Marketing Research is Easy - Really

Marketing Research is simple, really.

I did my first marketing research project when I was in the 7th grade. You probably did too.

There was this terminally cute new chick named Rebecca in my class, and I knew nothing about her, other than that she made my 13 year-old knees knock together with an audible clacking. I really wanted to ask her to the school dance, so with the desperation of the painfully bereft, I went on an information quest:

• I found out where she lived. Where she had gone to school before 7th grade.

• Did she have a boyfriend? How big was he? Hmmm...

• What were her favorite subjects? What did she do after school?

• What did my friends think? Should I ask her? Was anybody else thinking of asking someone?

• Who did Rebecca hang out with, and what did they think? Did she even know who I was? Would any of them run interference for me? If I paid them?



I could have just walked up to her and mumbled an invitation, but if I was going to put my precious and meager supply of ego capital on the line, I was going to be pretty damn sure what the answer was going to be before doing it.

Welcome to the world of marketing research.

Simply and unprofessionally put (which is something researchers hardly ever do) marketing research is the process of learning as much as you possibly can about your target audience in order to reduce the risk of making decisions that will come back and bite you in the ass. Decisions that cost you ego capital. Or a lot of money.

Despite attempts by marketing researchers to make the subject so abstruse that you believe only they can understand it, most marketing research falls into one of three camps:

1. Quantitative: Broad not deep. A LOT of interviews. What detergent do you use? Whom would you vote for? Predictive. 

Obama will get 48% of the vote, plus or minus 3%.

2. Qualitative: Small number of interviews. Deep not broad. NOT predictive, but connective. What does buying that detergent suggest about you as a mother? Tell me what you think will be the basic differences between an Obama presidency and a HRC presidency, and how you think that might affect you?

3. Secondary: demographic. How many people live within a mile of this location, and what is the average value of their homes?

Which of these three is the most important?

None. It depends totally on the decision and the stakes. A bank President considering a new branch location will have a different set of information needs than a tired brand looking to reconnect with customers and become relevant again. How much information do you need to become comfortable that your decision will be an informed and profitable one?

So while the basics of marketing research may be easy, what's hard is knowing where to start and when to stop. There are a million different types of projects: Political polls, advertising research, ethnographic research, new product development, and so on... Which one, or which combination, is best for you and your decision?

The trick? Finding the balance - the comfort zone on the continuum between the points of “no information at all” and way too much information”. Consider what is essential to your decision, and what falls merely into the category of “nice to know”.

Everyone thinks research (or knowledge) is important. But not everyone is willing to pay for it.

Even if your budget is nil, do something. Get out into the stores and ask questions.

Learn to ask “why”, then “why” again, just like a 5 year-old. Be endlessly curious, and don’t be afraid to look stupid. Don't assume you understand, ask. You never know what might turn out to be important. Talk to the people in your organization who speak with customers daily. Get online and look at a competitor’s website. Try to put yourself in your customer’s place - to look at your business and the purchase decision as they do.

You’ll notice that people in your organization start turning to you when they’re wondering what your customers are thinking - when they want the voice of the customer. You'll notice that you start making marketing decisions from a different perspective, one that reflects what is important to your audience as opposed to what is important to your agency.

So what happened with Rebecca? After a thorough investigation of what I thought were all the relevant questions, I finally summoned enough courage, called Rebecca and asked her to the dance. Despite my research, I was still terrified - but she said “yes”. We went and had a great time.

She dumped me later for a Lyle Alzado lookalike who was playing varsity football and shaving at the age of 14. 



Hmph. Should have done more competitor research! 


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Comments

[Karen Swim]

Frank you have elucidated marketing research in a way that even non-marketers will understand. When I worked in Corporate as a marketer I of course spent a great deal of time gathering, analyzing, predicting, quantifying and reporting but I also had a Sales background so "voice of the customer" was not just something that sounded good in memos, but something I took seriously. I covered seven states and 200 reps and traveled to talk to and more importantly listen to customers. The VOC can save you time and resources by enabling you to focus on what's needed and desired rather than developing what you want them to need and desire. Excellent post Frank and far from boring! :-)

[Suki Fuller]

By far one of the most interesting & on point clarifications of market research I have read.