Numerous articles have been written, and debates engaged, about the question, “Are market researchers bad marketers?” It does strike one as odd—that a profession so driven to understand customer attitudes and behaviors, can’t seem to apply the discipline for its own marketing—and ultimately revenue-generating—benefit.
Why is it so popular? Primarily because it does pass the gut test: market research projects that are fast and good are unlikely to be cheap. Ones that are cheap and fast are unlikely to be good, and so on…
In this article, Jon Puleston tells us about some surprising statistics he overheard while attending the ESOMAR 3D conference:
Do you prefer American Marketing Association (AMA) events or Marketing Research Association (MRA) events? This is a questions I get frequently from Research Rockstar students and other people I run… Continue reading AMA or MRA Annual Market Research Events: Which to Choose?
How many points in a scaled question is “enough”? That’s a pretty common question in survey design. If you’ve spent some time with online market research surveys, you’ve probably noticed that they often have five points. “Please rate your satisfaction on a scale from 1 to 5, with one representing ‘not at all satisfied’ and five representing ‘extremely satisfied’.” Sometimes, though, you may see a 7-point scale instead of 5. Is 7 points an improvement? How about 11? Is higher resolution better? The answer is, “that depends”.
Is Market Research a high-stress job?
It certainly can be.
But I can also tell you, after 25 years of doing market research, that there are known strategies for managing project-related stress. My favorite is one Research Rockstar students hear me talk about frequently: the preemptive strike.
In the Sunday New York Times (January 20th, 2013 edition), Matthew E. May wrote about, “The Art of Adding Through Taking Away.” The article points to the strength of this wisdom through ancient proverb and more recently by quoting Jim Collins, who apparently observed that, “A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally important, what is not. It is the discipline to discard what does not fit…
Given that there are now many different skills involved in market research, and that each of these skill areas is increasing in complexity, how can one market research project manager excel? How can a general market research project manager have adequate skills, time and talent? Maybe it’s time to let people do what they do best. Or alternatively, perhaps assign them by the way their work will be applied?
Since we’ve just completed an election cycle, with its flood of political polling data, let’s take a look at what market researchers can learn from our not-too-distant cousins: political pollsters….
…Since the industry isn’t there yet, a client-side organization has stepped in to protect its own investments. Unilever uses qualitative research heavily, and its leaders need to be confident in the quality of market research used to make informed decisions. They are apparently willing to incur what must be significant costs to operate this program. I don’t think anybody can argue with the intent.
