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Now, there are two different ways you can go about researching, and this article is going to focus entirely on the first method, which is researching the market and who's running it.
This is almost entirely the same for both new and large businesses. The only different is that a large company has the ability to research what they've done before, whereas the new business must focus entirely on what others have done.
Okay, so what does this research entail? In order to research the market you need to focus entirely on what other companies are doing. This is often going to be limited to your industry, but don't let that barrier get in the way of knowing your full options.
Still, the first thing a company should do is look at those immediately surrounding them. Figure out what kind of marketing they're using the most along with how they're implementing it. Maybe postcard printing is the prime focus for one company while another is placing more money into brochures.
If that is the case than figure out why these companies chose those specific styles of advertising. What is it about color postcards that works well with one company? What kind of message are they sending out, and what about past marketing campaigns? Have they always been using color postcards or did they use another method in the past?
I said start out in your industry but I would also move beyond it to what any company period is doing. While one company might be using posters in a completely different market than yours, you can still figure out what it is about the posters that's working. Maybe they're using a message that can work for you as well even though you're in a different industry.
You might find a company in another industry using a completely new form of marketing you've never seen before. Figure out if it might work well in your market as well.
Looking at past marketing pushes will give you the greatest amount of information. That way you not only know what a company used, but you can see how successful they were with it. Did their profits go up considerably during the quarter that they were using one type of marketing or another? Did they maintain the same type of marketing for multiple years?
There is a whole wealth of information out there ready to be gained if you just take the time to look. Every company is researching the marketplace, and you can see their results in their actions. That's why you need to look at their actions.