The Lost Art of Market Research

Many marketing managers fail to conduct detailed marketing research before they plan their campaigns, or they base campaigns on outdated information which they haven’t bothered to corroborate. Market research is an absolutely essential tactic/technique that should be a part of every marketer’s repertoire.

The steps we follow are:

• Research
• Analyze
• Test
• Campaign Planning and Design
• Execute
• Analyze and verify data.

By doing the research beforehand, not only do you create a targeted campaign that helps produce better ROI, you save money on wasted efforts and time. This highly tailored approach will help you much more than the shotgun approach everyone else uses.

Know your consumer, business, and competition

There are many research methods and most companies use either two ways of collecting data. They are – primary and secondary research:

Primary research involves collecting first-hand data such as:

• Personal interviews
• Focus groups
• Surveys
• Observations
• Field trials

Secondary research involves collecting data secondhand from:

• Reports and other research material

The money you are willing to spend and the type of data you want will decide which technique you choose. Whatever method you choose, you must follow these basic guidelines:

1. Selection of a sample
The size of the sample has to be right. Too small a sample may lead to inaccurate results; too large a sample is not cost-effective.

2. Representation of the market
Whatever size you select, the sample needs to be relevant and truly representative of the total population.

3. Proven Results
Data should be based on sampling and statistics. Results can be broken down to percentages and tabulated using simple mathematics anyone can easily understand.

There are also common mistakes that marketers make in market research.  Some are:

• Poor sources of information
• Cost overruns
• Wrong sample selection
• Low quality research tools
• Dependence on single set of data—and most importantly,
• Bias in research in order to support desired results

We work with our clients to learn as much as possible about their prospects before we even plan the campaign. Knowing your prospects helps streamline the process, avoid errors and save money.  On occasion, discovering and using new information that a client has never considered before has produced dramatic results.

Alok Chowdhury

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