Building or transforming a brand is a challenging task. Your brand impacts all your business aspects and can influence even the way you work. Branding costs time, resources, and money, so getting it right the first time is crucial.
Therefore, you cannot rely solely on your intuition and preferences to build your brand. You cannot guess what your public wants. You need to research the market to find out what it’s in demand and what the public expects from your business.
Why should you do brand research?
It is, without a doubt, the first thing you must do. You might need a helping hand to kick off
your business, even though you can start writing yourself if you are good at it. Still, it is better
to hire at least one individual in the beginning. You can build a whole team of skilled writers
later, but having one good writer at the beginning will do the job.
For this purpose, you need to look up freelancing websites online. These websites enlist
information about the writer, rank them according to popularity, and even have a comment
section where different people share their views. In this way, it will be easy for you to find a
talented, trustworthy writer.
Building your brand and proving your credibility:
To understand why you need to do brand research, you need to answer the questions What will you learn through brand research? What are your goals? What are you looking for?
Marketing specialists state that brand research should answer the following questions:
– What do your clients believe about your brand at present?
– What would your clients value in the future?
– What do your employees and business stakeholders believe about your brand?
It’s obvious why you need to learn what your internal and external audiences expect from your brand because the primary goal of branding is to meet your public’s requirements. But to determine where your brand is heading, you need to know where it’s now. Market research is crucial for this because you may think you’re an expert on your brand, but you’re too subjective, to be honest about it, and therefore you may not be able to see what your customers love or hate about it. When operating based solely on your expertise, you’re more likely to make mistakes.
Market research should be an integral part of your branding plan because it consists of fact-finding, problem-solving, and analysis, all vital in determining how to market your brand and configure your business growth. When running market research, focus on the following types of data.
Identify your ideal client
Branding can help you reach your ideal client, but first, you need to find out who they are. Market research can provide you with statistical information about the market segments, target market demographics, buying decisions, and needs. This data can help you clarify which marketing tools you should use to promote your brand and products. It would help if you aimed to become an authority in your field and reach your ideal customer via your marketing profiles. Research should help you create a profile for your target market:
– How old are your clients?
– Are they male or female?
– What is their income?
– What is their job?
– Do they have children?
– Do they own a vehicle?
– What are their hobbies?
Market research uncovers all the details that help you define your brand and establish a product’s price and promotion strategy.
The best location or placement for your brand
Where should you sell your products? Where should you distribute from? Should you sell your products online or in a brick-and-mortar store? Research data can help you avoid unpleasant surprises when reaching your audience and growing your business. Branding research ensures that your company is aware of the latest market trends, changes in the economy, and demographic shifts and the way they impact your brand’s evolution. Only when you hold this piece of information, your company can expand and grow steadily, driving an income. As it may be challenging for you to identify the best spot in the market to sell your products, you may want to hire a company that offers market research services for business. It can run regular market research to ensure your brand keeps up with the latest tendencies.
Identify your company's strengths and weaknesses
To build a strong brand, you must identify your business’ strengths and weaknesses. Market research collects data on how your competitors promote their services and identify the main differences between your strategies and theirs. What is their price point? Once the market research provides a complete picture of the marketing methods your competitors use, you can analyse them and decide what you like and what you don’t. Having a look at your competitors’ marketing campaigns can help you identify your brand’s strengths and weaknesses and ways to use them to your advantage.
Pricing data
You can set a price for your services and products based on the price your target audience is willing to pay, financing options, popular profit margins, and competitors’ prices. Market research provides data about all these aspects, so you can use it to establish fair pricing for your products. A popular profit margin will also take a look at the profit similar products make in your sector. The profit margin is a valuable tool to look at when trying to establish your branding image on the market because the price sets your products apart from those of your competitors.
Information about similar products
Whether you sell services or products, it’s crucial to know what it’s available on the market and what your competition is offering. Market research can help you improve your services and products based on the information your prospects offer. Finding out what they need and want enables you to create a product as close to perfection as possible. When you design your services or products, focus on aspects like appearance, function, warranty, and customer service.
Brand awareness and perception
Going through the information, you gather during market research helps you understand what people think of your brand. You’ll find out if they know who you are or if you need to educate them. In case they know who you are, learn what they knew about your business and if they could pinpoint the values you stand for. Do they perceive you as a luxury brand or an economy one? Did they associate your brand with other ones?
Branding and marketing are expensive processes, and it’s essential to gain an understanding of the market’s opinion before investing in anything to ensure that you’re doing it right.
Keep in mind that brand research isn’t something you do once. You need to collaborate with specialists that perform market research regularly to examine the industry and ensure your brand’s not out of date.