding the details of your product means understanding what makes it so attractive to potential customers.

By understanding what makes your product so attractive to customers, you’ll also understand what to write on your website, what to write on your product pages, what to write in your blog articles, what to write in your emails, etcetera.

As we continue building this strategy. So needless to say, you need to have a deep understanding of your product to start building a deep understanding of your customers so that we can start selling effectively to them.

Now, product details means understanding the benefits and understanding the features of your product. Now, the benefits of a product means what experience is your product going to be giving your customers?

How is it going to improve their life?

How is it going to be solving a problem?

How is it going to be making their life better?

What sort of experience is your product going to be giving your customers?

That experience is called a benefit.

Now a feature is not an experience.

A feature is something specific about the product itself. So a product feature could be what it’s made of, how long it is, the dimensions of it, what color it is, what size it is. Features are very specific about the product. While benefits is about what experiences that the product can give the customer.

In order to be effective at selling your product, you need to have a deep understanding of both the

benefits and the features.

Explain how these features address customer pain points and what makes this product stand out from competitors.

Additionally, highlight any testimonials, awards or certifications associated with the product that can be leveraged to enhance credibility and trust among potential customers.

You now have your product details saved down and you now have a deeper understanding why product details is the first step of your market research and why they’re so effective. If you can understand what makes a product attractive to your customers, that means that you understand how to sell the product to those potential customers and you’ll know what to write on your product pages, on your website, in your emails, on your blog articles.

So this is really the first and one of the most important steps we need to take in our market research

Target Audience persona

In market research

When you’re just starting out with digital marketing and building your first strategy, you’re not goingto have any data whatsoever on who your actual customers are going to be.

You don’t know what they like. You don’t know what they dislike, what their pain points are, what their approximate age are.

If there’s going to be mostly men or women interested in buying, and because we don’t have this data,

we’re going to create something called a target audience persona.

Now, a target audience is the person who is most likely to buy your product or service. It target audience persona is a made up person who has all things in common with your real audience, most likely to buy your product or service like their age, their interests, their problems, their passions.

Having a target audience persona is so important because even if you have no data whatsoever, it helps you understand what your audience is looking for, what their problems are and what their needs are. And by understanding this, you know how to talk with them in order to connect with them.

And connecting with your audience is the first step to making a sale.

Competitor Analysis in Market Research

Conducting a competitor analysis is a crucial part of market research that helps you understand the competitive landscape of your industry. Here’s a structured approach to performing an effective competitor analysis:

1. Identify Your Competitors

• Direct Competitors: Companies that offer the same product or service to the same target audience.
• Indirect Competitors: Businesses that offer substitute products or services that fulfill similar customer needs.
• Emerging Competitors: New entrants in the market that could impact your business in the future.

2. Gather Information

• Company Overview: Basic details like founding year, location, and size.
• Products/Services: Analyze their offerings, including features, pricing, and unique selling propositions (USPs).
• Target Audience: Understand who their customers are and how they segment their market.
• Market Position: Determine their market share, reputation, and brand positioning.

3. Analyze Marketing Strategies

• Channels: What channels do they use for marketing (social media, email, SEO, PPC)?
• Content Strategy: Examine their blogs, videos, and other content. What topics do they cover, and how frequently do they post?
• Promotions and Discounts: What promotions do they run, and how effective are they?

4. Assess Online Presence

• Website: Analyze usability, design, content quality, and search engine optimization (SEO).
• Social Media: Evaluate their engagement levels, follower counts, and types of content shared.
• Customer Reviews: Look at customer feedback on platforms like Google, Yelp, or social media.

5. Evaluate Strengths and Weaknesses

• SWOT Analysis: Identify each competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
  • Strengths: What do they do well? (e.g., strong brand loyalty, innovative products)
  • Weaknesses: Where do they fall short? (e.g., poor customer service, high prices)

6. Benchmark Performance

• Sales Figures: If available, compare revenue and growth rates.
• Market Share: Estimate their share in relation to the overall market.
• Customer Satisfaction: Use metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) or customer satisfaction scores.

7. Identify Trends and Gaps

• Market Trends: Look for trends in consumer behavior, technology, and industry developments that competitors are responding to.
• Gaps in the Market: Identify opportunities that competitors are not addressing, which you could exploit.

8. Use Tools and Resources

• Online Tools: Utilize tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or SimilarWeb for SEO and traffic analysis.
• Social Media Monitoring: Tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social can help track competitor activity on social platforms.
• Surveys and Feedback: Gather insights from your own customers about why they choose your competitors.

9. Regularly Update Your Analysis

• The competitive landscape can change rapidly. Make it a habit to review and update your competitor analysis regularly to stay informed.

Conclusion

A thorough competitor analysis not only helps you understand your competitors but also informs your own business strategy, allowing you to identify opportunities for growth and differentiation in the market.