Too often business entities are caught up with the demands of chasing after monthly sales figures and financially dictated sales targets, that the building blocks of brand growth and its direct relation to increased sales are ignored. Exploratory discussions with most clients on their Brands reveal that they believe they know all about marketing their product as they “single-handedly” brought their products to market and therefore “know all about their brand”. Having erroneously equating their product as a brand, they feel justified with their marketing initiatives which involve discounts, banded offers, ubiquitously placed signage and printed swag as they employ “gut feelings” on what their target market thinks or desires for their product and or service offerings. Concomitantly, given the global economic dynamics where cheaper competitive products can be easily imported from anywhere and the current recession challenges experienced via each economic blocks, there is an impetus to clearly understand one’s brand attributes and target market dynamics in order to assure revenues.
Although an understanding of brand attributes and target market dynamics assures a foundation for brand growth, growth strategy will be off cue unless it is based on sound empirical data derived from research on target market brand interaction. Every successful initiative, from early man’s attempts at farming to an app for building a virtual space station experience, involves understanding via structured research, the environment and the dynamics of all variables involved. Historically, two common misjudgments business owners make on research are:
- It is too expensive and therefore decide to not employ research
- Once a research provider is employed, it is acceptable for survey results to be simple descriptive statistics void of cross referencing according to target market demographics and validated data.
Research based on empirical data will assure:
- Accurate marketing plan execution
- Identification of branding initiatives that make sense to the consumer
- Target specific advertising campaign roll out, be it ATL or BTL.
- More bang for the marketing buck as there will be less wastage on advertising agencies executing costly campaigns based on the dictates of their clients with strong “gut feeling” convictions on what a campaign message should say or the misdirected advice from a mis-educated advertising Account Executive.
Market research helps to clarify consumers’ perception of a brand, what product attributes work for him, how the brand personality may fit with his tastes and lifestyle and where his mind space for capturing his attention is. As a seasoned practitioner in marketing management, I have experienced numerous occasions when market research once properly employed, yielded a robust marketing plan and consequently a campaign which realized brand growth and the bottom line of increased sales year over year and quarter over quarter. One recent example, a dishwashing liquid brand (A) when although was first to market decades ahead of it competition, lost market share as its competition copied its formula, packaging, advertising campaigns and distribution. Competition broke down to discounting and banded offer wars. Brand (A) was losing heavily but the target market was simultaneously evolving with sophisticated concepts on fragrances, environmental awareness and needs for ergonomic package design. After research on the aforementioned and translation into a revised packaged design and campaign, brand (A) recoiled with increased market share and sales year over year ahead of its competition.
VagusMRI LLC is a market research firm with local and international experience within industries of manufacturing, distribution, retail, media and advertising. The research and advertising firm, although staffed with qualified personnel at master’s level in strategic international marketing and internationally recognized advertising talent, employs best global branding practices within local contexts. The firm commands a portfolio of multinational clients from varied industries via an individual client tailored approach to suit their clients’ budget. In addition VagusMRI ensures the delivery of effective survey results via cross referenced and validated data that make sense to the client and consequently campaign executions that make sense to the identified target markets.
Research + Brand Intelligence = Business Growth