Often times I get asked to “design a web site” or “do some SEO” or “Run Adwords”. What businesses don’t always realize is that doing a little bit of market research before they embark on revamping their web design or starting an Adwords campaign can move the needle much further than if they just start out with tactics alone. I was inspired by SEOMoz’s Whiteboard Friday and thought I would share.
Organizing efforts to gather information about your customer markets is a very important part of your web design strategy. By doing market research before you invest in tactical execution, you are able to gain an advantage over competitors, identify market needs, not to mention make possible connections with experts in your field. Many aspects covers both social and data sciences and can help your company gain insights into making informative decisions for your company and your website.
Similar to market research for “brick and mortar” businesses you need to start by gathering information and discover what your clients want, need or believe they need as it pertains to your website. Just like you thought about how it would be great to serve businesses your particular piece of software, you now need to figure out what they want from your website. The best way to do this is to start your market research with a few questions.
- Who is your customer target? What are their names? What do they do? How old are they?
- Where are they online? What web sites are they using? Are they on Facebook, Twitter, Google+?
- How do they make Purchase Decisions? Do they read reviews online? Do they ask their friends?
- Who and What are their influencers?
Market Research Based Roadmap for Success
Here are a few deliverables of what you should look for before you start building, marketing, programming or designing a website or marketing campaign.
- Personas of who we are targeting
- Channels where we will reach them
- Tactics to use to pursue on each channel
- Information we need to provide in order to earn trust and conversions
- What goes on the website.
- Where/ how we spend money on Online Advertising, Pay Per Click and other digital marketing channels
- What are the Goals and how we measure success.
- Where do we need help, what can we do internally
Types of Market Research
Competitive Market Research
- Target Market
- Evangelists
- Marketing Channels
- Traffic Sources
- Unique Value Propositions
- Web Design & UX (User Experience)
- Press & Mentions
Customer Research
- Wireframe Reviews
- Profiling
- Targeted Surveys
- Usability Studies
- In Person Interviews
- Sizing / Perception Surveys
- Small Audience / Consumer
Expert Market Research
- Wireframe Reviews
- Usability
- Interviews
- Profiling
- Surveys
Market Research is a great way to kick off any marketing, web design or SEO project.
Sources:
Fishkin, Rand. “The Daily SEO Blog.” SEOmoz. SEOMoz, 24 May 2013. Web. 24 May 2013.
Wikipedia. “Market Research.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 May 2013. Web. 24 May 2013.
