Analyze and Research Your Marketing Efforts

In any marketing strategy, research is a vital part of the process. You wouldn’t build a house without a plan, and you shouldn’t attempt to build a marketing plan without some market research. It may seem like a simple concept, but can often be undervalued and overlooked. First, you need to understand your audience. After all, your products and services should either create or satisfy a demand; and your marketing efforts should reflect that. Use these steps to get started with your market research today.

What You Need To Know
If marketers were mind readers, there would be no need for research. You can try to guess at what customers are searching for to satisfy their needs. Chances are you have a good idea at what they want, or you wouldn’t exist. But to take your business to the next level, you should identify what you want to find out about your customers. You can achieve this through conversations with a group of your employees from across the organization. You can analyze what marketing efforts have worked in the past. And then it’s time to ask your customers directly.

How To Make It Happen
There are a variety of ways to go about conducting your research. For instance, one way to find out how past marketing has worked is to ask customers how they heard about you. You can also take a look at sales trends after you put out a marketing message. Other ways to get information from your customers is to ask them in a survey. Keep those short, focused and unbiased. You can conduct them through your website, by phone or place a reply card with every order. This could result in a surprise at the responses you receive that you possibly guessed would turn out differently.

If you want to get more personal with your market research, conduct a focus group with customers. With this option, you’ll gain a quick snapshot at what trips triggers and what misses the mark. And you’ll probably get some good testimonials for future marketing pieces. No matter how you reach your customers, the results will be worth paying attention to for future marketing endeavors.

Putting It To Use
Now that you have a better understanding of what marketing methods have been effective, you have to actually put them to use. Too often, the research will be conducted only to not change the company’s ways. It can be difficult to let go of a strategy you’ve been using for years. But in the end, your goal as a marketer is to engage the most customers for your business. Although it seems like a no-brainer, make sure that you are actually listening to what your customers have to say. It’ll improve your marketing efforts in the long run, because having market research will help you better understand and communicate with your audience.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.

3 Ways to Assure Your Customers Love You! Let Them Count the Ways!

They love you, they love you not.

It’s Valentine’s Day and last week we demonstrated how you can show your customers some love. Now you should explore ways to gauge customer satisfaction and determine if the work you’re putting into the relationship is yielding results. Here are some ways to get inside your customers’ heads.

Where’s this relationship going?
If you want to know how the relationship is going, just ask. Gauging customer satisfaction is as easy as sending out a survey. Your customer satisfaction survey can ask a range of questions from what your customers think of your customer service, a new product or what additional products or services they’d like to see. Make sure you have an objective of what results you want to collect. You don’t want to make it too long, as your customers are busy.

Once you’ve determined what you’re going to ask, you need to plan a distribution method. You could provide a survey with every transaction, mail a postcard or conduct an online survey. Whatever you do, make sure you’re actually using the results to improve your customer service.

Make your relationship public.
It’s a good chance a majority of your customers are on Facebook or other social media sites. If they are, you should be right there with them. Listening is the foundation to a solid relationship. Set up social media listening tools like Hootsuite to see what people are saying about your company. Don’t be afraid to engage in the conversation and correct any issues publicly to show that you care about your customers. The key is to be transparent and authentic. If you have time, you should listen to what people are saying about your competitors.

Share the love.
If your customers sing praises about your company, share it on your website. If you’ve made a customer happy, they’ll have no problem putting their name online for you.  Customer testimonials are a great way to attract new customers. Determine how you will collect your testimonials. Maybe there’s an open-ended question on your survey or you can have an online form. Don’t be afraid to ask, but always make sure you do. Testimonials are a true testament of your love.

- NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.