While Stan was presenting at the AMA’s Marketing Research Conference this week, he shared his view that for market research agencies to make the leap to being truly valuable to clients, they need to do more synthesis and make proactive recommendations. OK, coming from the guy who buys market research for Coca Cola, that sounds great. But is there broader demand for market researcers who can synthesize and be proactive?
If you have been thinking about expanding your market research investments but still aren’t quite ready to build an in-house team, another option is to build a virtual one.
In a recent blog post, the folks at PluggedIn pose the question, “Can your company’s culture support a continuous MROC?” The authors wisely suggest that before investing in such a program, you carefully consider A) Do your really need it, and B) will your colleagues use it?
I’d like to expand this list of questions, by adding one more:
Market Research Project Disasters: Common Cause #1
…mplying that all in-house research is “bad” is as ridiculous as asserting that all agency-led research is “good.”
My premise is that one of the market research world’s greatest challenges is that market research departments spend 70% or more of their time on project management—as opposed to the strategic functions that would lead to more innovation.
The AMA’s 2010 Market Research conference is coming soon (September 26-28). I will be there, and encourage anyone interested in educational and peer networking opportunities to join me. Great Keynote… Continue reading Check Out The AMA’s 2010 Market Research Conference
There are several points in a market research project where you, as the client-side manager, need to be particularly cautious. Here are two of the big ones.
To be frank, my opinion on this topic has changed in just the past year or two. Before then, I was an ardent believer that all research must by anonymous—no matter what. I felt that any direct follow-up would show research participants that their survey responses could result in unexpected communications—and even if “helpful”, this experience could still impact future willingness to participate in research.
Small market research projects have less risk. They get done quickly. Results get shared while they are still fresh. And conclusions can be communicated within the attention span of a busy recipient, so they actually get used.