In the TAM, SAM, SOM post, we ended with the idea of focusing your marketing efforts on your Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) – a segment of the market that’s a fairly accurate representation of the demand for your product, while also taking the competitive landscape into account. Let’s call it your target market.
Here comes market research to really set you up for success. Depending on the degree you invest in it (there you go placing those bets again) and how well you utilize the insights, market research is a key enabler to knowing what your ‘marketing efforts’ should be. If you really understand your target audience, you can craft your product and the promotion of it to better appeal to them. This includes understanding their problems, their pain points, why they buy from you, why they buy from your competitor, or sometimes better yet – why they didn’t buy at all.
Kick off market research with defining your buyer personas. This is a fictional, generalized representation of your ideal customers which might take into account any or all of the following: age, gender, location, job title, family size, income, and major pain points. This is your initial best guess of your ideal customer. Over time you will refine it and perhaps discover that your business attracts several personas. Having persona(s) help you visualize how to streamline communications with your target audience.
Next, conduct market research with a representative sample of your target customers. Surveys, polls, and focus groups are all methods of gaining insights about your target customers. This kind of data gathering is called qualitative or primary research; it’s first-hand feedback and public opinion of your product vs. competitors. Data gathering of the quantitative/secondary type comes from public records, trend reports, market statistics, industry content, and any sales data you might have about customers and competitors.
Speaking of competitors, surely you want to identify them as part of your market research. You’ll likely know most of them, but to craft a thorough list, platforms like G2 Crowd can be leveraged, as well as market reports from companies like Forrester and Garnter which list industry leaders. Social media channels are also great directories. How’s your search game?
If your market research is effective, you will likely also uncover what is trending in your market and any unaddressed/underserved customer needs that can be leveraged into an opportunity.
The next post on go-to-market (GTM) will frame product development and what’s necessary to successfully bring products to the marketplace.
Want to learn more about Marketing? See my Marketing Framed publication for these key topics:
marketing, market, TAM-SAM-SOM, market research, go-to-market, product-market fit, positioning, marketing funnel, marketing flywheel, marketing mix, marketing goals, marketing strategy, marketing execution, marketing budget, brand marketing, content marketing, copywriting, storytelling, marketing projects & initiatives, marketing project management, marketing agency, marketing technology, marketing automation, marketing & AI, marketing analytics, marketing metrics
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