WHAT IS MARKET RESEARCH

Market research involves researching information on your target audience, competitors, and industry. It helps you understand how your consumers think and behave, and it allows marketers to promote their products and services to a preferred audience.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT

Understanding your target market lets you advertise your products and services to the right people. This article will discuss market research and list valuable tools to launch a successful marketing campaign.

BENEFITS

BETTER RETURN OF INVESTMENT

Targeting the right audience allows you to spend your budget more wisely. It minimizes business risks and allocates funding for a better return on investment.

BETTER STRATEGIC MARKETING

Based on people’s interests, actions, age, gender, and relationship status, smarter and better strategic decisions can be formed.

MORE OPPORTUNITIES

Market Research lets marketers discover gaps in the market and uncover opportunities to promote sales. It helps identify market trends and capitalize on them.

PRICING

Market research helps you understand the income bracket of your target audience, and the prices charged by your competitors. The information lets you decide on your ideal product prices.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Market research allows you to measure customer satisfaction. Ask customers to complete reviews or surveys based on their experience with your goods or services.

GOOGLE FORMS

Google Forms is the first step to market research. It’s a Free Google Tool that marketers use to build professional-looking forms and share them easily across the internet. It’s a great tool for collecting data from your audience and understanding their mindset.

HOW TO USE GOOGLE FORMS

Click the + Blank form or Select a suitable template.

Add a Unique Title to “Untitled Form”

Add a Description to explain the reason for the form to your audience.

Add Your Question to “Untitled Questions”

Now decide how you want the audience to answer:

• Multiple Choice

• Checkboxes

• Dropdown

• Short Answer

• Long Answer

• Numeric Scale

• Date/Time

Add images, videos, and more questions to your form by using the Floating Vertical Menu located to the right of your form.

Scroll to Setting to make further adjustments to your form presentation and decide how the responses are collected and protected.

Now select Publish.

NOW SPREAD THE WORD

Use the Google Form Link you created on the following platforms:

A. Social Media

B. Email List

C. WhatsApp

D. Paid Ads

SOCIAL MEDIA

Share your Google form link on your Social Media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Tik Tok and Twitter.

EMAIL LIST

Send your Google form link to your email subscribers for product improvements and customer satisfaction inquiries.

Send your Google form link to friends on WhatsApp or group conversations for even more exposure.

PAID ADS

You can use Google Ads or Social Media Ads to reach more people and complete your Google form.

GOOGLE TRENDS

Google Trends provides information on what topics people search for over periods. It’s perfect for identifying interests and behavior patterns in specific regions. Its also good for understanding the demand of specific products.

HOW TO USE GOOGLE TRENDS

Go to Google Trends

Add your keyword in the Search Bar and Click the “Explore” Button

Now Filter your Searches with the following:

LOCATION FILTER

Select which country or region to explore interest trends for your keyword.

(EG: South Africa, Johannesburg, Cape Town)

PERIOD

Select the time you would like to explore the audiences’ interest trends.

(EG: Days, Weeks, Months, or Years)

WEB SEARCHES

Choose one of the following platforms to discover where the trend is most discussed.

(EG: Web Searches, Image Searches, Google Shopping, YouTube Search)

GOOGLE KEYWORD PLANNER

Google Keyword Planner provides information for Google search keywords. Marketers can discover the demand and popularity of industry-specific keywords to target for their campaigns. Its a powerful tool to understand what people are searching for online.

HOW TO USE GOOGLE KEYWORD PLANNER

Go to Google’s Keyword Planner

Click the blue “Visit Keyword Planner” button.

Select your account or create one with Gmail.

Click the “Discover New Keywords” tab.

Enter your keyword in the search bar and click the blue “Get Results” button.

INFORMATION ON GOOGLE'S KEYWORD PLANNER

AVG MONTHLY SEARCHES

This is the average number of monthly searches for a keyword on Google.

FOR INSTANCE

The keyword “SEO Services Johannesburg” receives ‘590’ searches per month.

– This means that 590 people type this keyword into Google every month. (On Average)

THREE MONTH CHANGE

This compares the number of searchers that have increased or decreased in the previous 3 months.

FOR INSTANCE

The keyword “SEO Services Johannesburg” has a 33% three-month change.

– This means the number of searches for this keyword has decreased by -33% in the last 3 months.

YOY CHANGE

This compares the number of searches of the current month with the same month of the previous year. (2024 Dec- 2023 Dec)

FOR INSTANCE

The keyword “SEO Services Johannesburg” has a -83% YOY (Year over Year).

– This means that the number of searches for this keyword has decreased by 83% compared with the same month of the previous year.

COMPETITION

Competition refers to the competition level for bidding keywords on Google Ads. There are 3 Levels of competition- LOW, MEDIUM AND HIGH.

FOR INSTANCE

The keyword “SEO Services Johannesburg” has LOW competition.

– This means that there are not many marketers using Google Ads for this specific keyword.

TOP OF PAGE BID- LOW

This is the minimum BID amount required to pay for your advert to reach Page 1 of Google when using Google Ads.

FOR INSTANCE

The keyword “SEO Services Johannesburg” has a BID amount of R31.45.

– It will cost at least R31.45 per BID for your advert to appear on Page 1 of Google.

TOP OF PAGE BID- HIGH

This is the maximum BID amount required to pay for your advert to reach Page 1 of Google when using Google Ads.

FOR INSTANCE

The keyword “SEO Services Johannesburg” has a BID amount of R60.77.

This means you won’t pay more than R60.77 per BID for your advert to appear on Page 1 of Google.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Google Analytics tracks and provides vital information regarding your website visitor’s behavior. It’s important to understand how your visitors interact with your site to make necessary adjustments to improve the visitors’ overall experience. Understanding audience insights allows you to improve your marketing efforts by determining what works.

HOW TO USE GOOGLE ANALYTICS

CREATE ACCOUNT

Click on the + Start Measuring

Enter your Business Name

Configure your Account Settings (Select Account Data Sharing Settings)

CREATE PROPERTY

Click on the Admin Icon (Bottom left corner of the vertical menu)

Click the ‘+ Create’ and select the dropdown option- “Property”

Enter your Website Business Name

Select the Business Time Zone

Select the option “Web” for your Data Stream

Now enter your Website Address

Click Create Stream

TRACKING CODE

Google will provide you with a Global Site Tag, it’s a tracking code you install on your website. The inserted code allows Google Analytics to observe the visitor’s behavior. If you have no website experience, please forward this to your web designer.