Researching the Roots

Think about this… You want to create a new curly hair brand and release it by the end of next month. How feasible is that? There is more than just creating a product and announcing the launch of your new brand. Looking In Market research allows us to find out all of the information we may need in order to create a perfect marketing plan to launch your new brand.  This entails consumer insights, possible competitors, sales data, and analyzing marketing strategies. You need to be able to understand the market that you will release your products into and find ways to thrive within it. As a consumer, what do you want from a new curly hair brand? Think of yourself as the person who will be purchasing your items off the shelf. Conducting research will be the backbone of your brand's success⁠— this is because you need to know what you are getting yourself into. There is quantitative and qualitative research, alongside primary and secondary research. Quantitative research allows you to measure your data and generalize the results from sample to the population of interest. Meanwhile qualitative research helps you gain an understanding of the underlying reasons and motivations of your sample size regarding your research objective. 

Primary research consists of interviews, observations, focus groups, descriptive surveys, and experiments. These research tools allow you to make detailed decisions based on your research objective. Reports and pre-existing data are known to be forms of secondary research. 

Marketers utilize surveys, polls, social listening, and analytics tools to conduct the research. No matter how big or small your business is, you should always conduct market research. After the brand launches, you can utilize your social media platforms to get feedback from your audience. Engaging with your followers can help you increase the media traffic on your website and accounts and will also provide more ratings of your brand. 

Go From Guessing to Guiding The research data you obtain will allow you to strategically structure your marketing plan. The information and answers that you receive will allow you to think and plan ahead for what's to come. For example, you may be able to spot trends before they go mainstream. Finding the similarities amongst the different types of methods of research will give you insights of what your target audience wants and needs. Keeping these responses in mind when launching a new brand or product is crucial because you want your target audience to purchase your new products. 

The more you know, the better. Research data gives you a better understanding of your target audience on a deeper level. When preparing a campaign you’ll have to share all of the valuable data that you have received to your team so that everyone is on board. This will help you influence your team's thoughts, clients, and potential collaborators in supporting your brand. Research data will help you become and maintain your role as a marketing leader because it anchors you down. It can be overwhelming to figure out your marketing plan and strategies for your new brand to succeed. The data will allow you to feel confident with your plan of action and can provide clarity for the future. Whether you are running the team of a small agency or a big corporation, research data will allow you to be a trusted leader when working alongside your peers.