The Steps to Follow During Staffing Market ResearchYes, you do! Don’t even bother asking yourself again whether you need market research or not. From the services you offer to the audience you target to the marketing initiatives you launch to your business decisions, your choices need to be as educated as possible. Is your key message speaking to your target audience? Should you turn to a new market? What is new in the staffing industry? Are you identifying needs that are not being addressed by your competitors? Market research is the best tool to get answers, set goals and justify decisions. But, where do you start from? What are the right steps to follow during your staffing firm market research?

Know What You Are Looking for
The purpose of market research is to help you collect information and provide you with data in order to make the best business decisions. But, before you start your research, you need to know exactly what you are looking for. Are you trying to find out whether trends in the industry have changed? Do you want to make sure that you are still marketing to the right audience? When is the best time to launch an email marketing campaign and how are you going to know it was successful? In order to get the right answers, you need to ask the right questions. Remember that you want to perform staffing firm market research to stay ahead of the competition, so try not to get overwhelmed by getting all over the place.

Determine How to Collect Information
Once you know what you are going to do research for, you have to determine how you are going to collect the information. Are you going to use primary or secondary research or both? Primary research includes surveys, interviews and feedback from your target audience while secondary research involves information previously researched for other purposes and publicly available from sources like articles, journals or online searches. Specify which one is the right approach for your staffing firm market research and use it to collect the data you need. If this is something that is out of your comfort zone turn to a reputable marketing agency and have them help you.

Stay Focused
One thing to always remember before and during your staffing firm market research is that you need to stay focused on what you are trying to achieve. Gathering information on all aspects of the industry might sound like a great idea, but it is the common reason why companies lose track of their research effort. With that being said, avoid spreading your market research across too wide a goal otherwise you run the risk of not getting answers to important questions. Develop a plan that designates your goals and speaks to the points you are trying to accomplish. Make sure your team is on the same page and be sure to frequently revisit the plan to make sure everyone sticks to it.

Don’t Forget Your Competition
A common mistake that companies make when they conduct market research is concentrating their efforts around their game plan. While the primary goal of your staffing firm market research is to help you make the right decisions for your company, you need to keep in mind that it also needs to take into account your competition. As you are trying to gain an insight into the market and get answers to your questions take a look at where your competition stands and how they approach the issues you want to tackle. Remember that the staffing industry is a very competitive space so the more you know about what you are up against, the more you can do to separate your firm.

Utilize the Data
You should have realized by now that conducting staffing firm market research is not an easy task. It requires setting goals, devoting time, following a methodology, dedicating resources and staying focused. Once carried out, it delivers valuable information that can be analyzed and used to help you make the right business decisions and get ahead of your competition. Don’t make the mistake of going through the challenge and then locking the data in a draw. Scrutinize your findings while they are relevant and use them to gain the insight you are looking for.

S.J.Hemley MarketingKey Takeaways for The Steps to Follow During Staffing Market Research:

  1. Know exactly what you are looking for
  2. Determine how you are going to collect information
  3. Avoid spreading your staffing firm market research too wide
  4. Use market research to get an understanding of what you are up against
  5. Don’t make the mistake of not using your findings

About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.