Market research was always important in the business sector, but its contribution was never as vital for helping companies stay on top of the competition as it is now. Online trends are shaping the product demand, as seen on social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram. For instance, under-desk electric treadmills became popular during the pandemic as people working remotely wanted to stay in shape as gyms were closed and lockdown was still active. Press-on nails, heatless curling headbands, and multi-purpose cleaners flourished on the platform, so its impact helped market researchers change their tactics.
Nowadays, the concept of market research is considerably different from a decade ago. Still, the pandemic significantly ushered in the development of the era of online shopping, so agencies and marketers are constantly faced with new trends, demands, and customer needs. Hence, adapting is now essential to keeping business alive, so here are the most prominent challenges in market research for 2024.
Competing or collaborating with AI?
Artificial Intelligence is one of the best things happening to humanity, or at least this is what tech enthusiasts believe. AI is a coming-of-age tool that can make market research much easier through machine learning and NLP. It can subtract, analyse, and make data easy to use for companies. AI can create content, predict trends, and do advertising with only one tap from the market team.
However, AI is not always reliable. The online media has already seen what it can do if it falls into the wrong hands― create deepfakes, induce terror and doubt among people, and influence their opinions because it’s a biased tool.
AI is still in its infant stages, so it sometimes has data privacy issues, a lack of contextual understanding, and ethical concerns. Therefore, agencies and marketers must gradually introduce AI into their systems and approaches to mitigate trouble and make the most of this tool for various sectors, such as marketing or services for the Pharma industry.
Working on real-time market research
Trends happen now, meaning they’re formed continuously in the present and will be replaced by new ones in t-minus days, so marketers must work on addressing real-time stats and data about their products, customer engagement, and media trends.
Live customer experience data is one of the latest elements becoming more accessible to marketers, leveraged through chatbots, robo-advisors, and many other tools. The objective of live CX is to eliminate the purchasing value-action gap that makes companies believe customers actually do what they say, which can be a fault in the data system.
Artificial intelligence is usually involved in this process, but there are many other tech solutions through which companies can perform studies in less time and more frequently. At the same time, companies can easily shift their approach by using different systems or having the right team.
Providing more accurate data
Data is the Holy Grail in market research, as it rules every company’s next move. However, a considerable part of the data gathered by businesses is useless, whether the communication channel was wrongly chosen for the target audience or survey questions weren’t straightforward enough.
Accurate data for marketing is challenging to acquire, even if AI systems can identify low-quality information from valuable ones. Considering how much information marketers have to deal with, such tools are useful and necessary in creating a proper end advertisement.
Accessing genuine data in marketing ensures you make better decisions regarding your strategy, increase productivity, and have a competitive advantage in the market. Moreover, targeting the right audience can reduce costs.
Handling search engine updates
2024 is the year of changes in terms of SEO, and every marketer was annoyed by the newness at least once in the past months. The latest update in March aimed to reduce spam content after AI filled the internet with fake news and photos, messing up market results and search engines. Google reduced more than 40% of the spam content on the internet as it sees it as low quality, whether it consists of links, content, or expired domains.
However, despite the benefits of getting rid of spam, the update is still not adequately concluded, so marketers might find that their organic content is flagged as inappropriate based on new guidelines. Therefore, it will take some time until the SEO update doesn’t challenge companies in their content-making process.
The update is indeed useful, as spam is everywhere around us, and it’s of no value at all. While the number of global spam e-mails decreased in the past decade, reaching only 45.6% of the annual share, it should still be lower in accordance with today’s modern technology.
Maintaining search visibility among the competition
Organic advertisement of your content and data is essential for the company’s online well-being. Organic traffic, user engagement, and online presence are prominent factors for any respectable business, establishing a certain level of online authority and assuring success.
Unfortunately, maintaining search visibility nowadays isn’t as easy as it sounds, especially with Google’s latest algorithmic updates, which make it difficult for content to be ranked as high quality. On the other hand, traditional SEO practices are the most dangerous, whether we consider keyword stuffing or low-quality backlinks that place you at the bottom of the competitor list.
It’s best to make an effort to maintain visibility by improving your keyword research, using proper tools for research, and following the best SEO practices. Focus on the right SEO plugin and prioritise metadata, but the most important thing is to create helpful content that speaks to your audience.
Are you ready for a new market research era?
The internet is an ever-changing ecosystem, and we must learn how to face the newness by adapting to it. Market research is one of the sectors where change happens often, and marketers must develop new strategies and approaches to achieve the same organic results from content and engage with communities adequately to promote loyalty. Hence, they must overcome the fear of AI and stay on top of the competition with the right keywords.
