Research and Marketing: The Epic Handshake

Here at NuVoodoo, we strongly believe that research is vital to making marketing decisions. Without it, investing your budget into strategies, channels, tactics, and key messaging, can feel a lot like a shot in the dark. But when research and marketing work together, they’re locked in an epic handshake that will ultimately allow you to spend less, while you generate more (customers, revenue, attention, success).
Consumer research is an essential aspect of any successful marketing strategy. Without understanding the needs, preferences, and behaviors of your target audience, it is impossible to create effective marketing campaigns that resonate with them. This kind of research involves gathering and analyzing data about consumers, their behaviors, attitudes, and preferences. It is a process that helps businesses understand their customers, what motivates them to buy, and how they make purchasing decisions. Consumer research can take many forms, including surveys, focus groups, interviews, and online analytics.

Research can also help businesses improve their products or services. By gathering feedback from customers, businesses can identify gaps in the market, trends and behaviors, unmet needs, and areas for improvement. That knowledge allows you to make changes that will enhance the customer experience, which leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

By understanding what drives consumer behavior, businesses can tailor their innovations, marketing messages, channels, and tactics to resonate best with their target audiences. They’ll need to stay ahead of changing trends and preferences; audience behavior is constantly evolving, and businesses that fail to keep up will fall behind. By staying up to date through real data (not just headlines and shiny objects that make the news), particularly as it relates to where your audience is spending its time and attention, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and adjust accordingly. Based on research findings, you can answer important questions like: What does my competition do better than me? Is investing ad spend in TikTok wise for our target audience? Should we divest from older platforms like Facebook? Do our customers care about what we’re messaging and do THEY think it sets us apart?

Finally, brands need to realize that to assure competitive advantage and drive long-term success, consumer research is an ongoing investment. Gone are the days of big, six-figure research studies that you could depend on for 5, or even 10 years. Today, every brand competes in an ever- and rapidly changing marketplace that includes channels that didn’t even exist a few years ago. If you’re relying on data and research from even just a year ago, it’s time to re-engage with your audiences.

And yes…we can help!