The ability to differentiate your brand and capture the attention of your target audience is core to staying ahead of the competition, so how do you determine the positioning for your brand? The answer lies in market research.
Market research enables you to gain valuable insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and needs to identify the most effective strategies to position your brand for success. In this article, we'll explore the role of market research in your market positioning strategy and discuss how businesses can leverage this powerful tool to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Small business owners and marketing professionals can benefit from understanding the importance of market research to craft thoughtful decisions and positioning strategies to achieve their business objectives. Let's explore together the world of market research and effective positioning strategies.
The Role of Market Research for Effective Market Positioning Strategy
Market research is the process of collecting and analyzing information about the market, including consumer behavior, preferences, and needs. It is an essential tool for businesses to understand their target audience and decide on product development, marketing, and sales strategies.
Market research can help businesses identify market trends, assess the competition, and determine the most effective positioning statement for their brand.
Strategic positioning, on the other hand, is the process of defining how a brand is different from its competitors and communicating that difference to the target audience. It involves identifying a unique selling proposition (USP) and developing a market positioning that highlights that USP. Competitive positioning is critical for businesses to stand out in a competitive landscape.
Market research and positioning are closely related. Market research provides the data and insights necessary to develop an effective strategic positioning plan. Without market research, businesses risk developing a marketing approach that may not be effective in reaching their target audience or differentiating their brand identity from competitors.
What Is a Positioning Strategy?
A positioning strategy is a plan of action that a company takes to establish a product or service in the minds of its target audience.
A well-crafted positioning strategy aims to create a unique and valuable image for the product or service in consumers' minds to differentiate from the competition. Positioning strategies typically involve the following steps:
- To identify the target audience and their unique needs and preferences.
- To define the key features and benefits of the product or service most relevant to the target audience.
- To identify the positioning options available and select the most appropriate and effective.
- To develop a message and communication strategy to transmit the positioning to the target audience through multiple channels, including paid advertising, public relations, and social media.
The Role of Market Research in Positioning Strategy
Market research is the process of collecting and analyzing information about the market, including consumer behaviour, preferences, and needs. It is an essential tool for businesses to understand their target audience and decide on product development, marketing, and sales strategies.
Market research can help businesses identify market trends, assess the competition, and determine an effective positioning statement for their brand.
Strategic positioning defines how a brand outgrows its competitors and communicates the difference to the intended audience.
It involves identifying a unique selling proposition (USP) and developing a marketing plan that highlights that USP. Positioning is critical for businesses to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
As you can see, market research and strategic positioning are linked. Market research provides the data and insights to develop an effective positioning plan. Without market research, businesses risk developing an inefficient marketing direction and failing to differentiate their brand from competitors.
Benefits of Conducting Market Research
Market research provides multiple benefits for businesses, they help you:
Understand the Needs and Preferences of Their Prospects
Businesses can develop products and services that meet the needs of their intended audience based on consumer behavior and preferences.
Market Research Helps Businesses Assess the Competition
By analyzing data on their competitors, businesses can identify gaps in the market and develop strategies to differentiate their brands from competitors.
Market Research Can Help Businesses Identify Market Trends
By collecting data on market trends, businesses can identify opportunities for growth and development. It helps businesses stay ahead of the competition and adapt to changes in the market.
Types of Market Research
Depending on the data a business requires, it can resort to different varieties of marketing research. Here is a list you can use to determine the appropriate marketing research for your positioning objectives.
Primary Research
Primary research is the process by which businesses collect new data that is tailored to their specific needs. This can be achieved through various methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, and even leveraging modern communication channels like text forwarding or email. By utilizing these approaches, businesses gain valuable insights and firsthand information to inform their decision-making processes.
Secondary Research
It involves Using existing data, such as market reports, government statistics, and academic research, to gather information on a specific topic.
Qualitative Research
This type of research involves obtaining data based on qualities, opinions, and subjective evaluations rather than statistical data.
Quantitative Research
Focuses more on numbers and statistical data to make informed decisions.
Exploratory Research
It aims to clarify and define a problem or to identify a new opportunity.
Descriptive Research
The research aims to describe the characteristics or functions of a market.
Correlational Research
The research seeks to establish relationships between factors and to identify cause-and-effect relationships.
Longitudinal Research
It involves collecting data from the same group or companies over time.
How to Select the Right Strategy
According to their plans, businesses can select different types of market research based on their goals and the information they seek.
For example, if a business wants to gather new data on its intended audience, it may conduct primary research through surveys, interviews, or consumer research groups. On the other hand, if a business wants to research a specific industry, secondary research through market reports, government statistics, or academic research is the best option.
Combining both models can provide a complete understanding of their audience and market.
Additionally, businesses may use different research methods at diverse stages of their product or service development to gather varying types of information.
Steps in Conducting Market Research
Conducting market research involves the following steps.
-
To define the research objectives. It involves identifying the questions the research aims to answer and the information to answer those questions.
-
To develop a research plan. It identifies the research methods to collect data, the sample size, and the demographic groups.
-
To collect data. It can involve conducting surveys, consumer groups, interviews, or observation. Secondary research can help with data collection.
-
To analyze the data. It interprets the data and identifies patterns and trends to develop insight into consumer behavior and preferences.
Analyzing Market Research Data
Analyzing market research data is a critical step in the market research process. The data collected through market research can provide invaluable insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and needs.
Organizations can use different techniques to analyze data, including statistical analysis and data visualization.
It is about calculating averages, standard deviations, and correlations. Data visualization aims to present data in visuals such as graphs and charts, helping businesses identify patterns and trends for data-based decisions.
Identifying and Evaluating Target Markets
One of the benefits of market research is that it can help businesses identify and evaluate their target markets. Organizations can analyze consumer behavior and preferences to identify demographics, psychographics, and customer base behavior.
Once identified the target market, businesses can evaluate the market size and growth potential for a data-driven approach to product development, marketing, and sales strategies.
Developing a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Developing a unique selling proposition (USP) is a critical step in the brand positioning process. A USP is a statement that defines what makes a brand unique and different from its competitors.
Identifying what sets the brand apart from the competition is fundamental for developing a USP. It involves analyzing data on consumer behavior and preferences, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of competitors.
Implementing Your Strategic Positioning Plan
With the tactical positioning plan in hand, it is time to implement it. Develop a marketing approach that communicates the USP to the intended audience.
The marketing strategy must consider the target audience's preferences and behavior and leverage the unique feature that differentiates the brand.
A professional marketing strategy includes a range of tactics, including advertising, public relations, social media, and content marketing. The tactics are designed to reach the market segment through their preferred channels and should comply with the brand's messaging and positioning.
Measuring Success and Adapting Your Strategy Accordingly
Measuring the success of the positioning plan is critical to its ongoing effectiveness. Businesses must track key metrics, such as sales, customer satisfaction, and brand awareness, to determine whether the approach delivers results.
If the plan is not achieving the desired results, businesses must adapt their strategy accordingly. It may involve revising the USP, adjusting the marketing strategy, or targeting a different audience.
