Australia is among the top developed nations that have not experienced a recession in the last 3 decades. Favourable regulations and a steady political scenario add to its positive business landscape. These indicate admirable economic resilience and a promising market for new businesses.
Like in any other nation, for a company to sell a product or service successfully in Australia, it requires well-attained marketing research.
Research on the overall market includes a much wider area of information, pertaining to economic conditions, competitor analysis, trends, technology and more. Marketing research, on the other hand, focuses primarily on data that assists businesses to market their products or services better.
It is largely about consumer demographics and habits, promotions and other marketing-related areas. Important decisions regarding distribution, pricing, packaging, sales and advertising can be made with the help of specific marketing research.
Here are a few ways to collect up-to-date and relevant marketing research to help your business succeed:
Surveys & Interviews
Surveys include a list of questions that are easy and quick for respondents to answer. Though paper surveys still exist, many others are conducted over email, through websites, social media or even over the phone.
The effectiveness of a survey depends on the quality of questions, proper implementation and analysis of results. Some surveys are anonymous with limited details about the respondent such as age group and location.
Interviews are similar, in the way that they are again all about the questions being asked.
However, interviews take time and can be more in-depth due to the open-ended nature of interview questions. You may conduct live/face-to-face interviews, online interviews via video calls or phone interviews. Face to face interviews and video calls allow you to share visual information such as a logo, photos or branding colours to get honest feedback. You are also able to gauge body language and understand a respondent’s true feelings better.
Focus Groups and Observation
Focus groups are a common research technique and are utilised for a variety of reasons. Even though focus groups are an age-old technique, they are still one of the most effective ways of collecting true data points from a select group of people. This is due to the controlled nature of this technique which allows you to test your marketing collaterals and ideas with a sample section of your target audience.
There is a moderator who conducts the session and creates a comfortable, interactive environment for the group to share their ideas in. Questions are asked, and responses are recorded via video and written forms. These focus groups are sometimes viewed by others not present in the room to ensure all goes well.
Another form of studying the consumer is by observing him or her in a more natural environment. This observation can be conducted in shopping malls, offices and even consumer homes to view their accurate and actual behaviour, which may otherwise be influenced in some way in a survey or focus group situation.
Field Trials and Websites
In the field trials, you may place your products in select outlets or e-commerce websites to see how they work in a real sale situation. This is called the product testing stage and includes a small sample size. Based on field trials and consumer responses, you may make changes in the actual product, its packaging, pricing and even the way you sell it.
Associations and Tools
Apart from specific product or service testing, there is a plethora of information available on consumer trends, preferences and demand via various Government and Industry references.
There are industry associations in Australia that regularly release newsletters and magazines in specific industries. Research resources can be downloaded from websites belonging to associations such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics. You may also join the Industry Capability Network (ICN) for updated market information that can help your business. Keeping in touch with the industry via expos and trade shows is also a great way to stay in tune with your consumer and sector. If your product or service is an online offering, you may also utilise the Think with Google tool to boost your online presence and get unique insights into your digital marketing.
To sum up, conducting marketing research is a thorough and comprehensive activity that requires resources and expertise. This is why most businesses, especially the new ones, prefer to outsource their marketing research needs to marketing companies such as OK. to focus better on their core functions and business.
