There is a growing interest in marketing research these days. Besides, scientific research is a hotter topic turn in the B2B world, where it is a substantial factor in many organizations’ prosperity. For this reason, it is recommended to explore this powerful marketing tool and understand the entire B2B marketing research process effectively. Furthermore, it is recommended to seek decision support from an insights firm who specializes in B2B market research.
What’s B2B marketing research?
Simply put, B2B marketing research is a unique process that focuses on uncovering insights into your target marketplace by surveying a representative sample of the market’s participants. These participants may include current clients, prospective buyers, former clients, lost prospects, and influencers. In a highly competitive employment market, B2B marketing research may even include prospective employees and current employees as well.
It is essential to mention that the entire research process consists of two important parts. The first is data collection, and the next is data analysis and presentation. B2B marketing research can be classified into two categories. Qualitative research which focuses on customers’ experiences and opinions about your product business and other aspects of the entire marketplace. There is also quantitative data that allows you to dive deeper into a relatively small sample using standardized survey questionnaires.
The latter allows you to ask nearly everyone the same set of questions in which a single answer determines the next question. Although open-ended questions are possible in quantitative research, such questions may be less frequently used so that it is easier to analyze the huge volume of data collected. This form of research is often associated with a more rigid structure which lends itself to a different set of formats, including mail, telephone surveys, and online surveys.
You are probably wondering whether or not quantitative research is better than qualitative research. The reality is that there is no right or wrong answer. Each of these research types serves a different purpose, and your choice will majorly depend on your research objectives and the type of research you want to carry out. At a simplistic level, quantitative research may be useful for understanding what’s happening in the entire marketplace. On the other hand, qualitative research is ideal for exploring “why.”
Benefits of B2B marketing research
Multiple studies have revealed a strong correlation between in-depth research and the profitability or growth of organizations. In fact, business organizations and not-for-profit organizations that conduct frequent research are likely to grow up to 70 percent faster and are nearly 50 percent more profitable than competitor organizations that don’t carry out B2B marketing research frequently.
Many successful organizations understand that the today’s market is in constant flux, and the best way they can stay on top of all that change is by carrying out B2B marketing research regularly. Having up-to-date and relevant data allows such business organizations to adjust their services and messaging to meet the growing needs of their target consumers. There are a limitless number of ways businesses can use marketing research to improve their operations. Here are some of the benefits of marketing research you should know.
- Discover who you are competing against in the same marketplace
- Understand your brand differentiators
- Uncover possible competitive advantage
- Learn more about the specific services your customers appreciate most and why
- Identify the emerging opportunities that you can seize in the marketplace
- Make the necessary changes to your current marketing messages to reflect what your target audience really wants to hear
- Get to know what your current clients and prospects think about your business or brand
- Uncover the specific weaknesses that must be fixed immediately
- Determine your net promoter score and understand whether your clients are likely to recommend your services products of brand to other consumers
The list of the benefits of effective B2B marketing research is endless. But one thing is for sure; effective marketing research could help you uncover opportunities that you had not thought of, identify weaknesses that, when fixed, could take your brand to an entirely new level, and understand your competition effectively. This is an effective step towards improving the overall performance of your organization.
Summary
Conducting effective marketing research can make your B2B organization more self-aware and attuned to today’s competitive marketplace. In case you have not done this type of research before, do not worry. There are research partners out there that can help you handle the heavy lifting and probably deliver a reliable interpretation of your research findings. Be sure to choose the most reliable research partner out there because this could make all the difference between effective B2B marketing research and an unreliable one
