Companies always seem to know the pain point of customers, and are able to perfectly put a finger on what exactly needs and requirements are. This is something to admire, but how exactly do companies figure out and cater to the needs of an ocean of people, all of whom have different tastes, preferences and mind-sets?

Necessity is the mother of innovation, so how can this necessity be identified?

Market Research

What exactly is market research?

It is an organized effort to obtain information about the market and customers. It is a pre-requisite in the formation of business and corporate strategies. An efficient and effective market research can be the key success factor for any organization in having a competitive edge over others in the industry.

Market research helps in discovering what people want, need or perceive. By making use of statistics and business analytics, it can help to discover how they act, the buyer trends, and therefore helps the company learn how to market their product, increasing demand and sales. In order to conduct research, tools like questionnaires and market surveys give valuable information on the target market.

Why is market research so important?

Having thorough market information is the first requirement for any business to commence operations and survive in the industry. It helps in pricing, advertising, improvising, etc. It helps to know the various segments of the market and customers, the trends prevailing in the market, customer analysis, choice modeling, competitor analysis, risk, feasibility, advertising, and marketing.

Market research succeeds when the value of the findings surpasses the cost of conducting the research. It helps in achieving competence in areas such as: communication with current and potential customers, identifying opportunities, minimizing risks,  and evaluating the company’s success.

There is a wide market for market research jobs in India because there is no company which can sustain itself without understanding the market, its competitors, needs and wants of buyers and cash in on the opportunities available to them.

There will soon be so much advancement in market research that questionnaires to understand buyer needs will not be needed. Companies will inevitably find other techniques to decipher what people may need, and translate these into products.

Effective market research is so useful that companies can make the customer feel that he cannot do without a certain product even if he had not felt the need for it earlier.

Large companies use market research every single day to know exactly how they should market their products and services to their customers. Many businesses spend millions of dollars gathering and using this data to effectively sell to their clients. Most small businesses don’t have millions of dollars to spend on research. The problem is: what we think our customers need isn’t always what they want. We need to know what is burning inside them. We need to know what would make them pull out their wallets and spend money.

All major companies’ slogans are a response to a question that the consumer has on their mind. Think about it for a minute. For many years Coke had a slogan “Coke Is It!” Did you ever stop to think, Coke is what? In your mind you never consciously thought about it but their slogan was a response to your inner dialogue which said “I am thirsty, what should I drink…?” They answered it by saying “Coke Is It!” They spent millions of dollars in market research to figure that out. Here are some simple ways you can effective market research:

1. If you are using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter in your small business then they are a great place to discuss upcoming products or services with your customers. If you are not using these mediums then get started now. Create a fan page on Facebook and have your customers “like” you from their accounts. Then they will see all your specials that you post about your business. They will be able to interact with you and give you instant feedback about your services.

2. Use an online poll. There are many sites online that will allow you to use their code to put a poll up on your website. Ask questions that relate to your new product or service and allow your customers to give responses. This is a great way to feel what the market is doing and how you should be adapting to meet their needs.

3. Find out what people are searching for online. You might be surprised about how potential customers are searching for you. This is currently the most valuable form of market research. It enables you to tap into many potential customers who are already searching for what you offer. Combining this kind of market research with services like google places optimization create an efficient and cost-effective way to gain new customers.

Every year there has been significant advancement and development of web design and in 2011 we will potentially see another significant leap. A combination of developments in website functionality and expansion of user platforms could produce a new wave of functionally integrated websites, suitable for multi-platform usage.

What we use the web for has significantly expanded. E-commerce, telecommunications, video conferencing, social networking, video and audio media, live transmission and more have all been added to the original use as an information source. With each of these becoming more frequently used and new functions developed, websites are increasingly looking to expand the range of functions available to their users to enhance the usefulness of the site.

Current web design developments can be split into two broad areas: website interaction and website communities. Website interactions involve the functionality of the website and making the design of the website as suitable as possible to its purpose. Website communities facilitate social interactions with workers of the website and website users. Both of these areas are rapidly expanding.

More and more websites are creating communities for a variety of reasons. Firstly, with the clear success of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, people like to socialise online and meet new people that are interested in similar things. Websites in general have realised that people visiting their sites share common interests, and creating communities increases the re-visit rate to their site which ultimately can increase revenues. Another important reason for communities on sites is to offer greater support to customers and users. Rather than the works on a website answering each questions individually, they can address common concerns in bulk. Also, with the massive success of Wikipedia, people have realised that far greater support can be offered as part of a community, where people can share their solutions to problems and seek out solutions that they haven’t been able to find without having to contact the people who run the site. This potential to reduce the amount of time needed to support the users of a website can also significantly reduce costs and increase profits.

The power of a good website community has lead to increased functions. Audio and visual communications within communities are highly important now, while 24/7 messenger support, either with a human helper or a computer automated help option are increasingly common. Flexibility is also now important, with the ability to communicate with many users at the same time and also interconnectivity with other social networking vital in expanding the reach and access of a website. As a result, in 2011 the community sections of websites will become increasingly required with much increased user options as the social networking phenomenon continues to grow.

The website functionality will also significantly increase throughout 2011, with the new platforms adding further complications to the website design. Websites have become more and more interactive, with users being able to do much more online. This is only set to increase in 2011, with more e-commerce taking place, greater expansion of media types and document creating. People want much more control of the websites that they use; they want to chose what videos they watch and when, increased download availability across the board and the ability to create more things online, such as produce videos, animations, official documents and much more. Websites with more user interaction options will be more successful and website designs will need to be able to integrate these effectively. However, it is not just the content that users want more interaction with, but the design of the websites themselves. Some development in this areas has occurred over the past few years, with the ability of users to customise their interfaces in limited ways, mainly changing colours and images but still limited within the options of the website. Menu bar developments have also allowed users to pull up or hide away information, giving them greater control of what is displayed on the page, while also allowing web developers to offer users more options on a single page of what content they can access. However, users are still confined to restrictions of the structure of the web design. In 2011, the ability of users to alter more features of a websites design to suit their needs, making the websites more flexible will be a significant development and could potentially open up the way we use and perceive websites and how their designs should be structured.

Website developers are also going to have to adapt to the new technologies of the decade and make them accessible to the new platforms. The standard internet browser is not as suited to the hand held mobile handsets, or the new tablet PCs. In order to make the internet more mobile, devices have had to get smaller and as a result so too have the displays. This places limitations on what can be displayed on a single page, requiring more navigation on these devices to find what they need. Suitably designed websites and apps that cater for these smaller visual displays will be much more effective, and with the seeming continual expansion of the use of the technologies development to operate on them will be increasingly important in 2011.

Google Places Optimization is an innovative business solution designed to effectively target and promote to a specific area through positive reviews. This is a perfect tool for any kind of business looking to increase sales and customers.

In today’s competitive marketing atmosphere, there is an increasing trend for geotargeting, despite globalization. That’s why one of the best solutions Google’s developers have come up with is Google Places, a form of internet marketing where a business will utilize specific strategies to promote to a specific geographical location. In response to this, many outsourcing firms now offer Google Places Search Engine Optimization to clients worldwide.

Google Places optimization is a service specifically designed for a lot of businesses, especially small-scale enterprises without much funding for conventional advertisements or even a website of its own. However, large corporations can also benefit from having a Place Page on Google, especially if they have an office in a particular city and want to promote in that area, too.

Google Places Optimization is still in its early phase, but SEO (Search Engine Optimization) outsourcing firms are gearing up to learn just how this can be used for the benefit of their clients. Outsourcing firms offer several services designed to suit a client’s business needs.

Business owners can publish vital information and details on their own Place Pages such as prices, services, and photos. Related places or the Place Page of competitors will also be published, making it easier for SEO firms to handle their client’s reputation.

Businesses without much competition can easily purchase a Google Places optimization package. However, if a business really needs extensive reputation management, then a package which uses the best Google Places strategies is suitable for that. The Place Page would stay ranked for a few months for the business to establish a good reputation in its niche.

This type of optimization will give your Place Page a more local feel. The SEO firm will be directly responsible for the business’s reputation in a particular area, making sure it is in good standing with the locals who have purchased a product or service there.

This will encourage those customers to write a positive review on the Place Page, which is good for lead generation. It is important to have a system in place of collecting reviews and encouraging customers to leave reviews. This can be achieved through promotional offers or coupons and greatly helps Reputation Management.

Different reviews will be aggregated into the business’s Place Page. These may come from Google users themselves or from important review websites such as CitySearch and TripAdvisor. This online reputation management system is also a great way for potential customers to locate a business because it comes with an address, a phone number, directions and a map.

In major cities and in small towns, a business can be competitive in its own market through Google Places Optimization. Business owners have the power to use every means of technology available to them to generate more leads. So many people today use Google, which is why it’s a very smart strategy for business owners to use Google Places.

Do you have your business appearing on the first page of Google?

If you are a small business owner I am sure you have heard about Google Places – Google’s free business listing service. And if you haven’t do a search for Google Places and fill in the form and then come back here to get tips ho how to get more bang from your Google Places business listing.

Back in 2009 Google relaunched it’s Business Centre to Google places, which allows local business owners to create a profile of their business, including phone number, address, website, pictures, videos, trading hours, etc and also mark your business location on the Google Maps service.

Creating a Google Places listing is a great way to get your business (even if you don’t have a website) to appear on the first page of Google search results when someone performs a local search.

Google Places Optimization is the best way to gain local customers searching for you online. Here are some of the aspects included in a fully optimized Google Places Page:

1. Customers Reviews – The more reviews you have on your business listing the better it will perform. First it provides social proof to your customers or potential customers also it will help to keep your listing near the top.

A good way to do this is to send an email to your new customers asking them to leave a review; this can be done on complete autopilot with an autoresponder or email management service.

Include a link in your email signature inviting existing customers to leave comments, ask people on your Facebook page, and when people enter your shop/store.

2. Other Business Listings – Google scrap information from other business directories to verify phone numbers, address, etc are the same and also places these listings in your Google Places profile. Make sure all the other business listings you create in other directories are consistent.

3. Keywords – This is a very important factor when creating your business listing. If you have a house painting business in Parramatta, Sydney you would want to target keywords like “house painting” “interior house painter” “exterior house painter” “residential painter”, etc.

Do not try and trick Google by placing loads of keywords into your company name. For example if you have a house painting business called ABC”s Painting Service then you may want to list your company name as ABC”s House Painting Service.

This way you can get 2 of the keywords you are targeting “House Painting” instead of just “Painting” however if you try and stuff keywords into your company name for example: “House and Commercial Painter, Interior & Exterior ABC Painting Company” just to get more keywords, it may work in the short term but Google quickly picks up on this and it will work against you.

If you would like to learn more advanced tips and methods to get more bang from your Google Places Business Listing them make sure to contact us.