In today’s competitive environment, where consumer has a plethora of choices, knowing the market is becoming a necessary condition, not only to grow but even to survive. A firm should continuously gather information regarding the market, as such information would provide the marketing decision makers clues for formulating and adapting their marketing strategies.
Marketing Strategies relate to what the company wants to offer (the product or service or both),the pricing of the offer, the promotion of the product or service and the way the product/service should be made accessible to the customers (distribution of the product).Marketing strategies also relates to who the company wants to sell its product or service to, whether the product is for everyone or targeted to any particular group of people (segmentation)
Firms can get market related information from their internal records, marketing intelligence and marketing research setups. Marketing intelligence refers to how managers can obtain regular information regarding important external developments affecting the firm. Marketing research refers to a systematic investigation procedure to discover facts or collect information regarding particular aspect related to marketing. For gathering marketing intelligence and undertaking market research firms can take the help of marketing consultancies. Marketing consultancies keep on gathering relevant information on various trades and can provide useful suggestions for improving sales, growth, coverage, brand name etc. They can also suggest and provide information regarding industry and market characteristics and trends, product/service pricing, product development, distribution, promotion and buyer behavior. Marketing consultancies also provide useful suggestions and information to start-ups and even existing firms who want to enter any new market or introduce any new product. Marketing consultancies can also help firms gather data from internal records including online records and present it as useful information.
Services of a Marketing Consultancy are particularly useful when a firm does not have its own set ups for gathering marketing intelligence and market research; such set ups require time and investments and risk in the sense that the firm may not be able to earn as much as it has had to spend; hence it is advisable to focus on the sales, not miss the wave and seek outside help and incur operational costs instead of capital costs. Even firms, which have in-house setups, may find services of a marketing consultancy useful for augmenting its marketing efforts.
These days it is important to have a strong physical as well as a virtual presence. Marketing Consultancies can provide firms useful suggestions on how to best design their web sites and online stores so as to maximize traffic and reach their target audience.