Marketing Research Process
There are several ways in which you can gather market research, from a very simple questionnaire to the more complex process of hiring a professional market research to conduct research.
The first step is to define marketing problems and opportunities. These can include launching a new product, a poor company image and reputation, and low awareness of your company and its products or services.
The second step is to set objectives, budget, and timetables. Setting objectives will involve exploring the nature of a problem in order to further define it or figure out a solution. You will also need to figure out how much you can afford and how much you are willing to spend on advertising. Some small business owners will set aside a certain percentage of gross sales to spend on advertising; for an existing business, this is usually about two percent. However, if you are beginning a new business or launching a new product, you may want to increase your budget for up to 10 percent of expected gross sales. You should prepare a time frame that details a realistic version of all of the steps of the market research process.
The third step is to select research types, methods, and techniques. There are two basic types of research that you can conduct: (1) primary research, which consists of original information gathered for a specific purpose and (2) secondary research, which is information that already exists. In most cases, secondary research is usually faster and less expensive to obtain.
The fourth step is to design research instruments. The most common way to gather market research is a questionnaire. If you choose to do a questionnaire, you should make sure to keep it simple, include proper instructions, keep each question brief, and make the questionnaire easy to read. Mixing both closed-ended questions (yes, no answers or choosing on a scale) and open-ended questions (requiring short answers) is typically the most efficient way to gather the proper information from your customers. Finally, to ensure that the questionnaire makes sense and will help you get the proper information, you should also have a few trusted people to complete the survey and give you feedback before distributing the survey.
The fifth step is to collect data and it is often helpful to do so under the supervision of professional market researchers.
The sixth step is to organize and analyze data. Once you have gathered all your necessary data, it is vital that you edit, code, and tabulate the results. You should make sure when analyzing the data that you look for relevant data, analyze and compare the different methods of data collection, and read between the lines of what customers have said.
The seventh and final step is to present and use marketing research findings. You may want to share this information with your sales and marketing departments or conduct a company-wide training seminar specifically about this data and what you expect the company to do about it.
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