Market Research For Marketing Success

What is marketing? That’s a question asked by many business owners who struggle with the concept of marketing a business. Simply put, marketing refers to the act by which an organization undertakes in order to engage its intended target audience, develop brand awareness to create value to get more return on investment, and create competitive advantage. Market competition is constantly increasing and it is essential to establish a competitive advantage to remain relevant and to remain at the forefront of the market. Marketers need various tools and frameworks to successfully market their businesses.

Importance Of Measuring Results

Companies need to measure the results of their marketing campaigns and formulate a strategy to optimize return on investment. It is very important that companies develop a comprehensive marketing plan. A water pump company would do well to read water pump reviews in order to understand how satisfied their customers are. Marketing strategies should be based on the concept of coordinated marketing, wherein every aspect of the marketing program is geared towards satisfying the customers needs and expectations. The concept of coordinated marketing revolves around four key elements – identifying the customers needs and expectations, measuring the needs and expectations, developing a marketing strategy and implementing the marketing strategy.

Despite the importance of the concept of marketing, marketers often fail to execute the concept successfully due to several reasons. The major reason why marketers fail to implement the concept successfully is due to lack of knowledge, information and resources. In most cases, marketers do not effectively measure their marketing efforts, they fail to align their marketing efforts with the strategy, they fail to develop a comprehensive plan, and they fail to measure the results of their marketing programs. All these factors have a negative impact on the marketer’s reputation and they will be distracted from their ultimate objective – to achieve superior quality product and service – and hence, the company suffers loss of customers. Below are some of the common mistakes committed by marketers, which hinder them from achieving superior quality product and service:

Marketing Myopia 

Marketers often underestimate the importance of marketing tools and resources in the overall scheme of things. They assume that they can engage consumers through the use of the conventional marketing tools such as television, radio, print, and billboards without having to focus on other effective marketing strategies. They ignore the fact that consumers spend only a limited time looking at marketing tools and media and ignore the fact that marketing concepts need to be constantly and consistently re-iterated to consumers in order to obtain customer loyalty and repeat business. The main concept of marketing is about creating awareness about a product or service, but this does not stop at the consumer level. Marketers need to actively engage consumers in every stage of the development process. Marketers should also continuously evaluate marketing strategies, products, and services on a regular basis to ensure that consumers are aware of the product and remain interested in its advancements.

Misplaced Customer Orientation

One of the biggest problems faced by marketers today is that of misfiring their marketing concept towards satisfying consumers. Marketers should orient their marketing concept towards satisfying customers first and foremost before thinking of incorporating other marketing strategies. It is always advisable for marketers to think of customer orientation even before implementing any marketing strategies. Apart from ensuring that marketing is geared towards meeting the needs and interests of consumers, it is also important that the customers get what they want at the lowest possible price. By doing this marketing concept successfully, a company ensures that its marketing strategy is effectively implemented and consumers are satisfied with the product or service.

Misplaced Consumer Psychology

Another major problem that marketers face today is that of confusing their consumers with confusing marketing concepts. For example, if a marketing research is conducted and a marketing concept is set, but the concept is so perplexing that it leads the consumer to question whether the product is worth buying or not, then this is considered as a failure of the marketing concept. This is because the concept was flawed from the start and did not have proper consumer orientation. Marketing research firms are well-aware of this concept and conduct market researches to ensure that customers fully understand what is being offered to them. Marketers therefore need to make sure that they do market researches thoroughly to ensure that their concepts are in line with what the consumers truly want.

Marketers Should Apply New Selling Concepts Instead Of Replacing Old Ones 

Another aspect that marketing management professionals need to consider is that of replacing old selling concepts with newer ones. Some of these might include brand new selling points or better packaging. It may sometimes be good to keep some old selling concepts, such as the customer-centric approach, which ensures that the customer is the king and all his concerns are taken care of. However, marketers should not simply replace old concepts with newer ones, as this will confuse the consumers even more.

Summary

Marketers should also not use market research firms solely for conducting market researches as this can also lead to failure in the long run. Rather, they should use the services of market research firms while planning their marketing campaigns to ensure that their concepts are in line with what the consumers really want and need. Moreover, using marketing research firms for product development also ensures that marketers spend their money on creating new products and services instead of just replacing the products that are already in the market with something new. This ensures that marketers spend their money on creating a niche for themselves and on developing products and services that the consumers will definitely want to try.