Providing information on marketing activities

Product research. Product research explores where opportunities and gaps exist for improving existing products or introducing new ones, concept testing, sizing the market for a product, market penetration, prioritizing product features and preferences, testing product effectiveness and customer receptivity, user testing, pricing strategies, product naming and branding, and gauging how to position a product relative to competitors.

Marketing, advertising, and promotion research. This area of research seeks to improve the effectiveness and reach of marketing activities such as market segmentation, messaging and communications, advertising and media testing, events and sponsorships, packaging and display testing.

Corporate research. Corporate research investigates corporate reputation and opportunities for strengthening an organization’s position in the market through brand building, research and development, mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, corporate planning and profitability.

Marketing research is usually a wise investment when it’s undertaken to inform decisions involving a significant shift in direction, whether that shift is associated with a product, brand, message, tone, corporate image or other area linked to a major change and related investment. Marketing research projects may be large or small in terms of time, scope, cost, and resources involved. With a simple project, it could take an in-house marketer just a few hours to formulate research questions and analyze a data set from internal or secondary data sources, with no external costs. Complex marketing research projects may take longer than a year to complete and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to research firms that specialize in particular markets or types of research.
As organizations grow, they may employ a marketing research director to oversee and coordinate research activities to ensure that they are getting accurate data and useful results. Smaller organizations without this internal capacity may hire a marketing research company or consultant to conduct the project, lead data collection, provide analysis, and advise on the best methods for interpreting and acting on research findings.

American retail giant Target employed extensive marketing research to help it figure out how to rebuild its brand after a sales slump. The slump was triggered by an unsuccessful repositioning move as a “bargain brand” during the economic downturn of 2008 and a highly publicized data breach in 2013 that left many customers distrustful of the company. Company leadership used marketing research to identify opportunities to reinvigorate the Target brand and win new audiences. A new strategy unveiled in 2015 targets young Hispanic moms as a new and growing demographic the company wants to win over, in addition to suburban “soccer moms” who have been the company’s mainstay segment. Targeted advertising (no pun intended), product development, and the in-store experience are all being tested and refined to appeal to this segment.

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