Conducting market research is something all business owners should engage in from time to time. When you’re clear on who your audience is, what they want, and what they need, you can create content that builds stronger relationships and produces a higher ROI.
It’s especially important to periodically conduct market research because your audience is constantly evolving. Even if you think you understand them (or did at one time), you might not have the full picture, which can result in mismatched messaging or even outdated services that don’t truly address the problems your audience is facing.
How do we know this? Because that’s the predicament we found ourselves in after conducting our own market research.
Initially, North Star had been focused on helping business owners outsource their content so they could spend more time on the essential tasks of running their businesses. And for a while, it seemed to be working well. We felt confident that the copywriting and content creation services we were offering were meeting the greatest needs of our clients.
But we’ve always been passionate about effective content, and as time went on we realized that the focus on constantly churning out new content wasn’t truly supporting our clients.
When we conducted our routine market research, we discovered that they were 100% on board with us.
Although handing off content creation was still important to them (they’re still busy CEOs, after all!), our research revealed that there were other more pressing issues they were worrying about. In truth, they were more concerned about the strategy behind their content.
They wanted to know whether their content was resonating with their audience, goal-oriented, and producing the desired results. Unfortunately, they also often found themselves so consumed with other projects (busy CEOs, remember?) that they didn’t have time to think strategically. Instead, they simply hired writers like us to put something out to the world.
This realization gave us an amazing opportunity to lean further into our strengths. Yes, we’re writers. But we’ve also always had a strong strategy component to our work. Now, because we had conducted market research and heard directly from our target audience, we had permission to lead with it.
We spent some time reflecting on our business and considering how to better serve our clients, given our new market research. As a result, we ended up completely revamping our services and overhauling our website to align with the current needs of our audience. (Browse around if you’d like to check it all out!)
With something as important as market research, it’s important to know how to do it effectively so that the time you spend actually helps your business evolve.
That’s why today, we’re revisiting a powerful video from our now-defunct Leadership Forum that walks you through how to conduct market research—including how to better frame your research questions, how to address objections, and how to take imperfect action (rather than getting stuck in never-ending research mode).
Note: Since this video was originally used for our discontinued Leadership Forum, it ends with a discussion about the group and its book club. Feel free to stop listening after 29:22!
Skip Around:
0:00 – 1:50: Welcome and Introduction!
1:50 – 4:30: What questions are you already asking in your business?
4:30 – 6:50: Why we sometimes resist market research
6:50 – 11:00: Tips for asking better questions
11:00 – 13:22: How to build deeper connections with your audience and trust your audience
13:22 – 19:50: Making micro-shifts in your messaging to reach the right people
19:50 – 22:30: Addressing objections and incorporating education pieces
22:30 – 26:00: Taking action based on your market research
26:00 – 28:00: Adjusting course, taking criticism, and improving upon your product
28:00 – 29:22: Resources for conducting better market research
Create Intention-Driven Content With Our Content Strategy Services
If you’re a business owner who needs help creating content that builds stronger connections, increases your ROI, and gets you closer to your goals, check out our content strategy services.
We offer a variety of support packages that give you access to a professional content marketing strategist in a consulting capacity who can help you optimize your content for success.