Brand marketing planning basics

What I want to share today is market research.

Before making a product, you must first understand the basic situation and demands in the market. This process of understanding is called market research .

There are two types of market research data

One type is primary data , which is the first-hand data collected through qualitative and quantitative research methods.

One type is second-hand data , which is data obtained through reports from third-party research companies, data tool platforms (such as Baidu Index, Taobao's Business Advisor), industry reports, etc.

In fact, except for particularly innovative industries, most of the data we need already have mature second-hand data on the market. As long as we are good at mining, analyzing and utilizing it, we can solve 70-80% of research problems.

So how do we solve the other 20~30%? The answer depends on some insight and common sense, and insight and common sense depend on understanding and accumulation.

Before 2010, Lao Wu was engaged in SEO-related work, namely search engine optimization.

The first problem to be solved in search engine optimization is word selection. What word do you want to optimize and then get the ranking for this word.

Keywords are like product positioning . Because different keywords represent different needs. Different needs must be met by different products.

Taking decoration companies as an example, if a customer searches for decoration companies through Baidu, what keywords will he search for?

A novice user might search for decoration companies and find the following results (ignoring the previous bidding ads) .

The first search result, Shangceng Decoration, did a good job in SEO, so it naturally ranked first. However, when I clicked in, I found that it was a decoration company in Beijing, not in my area, and could not provide me with services. So this information is not valid for me.

Then I further searched for Dalian decoration companies , and the results were as follows (ignoring the previous bidding ads and platforms)

This company is a decoration company in Dalian. Then I can go to the website to learn more and see if it can attract me to consult.

Going further, assuming that I am wealthy and want to buy a villa, I might search for Dalian villa decoration, and the results I find will be more accurate.

The above are my search habits as an ordinary user. This search habit is only my personal one. So how can we understand the search habits of more people? The answer is Baidu Index .

Through this Baidu Index, we can see that the Dalian decoration company has a daily search index of more than 100. Relatively stable.

So what other words will people associate when searching for decoration companies? You can look at the demand map. Below is the demand map of decoration companies.

We can also see which decoration company is better, house inspection, decoration company and so on.

Through common sense, we can think of the word decoration company. Through data mining, we found that some people also searched for words such as decoration company and which decoration company is better.

These are some of the things that research and big data help us do.

For example, if we are selling rice cookers, what issues and features do users who buy rice cookers care about? We can test it through Taobao.

When we search for rice cookers on Taobao, we will see recommendations for 2-3 person, 2 person, mini or even 1 person. In addition, the Supor brand appeared twice.

Two conclusions can be drawn from this search recommendation list through surface analysis.

1. With the changes in singleness, unmarriedness and family structure, the original large families with several generations living together have gradually dispersed into families of 2-3 people, as well as couples or singles. So they don’t need a 4-5 liter rice cooker, instead a rice cooker for 1-2 people is enough.

2. Supor has occupied the minds of people who buy rice cookers, or Supor's rice cookers are well-known, so when users buy them, they will specifically search for the Supor brand.

See, that’s called market research.

Of course, this is just a relatively preliminary survey, but these data can also provide us with some reference for brand marketing .

Like the example above, the trend for rice cookers is for smaller and smaller capacities. If you are a rice cooker manufacturer and you are obsessed with developing larger and larger rice cookers, then you are definitely going against the market trend and consumer demand, and the result is predictable.

The above two examples are both second-hand data, but such second-hand data is relatively authoritative. It is data generated by various platforms based on real user behavior, which is what we often call big data.

Big data will not lie. The results of first-hand research data may not be correct if the research methods and research numbers are insufficient.

For example, you ask 10 boys, do you like Sailor Moon? These 10 boys may all say they don’t like it because they feel embarrassed. If they say they like it, they will be considered effeminate and not manly enough.

Then you conclude that boys 100% don't like Sailor Moon, which is totally wrong.

If you take out the mobile phones of these 10 people and open Toutiao, you may immediately see a Sailor Moon message.

You all understand, big data will not lie . It recommends real content to you based on your real behavior.

What people think, say and do are often not 100% consistent .

When I was helping a cat food client plan its advertising slogan, I used secondary research data. This is a report issued by a professional organization. as follows

These data can be used as a reference for our brand marketing planning . It is better to have data than to have no data. Data can give us some direction. If there is no data, we can only rely on feelings, and feelings are often the most unreliable.

Finally, let’s summarize.

When doing market research, we first recommend choosing high-quality secondary data for reference (such as iResearch, Meihua.com, etc.). Unless you are in a particularly emerging industry, most known industries have relevant professional data reports, some of which are available for free and some require payment.

We should make good use of big data from various platforms, such as Baidu, Taobao, Douyin, WeChat, etc. These big data are more credible than doing your own research.

You should also make good use of your own internal data, such as traffic analysis of your own online store, traffic analysis of your website, analysis of public account backend data, etc.

If you need to pay, first look at the strength and reputation of the report producer. Reports from companies with good reputations are generally credible.

If second-hand data cannot meet your needs, you can use first-hand data. That is, conduct qualitative research and quantitative research.

After sorting out the primary and secondary data, combine it with your own expertise, common sense and insights (for example, Shi Yuzhu realized that young people didn’t know what good gifts to give to the elderly) , and make a comprehensive assessment.

The survey results will serve as the basic data for our subsequent planning and provide data support for some subsequent decisions and choices.

Author: Content Strategy

Source: Content Strategy