Get Started With Market Research & Ad Tracking

Market research doesn’t have to be expensive. The key here is how reliable you want your data to be. If you are going to make decisions about your business, you will want to be sure you can rely on the information you get. Here are few different methods of market research that you may want to use.

1. Sales data. We work with clients’ databases to identify trends that may be affecting their business in a positive or negative way. We can then profile your current customers. Your past sales are a goldmine of information that will lead to more sales.
2. Website statistics. If your website is set up with a statistics program, you can get a lot of information on what interests your web visitors. You’ll learn how they navigate your website and if they convert to sales.
3. Call tracking. If you are advertising or if you have a website or social media page, one great way to get a demographic look at your leads is to incorporate call tracking numbers. We sell them starting at $25 per month and you can learn a lot about the folks that are calling you. Call us for details. The service allows you to monitor your calls in real time as well as record incoming calls. You then learn where your potential customers live, their phone number, what they asked about, and how your staff handled the calls. You can learn which ads work best, and how to improve your sales rate.
4. Online analytics. Social media analytics and website statistics allow you to track your online ads. Don’t be afraid to do an online campaign, just make sure you know what to look for in website referrals and analytics. Check out tools for social media like Facebook Insights. They are loaded with information about who is following you, including location, gender, age, and how they got to your Facebook page (like from your website or an online ad). We integrate this information into your ad planning since the visitors’ demographics on Facebook may not be the same as your website, LinkedIn, YouTube, or other social media.
5. Competitive Analysis. Many of our clients want to know how their potential customers see them in comparison to others offering similar services. One great way to find out is a custom report where we contact recent customers and interview them on their selection process. Because we are a third party, they are very honest and often provide valuable information about their impression of your products or service. These studies are cost effective and very valuable. If you are trying to conduct your own research on a limited budget, you can also subscribe to Google alerts and see how often you and your competition come up on these searches. There are ways to glean more information with the right search terms and more filtering.

Remember that setting goals based on historical research is key to any company’s growth. The recent recession has changed the behavior of buyers, so change up your sales and marketing strategy to meet your buyer more efficiently and on their terms. For more information on your best research alternatives, or if you need some help evaluating your current analytics, give us a call or email us.

Website Content, Is your Content Making the Cut?

The truth is that you don’t just need content on your website. You need the right content. So it is important to know what content your visitors are looking for and relate to the most. That is why you need to start with your own research into what content is bringing you traffic and what is not.

When it comes to your product or service, it is key that you understand what today’s buyers are searching for and the concerns or sales hurdles that keep them from making a decision to buy. Then you can target those consumers by having the content they need on your website or blog.

You can learn a lot about that by looking at the traffic anaytics and your website’s page performance statistics and seeing how often certain pages on your site are visited. Once you have determined the content and see what you think is the draw, you can duplicate that success or in the case that there is none, experiment by changing the content. Consider what you can do to make the other pages of your site become more popular with content that matters.

Remember your site is searchable so if you are getting referral links to a particular page in your website, chances are that people are looking for that information and related topics. Look for those trends and provide more. If you are not sure how to get started, start with your own website reporting information or tag your site with Google Analytics so you can track its performance over time. If you don’t have the time to do this yourself, forward us your specific questions.