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It’s Time for Your Check-up
By Jim Terry

It’s tough to admit but the older I get, the more importance I place on making sure I’m getting my yearly check-up. You know, the kind that you hope gives you a clean bill of health until the next time around.

The same should be said about checking up with the market. How is your perceived health with customers and prospects? It’s a new year and maybe it’s time for your check-up. Conducting market research at the beginning of the year can drive the direction of your communications. It tells you what you’re doing well and where you’re not allowing yourself to focus on the greatest areas of need. It gives you perspective on the competitive landscape – what’s changed and how it affects your plans. Also, it alerts you to shifts in market decision factors.

The sum total of all of this intelligence does two things. One, it allows you to build your communications relative to the current state of the market, not just on the current state of your company or product. Maybe you need to tweak your message slightly or change your media outlets. It might lead to new objectives in shifting perception or a new public relations strategy to increase understanding relative to a more aggressive competitor.
Secondly, it provides a snapshot at a point in time that can be used for benchmarking. By knowing where you are at the beginning of the year, you can set goals for where you want to be at the end. Maybe you want to increase awareness from 20 percent to 30 percent during the year or increase your appeal with a new target market. Having a benchmark allows you to quantify shifts that are otherwise very difficult to measure.

Here are some important elements of the check-up.

Internal analysis – there should be an objective review and analysis of the company and its branding. What are the current strengths and weaknesses? What are the aspirations for the year? The answers to these questions from multiple sources will provide valuable insight into the current state of the company’s brand and frame the discussion for the customer input.

Customer input – the voice of the customer is critical to developing the most effective plan. That input can come from secondary research, published primary research, focus groups or custom primary research, among others.

Competitive review – a long look at the competitive landscape can provide direction for planning. The review should consist of competitive strengths and weaknesses, current positioning, current perceptions of the competition and competitive performance and satisfaction.

Market research provides unique intelligence that leads to better decisions and a more relevant communications program. So, if you’re looking for a clean bill of health, it may be time for your check-up.

E-mail the author: Jim Terry

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