How do you research your market and competition?

1 Define your objectives

Before you start your research, it is essential to have a clear understanding of your objectives. Your objectives should be SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For instance, you may want to research your market and competition to validate your product idea and market fit, identify new opportunities and gaps in the market, benchmark your performance and best practices, develop or refine your marketing and sales strategy, or increase your customer satisfaction and retention.

2 Choose your methods

There are two main types of research methods: primary and secondary. Primary research involves collecting your own data directly from your target market, such as through surveys, interviews, focus groups, or observations. Secondary research involves using existing data from sources such as reports, publications, databases, or websites. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, so you need to choose the ones that suit your objectives, budget, and resources. You can also combine both methods to get a more comprehensive and reliable picture of your market and competition.

3 Segment your market

Market research is essential for understanding customers better, tailoring products and services to their preferences, and targeting them with marketing and sales campaigns. Segmenting your market into smaller groups with similar characteristics, needs, or behaviors is an important part of this process. You can segment your market based on demographic criteria such as age, gender, income, education, occupation; geographic criteria such as location, climate, region; psychographic criteria such as lifestyle, personality, values, attitudes; and behavioral criteria such as usage, loyalty, benefits sought, purchase decision.

4 Analyze your competition

Conducting a competitive analysis is an essential part of market research. To do this, you need to identify who your competitors are, what they offer, how they operate, and how they communicate with their customers. You can use tools such as SWOT analysis, Porter's five forces, competitive matrix, and competitive profile to help you analyze the competition. SWOT analysis looks at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Porter's five forces examines industry rivalry, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of suppliers, and bargaining power of buyers. A competitive matrix compares key features, benefits, prices, and ratings. Lastly, a competitive profile provides an overview of mission, vision, values, goals, strategies and tactics.

5 Interpret your results

Once you have collected and organized your data, you need to interpret your results and draw meaningful conclusions. To do this, look for patterns, trends, correlations, and anomalies in your data to answer your research questions and objectives. Evaluate the quality, validity, and reliability of your data, and identify any limitations, biases, or gaps in your research. You can use a variety of techniques and tools for interpretation such as data visualization with graphs, charts, tables, maps; data analysis with statistics, calculations, models; and data reporting with summaries, insights, recommendations.

6 Apply your findings

The final step of market research is to apply your findings to your business operations and decision-making. You can use the insights from your research to improve products and services, optimize marketing and sales strategies, and enhance customer experience. It’s also important to communicate your findings to stakeholders such as team members, management, investors, or partners. Various formats and channels can be utilized to share the findings, such as presentations (slides, videos, webinars), documents (reports, white papers, case studies), dashboards (interactive, real-time, and customizable), and action plans (goals, tasks, timelines, and responsibilities).

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?