Conducting market research can feel like a daunting task, but it provides invaluable insights. To help focus your team, look at these three key areas: (1) competitive creative, share of voice, and digital analysis, (2) qualitative/quantitative consumer, physician and employee research, and (3) creative/digital testing. First, your competitive set is important when thinking about your overall strategy and to ensure your positioning is differentiating in the marketplace. Look at your competitors’ share of voice, media planning, PR, advertising and so on to determine where opportunities lie. However, you want to avoid becoming reactive to your competition. Instead, use the research to develop a strategy and messaging that’s right for your organization.
Second, use your qualitative and quantitative research to determine what attributes are most valuable among key audiences. This will keep you focused when making strategic decisions that will impact core constituents. Then, test your marketing campaign. This is an excellent exercise to see how your campaign is perceived and interpreted by the target audience. Reviewing the test group’s responses gives you an opportunity to make adjustments that will lead to a more effective campaign.
It’s also vital that your research findings remain on the forefront of everything you do. Continually return to the research to stay aligned with your initial strategy and creative brief. Did you end up where you intended to be? Finally, you want to benchmark your results over time against your initial qualitative and quantitative research. Keep the data points the same throughout the process so you can trend your results over the long term. Ultimately, this will allow you to prove whether or not you are gaining valuable results.