Research Basics - Doing it Right

With all things there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. When it comes to market research, if you do it wrong, you will get results that give no value to you or your business.
You need to understand what information you want to get from the research before you start, so you can go about it the right way, and get the right answers, to the right questions.

1. Define the market place or who the target market is.
2. Define who the consumer/respondent is. i.e who has the information needed to answer the question.
3. Ascertain the need

• What they want
• Why they want it
• When
• Who
• How much
• How often

So how do you make sure you get it right?

An example is a TV advertisement. You may want to find out how many people are aware of the advertising, their response to it and whether they will change their behaviour as a result of it. Knowing this at the beginning ensures the the research is done in a correct manner to give you valid results.

The Collaborative Approach

To many, research is the piece at the end, that holds the marketing and ad agency accountable for their work. Unfortunately in the wrong hands you can pretty much make the numbers say what ever you want them to say!
By involving research from the onset, the measurables can be defined upfront, and the researcher is able to give feedback from the beginning. A team effort ensures that everyone is working towards the same goal. This is particularly important once the results are in, because new insights may mean a refinement in marketing, a refinement which is considerably easier to achieve if everyone is working as a team.