Grow Your Brand Through Optimized Market Research

When everything seems to be going well in your business, you might think, "If it's not broke, don't fix it." Unfortunately, while this sentiment holds true in some aspects of life, marketing isn't one of them. 

While it's likely that you already know that market research is essential for your brand's success, this doesn't mean that the whole process isn't a little overwhelming. Here's a look at six key research models and how they can help you grow your brand through various market research efforts.

1. Brand Salience 

The first research model on our list is brand salience. Typically, strong brands have higher brand salience, and weak brands have little to none. Brand salience is essential, but what is brand salience all about?

What It Is

Brand Salience is the degree your brand is thought of or noticed by consumers when they make a purchase decision. Without strong brand salience, consumers give little to no thought about your brand when purchasing. 

The Benefits 

Creating a strong brand salience can bring your brand a number of benefits. The most significant benefit of strong brand salience is that it keeps your brand at the top of my mind. This means that when consumers look to buy a service or product, your brand will be a top contender as you have created a brand that consumers have a strong and positive emotional connection to. 

The Application 

So, how do you create a brand that consumers are drawn to and increase your brand salience? Creating a strong brand salience is a multi-step process. The four key factors that elevate a brand's salience are listed below. 

1. Consumer Awareness — The first step to building brand salience is to increase consumer awareness of the brand. 
2. Increase Visibility — After gaining initial awareness, it is essential to keep this awareness. Social media is an excellent way to grow your audience and increase the overall visibility of your brand. 
3. Create Relevancy — To increase the relevancy of a brand, you must target customers by keeping their interests and needs in mind. By focusing on a consumer's interests and needs, you create a positive experience for them. This strategy allows consumers to make a positive emotional connection to your brand.
4. Build Upon Positive Feedback — The final factor in increasing brand salience is to build upon the positive feedback that your consumers are already giving. When current consumers have a positive emotional connection to your brand, they are more likely to spread positive reviews about your product. Tapping into this feedback and encouraging consumers to share your product is a great way to increase overall brand salience.

2. Brand Usage 

The next research model on our list is brand usage. Brand usage and loyalty go hand-in-hand. Here's a look at what brand usage is all about.

What It Is 

Brand usage is the propensity for a consumer to repurchase a product. Essentially, increasing brand usage requires increasing your brand's number of repeat customers. 

The Benefits 

By increasing your brand usage, you increase your brand's number of repeat customers. This strategy will increase sales while also increasing brand loyalty.

The Application 

So, how do you increase brand usage? When looking to improve your brand usage, ask yourself these four questions. 

1. What percent of the market buys our brand?
2. How frequently do they buy it? 
3. How is our brand purchased?
4. How do customers find information about our brand?

Asking these four questions will help you increase your brand usage during your market research endeavors.

3. NPS/Satisfaction Score  

Net promoter Score (NPS) or satisfaction score is the next research model on our list. This research model is entirely number focused. Check out what NPS/Satisfaction Score is all about down below.

What It Is

NPS or satisfaction score is simply the percentage of customers rating their likelihood to recommend a brand, product, or service. 

The Benefits 

This research model is beneficial to marketing managers as it can be used as a tool to measure customer satisfaction with a brand or product. 

The Application

To practically apply this market research model, you need to know what the NPS/Satisfaction Score truly entails. The Net Promoter Score is an index ranging from -100 to 100. To find this score, customers are generally surveyed on a single question. They are typically asked to rate on an 11-point scale (0-10) their likelihood of recommending the brand or product to a friend or colleague. Customers are then placed into one of three groups: Detractors, Passives, or Promoters. 

1. Detractors: Customers that answered in the 0-6 range
2. Passives: Customers that answered in the 7-8 range
3. Promoters: Customers who answered in the 9-10 range

To find the NPS score, the percentage of customers who are Detractors are then subtracted from the percentage of customers who are Promoters. This will generate a score somewhere between -100 and 100. The closer to 100 your score is, the more satisfaction current customers hold in regard to your brand or service. The higher satisfaction current customers have, the more likely they will be to recommend your brand to their friends and colleagues! 

4. Brand Association & Perception 

Brand association is another important research model in marketing. Brand association or perception matters as it reflects what consumers think about a brand's culture. Read on to learn more about the ends and outs of brand association and perception. 

What It Is

Brand association or perception is essentially the sum of feelings a customer or consumer has about a brand. 

The Benefits 

There are many benefits to knowing the consumer perception of your brand. Once a customer formulates a perception of your brand, whether it be positive, negative, or neutral, it's hard to change their beliefs. Therefore, it is essential to measure brand association early to work out any kinks that may be leaving consumers with a negative perception of your brand. 

The Application

The best way to gauge brand perception for market researchers is through listening. Market researchers can easily listen to customers' feelings through social media and online reviews. The easiest ways to monitor consumer perception and association are listed below.

1. Online Reviews: Brands must read online reviews, both good and bad. This information gives accurate insight into consumer perception of a brand.
2. Social Media: Hashtags and other mentions of a brand on social media platforms are excellent for market researchers to gauge brand association and perception accurately.

5. Price Perception 

Another valuable market research model is price perception. While price perception can be subjective and hard to gauge, taking the time to understand this research model can prove very beneficial to any brand looking to expand its reach. Here's a look at the benefits a price perception model can bring to market research efforts. 

What It Is

Price perception simply refers to consumer feelings about a product or brand's cost. However, price perception isn't based on price tag alone. Even if you offer your product or brand at a lower price than competitors, this doesn't guarantee that consumers will have a positive price perception of your brand. Consumer behavior is a complex phenomenon influenced by more than just price alone. It is based on more than price but also on the value that consumers perceive they receive from purchasing a specific product. 

The Benefits 

If having a low-price tag isn't the only way to build price perception, what benefit does this research model provide? While price perception is complex, it is still a fundamental category to research and understand, as it has the power to bring more revenue in or completely destroy a brand. 

The Application

While price perception is impossible to comprehensively capture because of its subjective nature, there are a number of ways that market researchers can collect data on price perception. Diving into psychological factors is the biggest way to determine price perception to understand how luxury brands are able to garner such high price tags for ordinary products.

6. Brand Persona Mapping

The final research model on our list is brand persona mapping. Brand persona mapping is another research model that has a lot to offer marketers. Check out more about brand persona mapping below. 

What It Is

Brand persona mapping is the creation of a fictional but realistic profile reflecting a brand's characteristics. Essentially, brand persona mapping is the process of filling out the details surrounding your brand. Brand persona mapping requires you to collect three main elements, including: 

• Your business goals
• Your brand style of personality
• Your content marketing strategy 

The Benefits 

Brand persona mapping is beneficial to market research as it provides a way to discover what your brand is all about. This information helps you target your ideal customer, leading to increased sales and a more positive brand persona overall. 

The Application

To discover what your brand is all about, ask yourself the following questions when creating a brand persona map. 

1. What is unique about your brand?
2. What are your brand's core values?
3. What is your brand's mission?
4. What is your brand's expertise?
5. Who is your target customer? 

Answering these five questions will have you well on your way to creating a useful brand persona map.

Tying It All Together

Market research is essential for your brand's success. Using any of the six research models outlined above in your future market research is sure to yield excellent results for your brand!