Market research is essential for generating B2B leads because it aids in understanding the market, analysing the shifting customer needs, fostering competitive advantages, improving decision-making, spotting new chances, and enabling firms to enhance their offers. The research also assists businesses in identifying customers and elucidating the motives behind their product purchases. It also clarifies what the market wants in a product or service and aids in calculating measures like the cost per client acquisition (CPA). We will delve further into market research and why it is crucial for generating B2B leads in this article.
What is marketing research?
Market research is the procedure of determining the viability of a new good or service through interviews with potential customers. It can be carried out directly by businesses or it can be outsourced to organisations with experience in this procedure. The market research aids in the creation of advertising strategies that can specifically appeal to the interests of potential customers and boost sales. The market research helps companies to gather important data on the economy, rivals, and customer insights, enabling them to spot emerging opportunities and dangers early on.
By polling a representative sample of its members, B2B marketing research reveals insights into your market. Participants in this scenario could be influencers, potential clients, lost clients, current clients, former clients, and/or prospective clients.
How to conduct market research for B2B?
All business transactions between two businesses are referred to as “B2B” or “business-to-business.” B2B sales are thus conducted between a supplier and a buyer, the B2B market is dominated by the regulations that govern compound decision-making processes, and suppliers from bigger regions are typically involved. As a result, the competitive aspect will be significantly impacted. Therefore, the focus should not be on being exhaustive but rather on choosing the most effective and affordable implementation strategies. You need to use factual information and a reasonable market study to confirm the project’s viability and relevance.
B2B market research has three crucial phases. Let’s examine these 3 stages in more detail:
Competitor Analysis
Larger organisations plan B2B commercial strategies, so there will be more resources accessible, which allows for a better structure. Learn everything you can about your three main rivals. How do you determine who your primary competitors are? You require data on the country’s market where you will do business. A reliable source of information is trade federations and other sectoral organisations. You might inquire about the information from regional trade federations in your intended area. Financial documents, locations, client testimonials, and commercial records are a few aspects to consider while assessing your rival. Discuss ideas with someone who is familiar with the market. Additionally, it will be a chance to build rapport and trust.
Interviews
Understanding what people want and anticipate is crucial. Reach out to the market’s residents and conduct interviews with them first. Your research will be of higher quality as a result. You should attempt to go as follows to do this effectively:
Interview Experts
Experts are the best at knowing and comprehending the market you are interested in. They might be expert consultants, participants in trade associations, or even diplomats. Their area of expertise offers a substantial value-added benefit to anyone looking to conduct market research. Finding them and knowing which specialist profiles are most likely to increase added value will be the main challenges. Contact these professionals for assistance in establishing the standards for evaluating the competition and determining the “pain points” of your clients.
Interview prospects
Interviewing potential customers is essential. You can learn more about what your customers want to hear from you and what your products are saying by doing this. The marketing plan needs to be tailored to the potential qualitative interview. Therefore, concentrate on revealing several topics that were highlighted in their interviews. A representative panel of the decision-making chain within the structures that will serve as your clientele in the future should be interviewed.
External Factors
These factors are described as being external because your business has no control over them. These may include components of a nation’s politics, its economy, its tax system, or its domestic or international legal system. Your competition might not have anticipated them from you because you are a foreign company, which could provide you the opportunity to offer clients a better value proposition. As businesses had to adjust to this new piece of law, this is what happened with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), which allowed new businesses to capture market share. The challenge is, of course, to keep up the resulting activity as taking advantage of such economic opportunities is frequently more of a short-term tactic.
Use the PESTEL method to carefully research the outside variables that affect a market.
Difficulties and attention points in B2B market research
B2B market research is typically more difficult to plan because of the following two factors:
the responders’ accessibility.
There isn’t just one individual with the authority to make decisions.
Because a B2B corporation typically has a complex hierarchical structure, it may be necessary for you to interview multiple employees of the same business to fully grasp the realities of the purchase process. Use your networks, discuss your projects, and conduct local research to find and interview the relevant people. Perhaps someone could assist you in connecting with the appropriate interview candidate.
Importance of market research in B2B marketing
Market research must be conducted not just while your organisation is just getting off the ground, but all along the way. Even though it may be costly and time-consuming, effective research may give you important insights on your rivals, the economy, demography, current market trends, and the purchasing habits of your clients. Every day, trends and other facets of the industry change. Your marketers must have sufficient market expertise to adapt plans in a way that will produce the greatest outcomes for the business in order to fulfil the demands of a sector that is continuously changing. Research is an essential component of sound decision-making for marketers who deal with so many intangible aspects of human behaviour.
Main areas successful marketers focus on
Segmentation and Targeting
You may help your target market’s demographics, such as location, psychology, and behavioural data, by providing them with values that suit their company needs.
Product Testing
It assists you to comprehend how your product meets the needs of your customers and what additional changes might be required to make the product more appealing. The most common solutions to this problem use user testing and user experience testing.
Marketing Communication and Media Selection
Consistently doing “advertising effectiveness research” can help determine the advantages of marketing and advertising communications. This enables marketers to create plans that have an impact and recognise when your target market has lost interest. Make sure the appropriate media are being used to connect with your target businesses.
Market and Competitive Analysis
Market trends are constantly evolving. You must keep up with frequent changes. You can learn about your competitors’ strategies by conducting a market and competitive analysis. This will help your company stand out from the competition and carve out a niche for itself in the industry.
Pricing and Forecasting
A study of pricing can be used to forecast future trends because pricing is a key factor in purchasing decisions. Costs can be compared to other products’ characteristics and prices. Additionally, making decisions about the budget, manufacturing, and staffing might benefit from sales forecasting.
Reasons why market research is important for B2B lead generation
Easily Spot Business Opportunities
After conducting your market research, you will be able to identify your target market, the marketing channels where you can reach them, and their interests. This will make it simpler for you to locate business opportunities. For example,
- Profitable order improvements to create: You may create add-ons and upsells that raise the average order value by being aware of the additional goods and services that your customers frequently purchase.
- Look for new places to sell: You can develop tailored ads that are appropriate for the needs and culture of that area by knowing the geographic regions where the majority of your target clients reside.
Lower Business Risks
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just about half of enterprises with employees last into their fifth year. Making ensuring you have a steady flow of sales and clients is the best approach to ensure the longevity of your company. You need market research to accomplish that. A great strategy to make sure you’re still addressing the needs of your present and potential clients is to conduct regular market research. For example, a few examples of how to use this include
Before going into production, test new ideas and products.
- Identify the causes of a customer’s absence.
- Gain knowledge about potential issues.
- Develop Useful Promotional Materials
Create Relevant Promotional Materials
You can use market research to determine the words and visuals to use on your flyers, website, and social media channels. You already know what your target clients’ requirements, wants, and frustrations are thanks to your research, so when it comes time to develop your marketing materials, you’ll be prepared with the right solutions.
Know Where to Advertise
The majority of firms struggle with limited funding, especially in the wake of COVID-19. As a result, you should maximise your marketing spend to receive the best results. By using the channels where your target audience is most likely to see you, your market research can help you reach them. Some of the monetary tasks that your market research may assist you with are as follows:
- When purchasing social media ads, you should focus the most of your cash on Facebook and ignore Instagram if market research reveals that your target demographic spends the majority of their time there.
- putting up posters and flyers Your optimal placement for advertising will depend on where your target consumer spends the majority of their time physically.
- advertising that is targeted Pay-per-click and social media ads can frequently be accurately targeted online. The possibilities for targeting will be maximised if you really know your clients.
Outsell Competitors
The company that is most familiar with its target market will always be successful. You’ll have a better chance of sticking out from the competition if you can outperform your rivals at identifying your consumers’ wants and pursuing to meet those demands. Here are a few strategies for using market research to outsell rivals:
- Identify and target unhappy clients.
- Identify an underserved market segment.
- Determine unmet customer needs
Helps Set Better Goals for Your Business
Typically, when business owners set goals for their company, they are focused on increasing revenue or consumers. However, without conducting adequate market research, you won’t be able to determine whether your goal is reachable and the best way to get there. Consider setting a goal to quadruple sales by the end of the following quarter. If you don’t know whether the size of your target market is greater than double that of your current client base, how can you determine whether this aim is achievable? Setting impossible ambitions if you don’t know how big your prospective market is right now. You can choose the specific directions you wish to take for expanding your clientele with the aid of market research.
Decision-Making Becomes Simple
Making difficult company decisions is when marketing research is most crucial. You can always refer back to your market research study rather than using arbitrary criteria for the decisions. The decisions will be more successful, accurate, and well-informed as a result of that report. Market research gives you reliable information. Although not every issue should be resolved by market research, many of them can, such as how to allocate your marketing or advertising budget.
Long-term losses can be avoided by making a little initial investment in marketing research. In addition to being effective and affordable, data-backed marketing methods can position your brand as one that values its customers’ needs and desires. Before launching your campaign, FunnL will conduct in-depth market research to ensure it is effective and yields the highest return.
