Market research is a key part of a business marketing plan. There are two aspects of your market you need to assess to create a successful digital marketing strategy – your industry and your clientele.
Know Your Industry
Gaining basic familiarity with your industry seems like a no-brainer, but how can you use the internet to make your brand an authority?
Track Keywords
What buzzwords come to mind when you think of the product or service you offer? Setting up Google Alerts for keywords specific to your company’s services will help you keep track of new developments in your industry.
Keep Tabs On Your Competitors
Do you know exactly who you’re competing against in your market? Knowing your competitors can paint a landscape of the current state of your industry and what your clients want.
Chances are if your competitors are posting a lot on a particular topic, that’s an important thing to be talking about, too. Don’t be afraid to learn from them – they might have data or information that you’re not aware of.
One way to check in on your competition is to scan competitor websites and blogs. A second, more passive, way is simply following your competition on social media. Their posts will appear on your feed without any effort on your part. Maybe you’ll even get some inspiration for your next ad campaign.
Hone in on Customer Demographics
Beyond creating a better service, being aware of your customer’s needs will help craft a sharp SEO copywriting strategy. Here are some of the basics of getting to know the ins and outs of your clientele:
Dive Deeper Than The Basics
The first step is looking at who your product or service is aimed at.
From there, you can create a buyer persona and begin hypothesizing your customers’ pain points, questions, and goals. Knowing your buyer persona and buyer’s journey will let you create content valuable to your demographic.
Practice Social Listening
Social listening is a great way to find out what’s trending online or what people are talking about. By doing this, you’ll become more aware of what people are searching for on search engines from Google to Yelp to Youtube.
Monitoring your readers’ comments and engagements is also a crucial part of social listening. Acknowledging your readers humanizes your brand and communicates that you’re apt to provide solutions and support.
Similarly, responding to reviews (yes – even the positive ones) is an important way to not just understand your customers and their experiences, but also build trust.
Get To Know Your Customers Personally
Actually getting to know your customers can be a boots-on-the-ground effort. However, it doesn’t always mean throwing a huge event just to get in front of them.
One of the most effective ways of understanding your current customer base is by conducting surveys.
By using an online survey tool like SurveyMonkey, you’re able to directly ask your clients the questions you’re dying to know the answers to. It doesn’t get much more straightforward than that.
Online survey tools allow you to customize surveys (and even use provenly successful default questions if you’re stuck) and send them to your clients with a simple link.
Once you start collecting responses, you’ll be able to see results that will ultimately improve your product and give you direction on how to grow.
Do you need a hand getting started with digital marketing? Leave us a comment on how you plan on starting your marketing research.