In the current era of modern business, things aren’t just more fast-paced than ever – people also have shorter attention spans than ever. Studies have shown that the amount of time that the average person is able to pay attention to a particular screen or piece of media has been rapidly shrinking year after year, which means that it’s only going to get more difficult for your brand to try to sell itself to any potential consumers.
While it can be said that the rise of digital marketing has put more power into the hands of SME’s and small business owners, lowering the barrier for entry to allow more companies to market themselves to the public through the widespread use of social media platforms, it is also a double-edged sword. More accessibility also means more competition. With thousands of companies fighting for the attention of a consumer that may only span a couple of seconds, the battle to get your brand seen and recognised by consumers is more brutal than ever.
How many Ads can you spot in this picture?
So, if digital marketing is no longer the one-stop solution it used to be, how can a business owner hope to even compete with established brands that are already occupying the attention spans of consumers? The answer lies in market research.
Market research has the potential to be the most powerful tool at your brand’s disposal, helping your business to make informed decisions based on comprehensive and accurate data gathered from the market. By utilising market research, you’ll be able to make data driven decisions for your business and mitigate risks while formulating your strategy to grow your brand.
Whether you’re launching a startup or steering your established brand towards growth, harnessing the power of market research is the key to making sure that all your business decisions are fruitful – whether it’s in marketing, R&D, or daily operations.
[What] Is Market Research?
Put simply, market research is the study of consumer behaviour and the trends in an economy in order to help develop a business. It is also a process used to evaluate new products and services to see how they perform and can be improved.
One can always attempt to expand their brand through new marketing tactics or by offering a brand-new product/service, but even innovative ventures can turn out to be fruitless if that particular innovation doesn’t suit the needs or desires of your consumers.
Thus, market research enters the picture as a powerful tool that enables you to gauge what your consumers are thinking by analysing data on the market and your consumers. However, there’s so much more to market research than just being a methodology for gathering information.
Here’s a simple chart to illustrate how it works:
This gives a clear view of where Oppotus comes into the picture, as our area of strength has always been in custom research.
To start with, let’s look into the first tier’s definition:
- Primary: Research conducted by a person/organisation to collect new and original data. This involves going directly to a source – usually customers and prospective customers in your target market – to ask them questions and gather information.
- Secondary: Gathering, summarising, and analysing data that has been collected by others. Secondary research makes use of data that other people have obtained through primary research.
Secondary research is incredibly useful when you need to have a look at the big picture: the current state of the market and landscape as a whole, which contains all your consumers and competitors. However, primary research is absolutely vital in situations where you need information relating specifically to your brand and your products/services.
This is where market research agencies such as ourselves come in, who can conduct two types of specialised primary research:
- Syndicated research: A study executed by a market research agency without being commissioned by a particular customer/business. For example, a quarterly report on the general trends of the local economy/consumers, like the Oppotus Malaysians on Malaysia (MOM) report. Syndicated research can also be collected on a particular market/segment to be shared with interested clients at a later date.
- Custom research: A study that is tailored to a specific client’s needs. This type of research also has 2 types of categories, qualitative and quantitative.
- Qualitative: Collecting data which is made up of personal accounts or documentation that provides detailed responses and explanations of how people think and respond. The results from interviews and focus groups fall under qualitative data/research, as they can be conducted and structured in a way which allows for more open ended and comprehensive answers. This type of research is more exploratory in nature and is for understanding the nuances in consumer’s stories and feedback.
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- Quantitative: Collecting numerical, or measurable data. These are more often collected from surveys and questionnaires, where consumers can quickly provide responses to short multiple-choice questions or provide yes/no answers which can be compiled to form a set of data. This type of research is to validate and quantify/verify any information which will prove useful in driving your brand to greater success while tracking its progress.
Both syndicated and custom research demonstrate the unique capabilities of a market research agency, and both will prove to be incredibly useful to your brand and its unique individual position.
[How] Does Market Research Help Your Brand?
Besides collecting data for your perusal, market research also serves as a powerful tool to guide your decision making in every aspect of growing your brand. It provides critical information about your market and your business landscape, such as how consumers view your brand in relation to your competitors, and what these consumers actually desire from your product or service. Having access to all this up-to-date knowledge will allow you to make informed and effective decisions to grow your brand and bring in not just bigger revenue, but more renown among consumers which will set your brand up for success in the years to come.
It also plays an important role in the process of developing your products and services, bringing them to the marketplace, and marketing them to consumers. For example, if you were planning to bring a new product to the market such as a new soft drink flavour, conducting market research before the product launch would allow you to glean valuable information such as what flavours consumers currently prefer, what types of flavours consumers would be interested in trying that aren’t already on the market, and the best way to present your brand to attract consumers to try your new drink.
Thus, investing in market research before approaching any major business decisions or developing and launching a new product would allow you to make the most of your resources to maximize your product and brand’s success, rather than embarking on unfruitful ventures.
[When] Is the Right Time to Conduct Market Research?
Making good use of market research is all about being informed so that you can make effective decisions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that your brand needs to be engaged with market research around the clock throughout the entire year. You can leave that to us as we’ll be sure to have a watchful eye on consumer’s habits and a finger firmly on the pulse of the market landscape as the years goes by.
So, if that’s the case, when is the right time to conduct market research? If you ask us, it’s best used as a precision strike to help you formulate important decisions relating to your brand, such as in the following cases:
- When coming up with ideas for a new product or re-working an existing product.
- A yearly brand health check to understand where your brand stands and identify the best possible step to take next in order to grow your brand.
- Monthly customer satisfaction surveys to understand your brand’s customer satisfaction and build strong loyalty with your consumers.
In each of these scenarios, you can trust us to not only be able to dive into your brand’s situation at a moment’s notice, but we’ll also be bringing our existing in-depth knowledge on the local market with us to help leverage the best possible decisions for your brand.
[Who] Can Help You with Market Research?
While it is possible to attempt to conduct primary and secondary market research on your own, all the market research methods and benefits outlined above would be most effective if entrusted to market research experts. Here at Oppotus, we are a full-service custom research consultancy that is perfectly geared to help you with all your market research needs, whenever the time may arise.
Besides having an all-round team with experience amounting to decades at the forefront of market research, we also have the unique feature of being a global agency with a local spin – an agency that is in-line with the latest market research techniques and trends on an international level, while also having a comprehensive in-depth understanding of Malaysian markets and consumers.
A team of professional, nimble, and agile yet grounded in the necessary rigour to deliver actionable insights, executing local, regional and global research initiatives – from tactical to strategic.
While some of our past clients may of course choose to not fully disclose their involvement with us to the public due to confidentiality, we’ve received good reviews from businesses who have been able to innovate and elevate their brand thanks to our market research capabilities:
Having worked with many research companies before, Oppotus was by far the easiest one to work with. They were very creative and collaborative and even helped us co-design the research scope. The output was insightful and very relevant in informing our strategy for 2021. Looking forward to working together again! – Manager, Strategy & Innovation (Retail Bank)
We’ve also gotten positive feedback from our FMCG clients:
My experience with the Oppotus team has been truly insightful. Their understanding of market dynamics and adept use of innovative methodologies have equipped us with invaluable market intelligence to optimize our product catering to the diverse and discerning profile of our respective markets. Responsive and flexible towards customizing clients’ needs, I am confident to endorse the Oppotus team. – Category Manager, Arla Food
To get started on your market research journey, feel free to reach out to us at theteam@oppotus.com
