How Corporate Market Research Creates Crucial Competitive Advantages

Successful brands have one thing in common – they have their own corporate market research.
This helps them collect important information about customers and markets. Because they need this information for their strategic decisions.

But not every company has corporate market research. The reason: companies shy away from the costs of fixed resources. The reasons for this vary. On the one hand, it is justified by saying that too little market research is conducted. On the other hand, market research is supposed to be managed by the marketing department.

But market research within the company has an important task and brings benefits. These are often not clear to management. In the following, we take a closer look at the tasks, roles, and benefits of market research.

Corporate market research as an important instrument in marketing

The main task of corporate market research is to generate knowledge related to the sales market. This includes data on markets, customers, and competitors.

This covers topics such as market trends, how customers behave, whether products are well received, how advertising works, how a brand is perceived, as well as trends and competitor activities.

This knowledge significantly supports the decision-making process within the company.

For this purpose, market research institutes are frequently commissioned. Here, it is the task of corporate market research to make the right choice. Because the institute’s offer should provide the best price-performance ratio.

Additionally, internal market research ensures the high quality of the methods used.

Moreover, it ensures that the results are properly understood.

It also helps decision-makers to translate them into strategies.

To make this work well, corporate market research operates in many roles. Depending on the context, these include functional and function-related roles.

The diverse roles of corporate market research

Corporate market researchers are, for example:

• Topic Expert – because they possess deep knowledge in a specific subject area.

• Method Expert – they have specialized knowledge of individual methods, as these vary in the different phases of the product lifecycle.

• Gatekeeper – they decide which insights are passed on to management. In doing so, they ensure the insights are valid, relevant, and goal-oriented.

• Knowledge Manager – collects, organizes, and manages information and findings from market research. This creates a solid knowledge base for strategic decisions.

• Consumer Representative – develops a deep understanding of consumer needs. They represent the voice of the consumer. In doing so, they help ensure that products and marketing strategies address real needs.

• Strategist – anticipates developments and trends. In this way, they help to develop long-term strategic plans based on market research findings.

• Advisor – supports management in interpreting data. This leads to well-founded recommendations based on solid insights.

For a high ROI of market research investments

With these three tasks, corporate market research increases the ROI of market research:

It…

1. translates business goals and questions into research objectives and questions in the briefing.
2. ensures the high quality of research throughout the entire process. In doing so, it effectively manages the market research institute in the project.
3. also connects the know-how of external market research institutes with the goals of the company. In this way, corporate market research fulfills an important interface function.

Corporate Market Research: 7 Key Benefits for the Company

Through its diverse roles within the company, corporate market research generates high value for corporate strategy. Here are the most important benefits:

1. Market research processes information in a valid way. This enables marketing and sales managers to make more confident decisions. Their decisions become more targeted.
2. Regular market analyses help to better understand customer needs. Implementing the findings increases customer satisfaction. Customer loyalty is also strengthened.
3. Market research identifies new opportunities and risks at an early stage. This allows the company’s strategy to be adjusted better and faster, helping to stand out from the competition.
4. Market researchers avoid inefficient processes and redundant efforts in gathering information. This saves the company a lot of money.
5. With market research, companies can develop products that better meet market needs. This increases the chances of success for new products.
6. Accurate data helps in planning marketing campaigns. As a result, they can be executed in a more targeted and cost-effective manner. This increases the return on investment.
7. More information about trends and developments leads to more ideas from employees.

External Corporate Market Research Department as a Solution

Despite these advantages of corporate market research, some companies cannot or do not want to afford it. Yet it often becomes clear that they need help on certain topics. In such cases, it can be useful to hire external market research managers.

External experts have extensive knowledge and use the latest technologies. In addition, they bring fresh ideas and new approaches, as they are less “operationally blind.”

External market researchers can work objectively and without bias. This is important when dealing with sensitive or difficult topics. They examine the situation neutrally. This means their advice is not influenced by internal interests.

Moreover, external market researchers can be hired only for specific projects. This way, the company does not have to employ permanent staff. It saves costs and allows flexible use of resources as needed. In this way, companies can benefit from expert knowledge without long-term commitments.

Conclusion

Through corporate market research, companies can make better decisions. In this way, they optimize their strategies based on current market data. This research enables them to recognize opportunities and risks early on. At the same time, they avoid inefficiencies and reduce costs.

If you do not wish to commit to permanent internal market research resources, it makes sense to purchase this service on a project basis. This way, you save personnel costs and remain flexible for the desired level of support.

✅ BESTVISO is at your side as a sparring partner and external market research department. This gives your company the best opportunity to gain well-founded and comprehensive insights with a high ROI. And this synergy at the interface between marketing and market research leads to more accurate results. Let’s get to know each other – contact us!

1. Der betriebliche Marktforscher, das unbekannte Wesen? – Marco Ottawa und Prof. Dr. Christian Rietz im Interview. In: marktforschung.de – Das Portal für Marktforschung, Data Analytics und Insights. https://www.marktforschung.de/marktforschung/a/der-betriebliche-marktforscher-das-unbekannte-wesen-marco-ottawa-und-prof-dr-christian-rietz-im-interview/
2. Ottawa, M., Rietz, C. (2015). Betriebliche Marktforschung: Mehrwert für Marketing, Steuerung und Strategie. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.