Smart companies will continue to expand their offerings, innovate, and explore new opportunities for growth. Their resources and focus has been on developing and fine-tuning a new offering. But as the launch and announcement approach and their attention turns to communications, they realize that their current customers may not be their prime targets. They find themselves trying to define their new audience and crafting messages relevant to those new prospects.

If you find yourself asking: Who are my new prospects? How will this product or service solve a problem or satisfy a need? How do I reach this new audience? Chances are you’ll likely get answers from research.

So, what type of research should you conduct? There are several kinds. Here are a few you might consider:
Benchmarking/Awareness Study: Quantitative or qualitative study to determine the degree to which a given audience is aware of and familiar with a company. It can also be applied to products, services and specific attributes.
Focus Group: Very qualitative, intense and, at times, anecdotal research from a small group, typically on a specific topic. A professional facilitator must be used and participants must be carefully pre-screened to ensure a valuable session.
Interview: Personal, one-on-one interviews provide the most detailed qualitative information of any research technique.
Survey: More quantitative study of a representative sample of a given audience; in the B-to-B world, online, mail, telephone and trade show surveys are common examples.
Market Study: Detailed quantitative and qualitative studies of new market segments as they relate to the marketer’s products. Comprehensive studies should draw on a number of information sources as well as new research.
Quantitative Research: Quantitative market research provides numerical data. It is used to determine and predict attitudes, opinions and behaviors of a particular group based on scientific sampling. Essentially, it allows for totaling the groups’ responses to arrive at statistically projectable data.

To learn more about each of these methods of research, watch for our up coming white paper: Common B-to-B Research Techniques.