As businesses struggle to find ways to effectively market products, services, and brands, new trends emerge that help professionals develop creative marketing strategies. These studies are always looking at how to make you feel better about buying something or trying out a product.

Trends come and go, but one constant is research! The field of marketing research includes studying what people use currently to determine if there’s an alternative way of doing things.

It also looks into whether there’s already a solution before developing your own idea. This saves you time and money!

There are many different types of research, with some being more expensive than others. No matter which type of study you look into, though, they all have one thing in common – helping you do business.

In this article, we will talk about five of the most popular types of marketing research and where you can find them done.

Disclaimer: While these studies help companies run theirbusinesses, not every report is fact-based. Some may be sponsored by a company who wants to promote its product.

Just because it is marketed as “marketing research” doesn’t mean everything it says is true. It only means there’s a good chance it is.

That said, marketing research is a very important part of staying informed in the world of business. You should never underestimate the value it brings.

Online marketing research

Recent developments in marketing research include studies conducted online. This is an increasingly popular way to do market research as it saves time and money for business owners. Companies can create a survey or question petition and use software to access the website where respondents are able to take the survey from anywhere world-wide.

This has allowed for large scale surveys with better statistical accuracy due to the larger sample size. You will also have more accurate results due to the reduction of self-selection bias, where only people who choose to participate in traditional face-to-face interviews may not be representative of the whole population.

Telephone marketing research

Recent developments in market research include the use of telephone calls as an additional source. This form of research is referred to as phone-based survey or conversation surveys. Rather than asking respondents if they agree with statements, these surveys ask participants what products and services they use and things like reasons why people use them.

Phone interviews are not only more cost effective than face-to-face conversations, but also faster to conduct. People are much less likely to give false answers when asked about their personal habits during a call rather than via questionnaire. Technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) make it easy to place calls at very low costs!

With all this talk of cost effectiveness and ease of use, there are no limitations to who can do phone interview research.

Focus groups

As mentioned earlier, focus group research has been around for quite some time now. These sessions are conducted with a small number of people to get their input on products and services. They are typically done at a meeting place or via online platforms such as YouTube, where participants can watch and listen remotely.

Focus group research is not without its critics. Some believe that only those who already like a product feel motivated to talk about it during a session. Others say that participants may exaggerate what they perceive to be the benefits of a product so that they look more credible when asked about it directly.

With this being said, there are still many uses for this type of research. By having both neutral and paid participant conversations, you get a better picture of how likely someone is to purchase a product and why.

In fact, according of one study, up to 70% of buying decisions were influenced by something a person heard from a friend or family member, while only 10% was made due to advertisements.

Demographic data

A growing field within marketing research is looking at how different groups of people use media, merchandise, and technology to identify with or perceive themselves as part of the “in” crowd. These studies are referred to as market segmentation or audience analysis.

By identifying which products and services appeal to a specific group of people, marketers can learn about potential trends and opportunities for their business.

For example, if you sell leather jackets, then studying demographics for patterns around leather clothing would be relevant demographic research. You could find out that most people who buy leather shoes also wear leather clothes. Or, that people who like bright colors tend to shop at stores that carry lots of items in those shades.

These insights could help you target this population by offering similar products or giving them special deals on other things they need. Or perhaps you could create new products that fit into these categories.

Other areas of demographic research include figuring out what qualities people look for in leadership, what types of political ideologies they have, and whether there are differences in how men and women relate to each other. All of these factors play a role in determining what influence individuals have over others and what messages get passed onto future generations.

Another area of focus in demographic research is finding information about where people live and what kind of communities and neighborhoods they belong to. This is because location has an effect on what brands people will trust and what goods and services they will access.

Behavioral data

Recent developments in marketing research are becoming more focused on using behavioral data to determine how people behave and what influences that behavior. This is called psychographic or person-based marketing, which comes with defining who you want to influence and why!

Traditional market research focuses on quantitative data — numbers and statistics such as how many people clicked on an advertisement or how much money a product sold. While these are important pieces of information, they only tell part of the story.

Quantitative data doesn’t take into account things like motivation, emotions, relationships, etc., all of which play a significant role in buying decisions.

Clinical psychologist Daniel Burckle once said, “You can't understand someone else's actions without understanding their reasons for those actions.”

That is why collecting qualitative data (information about motivations, feelings, and experiences) via surveys or interviews is so crucial. These types of questions help us find out not just what people do, but also why they do it.

Behavioral studies have become increasingly popular due to its effectiveness in revealing insights that other research methods don’t. Because of this, there are now lots of ways to gather behavioral data and apply it towards improving business strategies and applications.

Marketing strategies

A few years ago, there was an explosion of marketing research studies – almost every major company had at least one internal team that conducted market research to determine how best to approach their business goals.

Now it seems like everyone is doing marketing research!

It’s no surprise why companies are investing more resources into research. The availability of easy-to use software tools as well as online survey services have made it possible for anyone with a job to conduct surveys and experiment with different marketing strategies.

With all this opportunity, people are creating new ways to test and evaluate marketing messages and strategies.

What are some examples of trends in marketing research?

There are several types of marketing research including focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, and observations. Each has its benefits and limitations, so professionals must be careful not to overuse any type or else they won’t get very meaningful data.

Here we will discuss three common types of marketing research and what it can tell you about your current marketing strategy and potential alternatives.

Product development

A growing field within marketing research is to find new ways to test, evaluate, and develop products or services. This area of research is sometimes referred to as product development or market testing. Companies are constantly looking into what features make for a successful product and adding them to whatever product they want to promote.

There are many different types of studies that can be done during this process. Some examples include comparing one product against another, examining effectiveness of advertisements, and assessing demand or need for a product.

Companies use these insights to improve their current products or create new ones.

Digital marketing

As we already mentioned, digital marketing is just about any activity or action that promotes your business via online media. This includes everything form advertising on social media sites to creating an excellent website with engaging content!

The most common forms of digital marketing are: Social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), paid advertisements on websites and applications like Google Ads or Facebook ads, influencer marketing, and content marketing. All of these promote your products or services through different channels and strategies.

Influencer marketing is one of the hottest trends in digital marketing at the moment. Influencers are people with a large audience who will likely interact with your product or service. They can be YouTubers, bloggers, or anyone else with a large community.
By investing in influencers, you get exposure for your company without spending too much money.

Content marketing is another very popular way to do business online. Creating helpful, educational content for your site and other sites similar to yours is a great way to draw new visitors, increase traffic to your site, and earn some income from ads tied into the content you create.

There you have it! That was our list of five hot digital marketing trends for 2020.