Why Industry-Specific Market Research Is the Foundation of Every Great Marketing Strategy

General market research says “people love coffee.” Industry-specific research says “Oncology department heads drink it at 4:12 a.m. while reading FDA submission memos and silently judging your font choice.”

If your marketing strategy is missing industry-specific research, it’s not really a strategy. It’s a guess.

We don’t say that lightly. 

At Borrowed Pen, we’ve worked with engineering firms, healthcare companies, SaaS platforms, legal teams, and commercial real estate groups. The pattern is always the same in complex industries: The clients who invest in deep, audience-specific research make sharper decisions, write stronger messaging, and build marketing that actually converts.

Industry-specific marketing research is the foundation every smart business needs before they start writing blogs, redesigning websites, or launching campaigns. Let’s talk about what industry-specific research really is and why it should be your starting point.

What Is Industry-Specific Market Research? 

Industry-specific market research is the process of gathering strategic insights that reflect the real-world context of your buyers, competitors, and decision cycles, not generic market trends. It's tailored to:

• Your niche audience (not “millennials” or “business leaders”)

• Your industry’s language, pricing models, and procurement processes

• Your regulatory environment and risk factors

• Your buying timelines, gatekeepers, and objections

Deep market research helps you understand:

• What your buyers actually care about

• How they evaluate vendors like you

• What messaging builds trust and what turns them off

• Where the gaps are in your competitors’ positioning

• What’s changing in your industry that you should act on now

Why General Research Leads You in the Wrong Direction

General research tools are built for B2C brands and big-budget enterprise teams. They rely on:

• Broad surveys are sent to anyone with a LinkedIn profile

• Keyword reports that prioritize search volume over buyer intent

• Insights that flatten nuance in favor of scale

Generic research leads to mistakes like:

• Using popular terms your buyers don’t actually use

• Building content for awareness when your funnel starts at consideration

• Chasing SEO traffic that will never convert

Example: A medical device startup once came to us targeting “remote patient monitoring” as a keyword. Great volume, but every top result was patient-facing. Their actual buyer? Clinical operations directors. Different questions. Different language. Different intent.

What Strategy-Driven, Industry-Specific Research Looks Like

At Borrowed Pen, we don’t just do research to gather data. We use it to answer strategic questions that shape your brand. Here’s what that looks like:

1. Clarifying your actual audience

Who are they, not just in job titles, but in motivations, challenges, and daily pressures? A VP of Operations at a construction firm is not the same as a VP of Ops at a hospital. We build profiles based on interviews, patterns, and what buyers are really thinking about when they consider a vendor.

2. Mapping how they make decisions

We document the decision journey:

• Who’s involved

• What questions do they ask

• What problems trigger a search

• What outcomes they’re judging on

• What makes them say yes or walk away

Buyer behavior shapes everything from your messaging hierarchy to your CTA placement.

3. Positioning you against the right competition

No more “our biggest competitor is in-house teams” or “we don’t have any direct competitors.” Everyone is being compared to someone. We audit your actual competitive set (the ones in your niche and region, the ones showing up in RFPs and Google searches) and help you position clearly and credibly.

4. Uncovering language that builds trust

We don’t guess at what your audience wants to hear. We document how they talk, then build your messaging around their mental model. Not dumbed down. Not jargon-stuffed. Just precise, useful, and confident.

Why Market Research Is the Foundation of Marketing Strategy

Market research isn’t a check-the-box activity. It is the box. It should come before:

• Website redesigns

• Brand refreshes

• Content plans

• Campaign builds

• Sales enablement materials

• Even product naming or pricing conversations

Once you know what your buyers care about, what they compare you to, and what language they trust, everything else gets easier. You stop:

• Writing in circles

• Targeting five personas with one message

• Publishing content that never ranks or converts

• Building “funnels” that don’t match your buyer’s reality

You start:

• Creating messages that resonate

• Publishing content that earns attention

• Building a brand that buyers recognize and remember

Why This Matters For Your Brand

Market Research is essential if:

• Your buyers are technical, specialized, or highly regulated

• Your sales cycle is long and consultative

• Your competitors all sound the same

• You’ve redesigned your website and still don’t feel clear

• You’re tired of guessing and want content that’s built on something solid

What Our Research Includes

We tailor every engagement, but most of our industry-specific research includes:

• Internal stakeholder interviews (to align your team)

• Buyer interviews (past or prospective clients)

• Competitor audits (messaging, SEO, content)

• Keyword and topic mapping (based on actual buyer search behavior)

• Messaging opportunities (what no one else is saying—but should be)

• Content roadmap (what to write next and why)

Plus, we don’t leave you with a PDF. We write the content, too: Blogs, web copy, case studies, sales collateral, and more. All rooted in the strategy we built together.

You can’t market clearly if you don’t understand your audience. So industry-specific market research is the foundation of everything else. Without it, you’re writing in the dark. With it, you’re building a brand that actually works because it’s based on truth, not templates.

Want us to build your research foundation? We’ll find the answers your marketing strategy needs, then write the content that brings them to life. Start your research with Borrowed Pen.