Any company that is unaware of the direction their industry is going will have difficulty adjusting to changes or challenges within the industry. Finding market trends and making market predictions is one way to ensure your business does not fall behind.
Market or industry research targets a specific industry and looks at commonalities between the businesses within that industry, as well as the needs of customers that participate in that industry. But the difficulty lies in how to know the trend of the market.
Marketing trends can be found in a variety of ways; they are a vital aspect of business and marketing intelligence. Knowing where the industry is headed can aid business owners in making important decisions concerning their business and marketing strategies.
Finding marketing trends online is an important skill for any business to have in their repertoire. Here is a list of basic steps on how to find the right information and how to determine market trends from that information:
1. Determine the market. Establishing very clearly the boundary lines on what qualifies as part of your industry and what does not is very important for the success of your research. It also helps you figure out what kind of information you should look for.
2. Define a strategy for research. Figuring out what sources you should draw from in order to get the information you need is another important step. This requires thinking ahead in terms of what you will find, which can be difficult. However, it can save you the wasted effort of looking for information where you’re less likely to find it. If you need consumer information, it’s best to use sites like FedStats or Census Bureau information. If you need B2B information, it’s often better to perform your own surveys and market research.
3. Perform research. Mine whatever sources you have for the information about your industry. You may need to conduct your own surveys. This can be done through:
As you perform this research, keep the limitations of each method in mind. The success of a survey largely depends on how well you formulate your questions.
4. Run data through analytics. After the research is complete, you should have large amounts of raw data. In this stage, it’s difficult to analyze marketing trends. Analytics will help you look for patterns and create an accurate market forecast.
5. Spot trends. Analytics will make the raw data palatable for you, but it’s up to you to really put the information to good use. Look at the results and try to draw further conclusions that will help you in your strategy process. If your business is online, look for online marketing trends. If you’re looking to go mobile, be sure to identify mobile marketing trends.
As technology increases, there are new opportunities to find out information that simply just wasn’t available before. Social media alone has untapped potential, especially when identifying current marketing trends. Some of these research methods could help you while finding marketing predictions:
It can be difficult to know how to find online market trends with big data, especially without the right tools. Advanced analytical tools, as well as faster and larger computers, help to break down these large chunks of data. Big data can help with identifying the most promising leads for a company or industry. Big data also shows patterns for pricing and finding market forecast trends, so that you’re aware of the demand for certain types of products.
Not every company is going to have the wherewithal to be able to use big data, but outsourcing to a company that performs market research is always a possibility. For some industries, big data may not yet be very available. Fortunately, there are many ways to gain reliable and relevant research.
Sprint Marketing provides accurate market research and Internet marketing analytics to help you in your marketing campaign. In addition to finding market trends, Sprint Marketing can also help you with marketing intelligence, campaign management, and identifying the right business intelligence tools for your company.
Contact us for free leads analysis today.