Many companies are tempted to splurge on a bold new marketing campaign, on the basis that they’ve had a great idea for a really catchy advertising tactic.

Unfortunately, such ideas can often lead nowhere, because the company hasn’t actually taken the time to really find out about its target audience.

The science of ‘finding out’ is called market research, the activity that helps to determine (among topics):

• What your audience knows
• What their likes and dislikes are
• What their opinions, attitudes and emotions are
• What emotions they tend to experience
• What prompts them to act or react
• What other distractions they encounter

When any organization has taken time to gather this kind of information, it’s much better placed to then design strategies and tactics that will actually compel their target audiences to behave in desired ways. It’s easy to see that although market research can be a costly business, it can help companies to get their communications solutions and marketing strategies right the first time around.

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