Understanding your target market and what they want is key to developing a winning brand. Having this information should also give you an idea of what communication medium and content would work to engage your market.

Conduct market research to discover as much as possible about your target customer - who they are, what their needs and desires are, what is their age, gender, income, shopping habits and anything else of relevance. If you’re targeting a business market, these criteria will differ depending on the industry.

Obtain information on your competitors’ offerings and how your offerings compare - what can a customer get from your product that they can’t get from anyone else? With this information in hand, you have the seeds for a winning branding strategy.

Effective market research requires two key competencies. First, marketing expertise, which brings an advanced knowledge of consumer behaviour and clients’ strategic marketing needs and secondly, technical expertise in the area of statistics and analysis.