Often, marketing professionals talk about research. What’s the perfect market for our service? How will the market respond to our product? Who is the most likely to visit our store? What are the competitors doing and how are they doing it?
The results of the research can be enlightening, discouraging, or a variety of other adjectives. The question still remains: what do you do once you have the research?
Research – just like marketing plans and business plans – is useless unless put into practice. If you’ve narrowed down the perfect demographic to target with your marketing, you have to actually market to them.
The key part of the research should include where your audience is living, and how they engage in those spaces. Whether it’s on social channels or in real-world environments, your target demographic has characteristics. Your research should be teaching you all about those things so you can communicate more effectively.
But the key will always be in doing. Research is useless without action.