Most marketing professionals know what it’s like to conduct market research and then struggle to understand the data, figure out what it all means, and use it to make better decisions—to turn marketing research into marketing intelligence. Last week at the CASE Institute for Senior Communications and Marketing Professionals, Elizabeth Scarborough shared insights on how data can support decision-making, help refocus efforts, and provide the firepower to get additional staff and funding. Some key takeaways:
- Get leadership support for market research: monitor your competitor’s marketing strategy and tactics and use that as a starting point for conversation with leadership.
- Follow key steps: once you have identified the research problem, identify and articulate your objectives before determining what type of research (qualitative or quantitative) will be most effective.
- Fine-tune research instruments: rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite. Research instruments are like wine and cheese—they get better over time.
- Build credibility: it is important to conduct several focus groups or in-depth interviews rather than just one to ensure that you build credibility that your findings are meaningful.
- Share the findings: it can be a challenge to present to various campus constituents, especially faculty. Some good ways of sharing qualitative findings include word clouds, audio clips, and worksheets or exercises conducted during the focus groups. Also, never use a percentage in qualitative research; only share integers.
- Don’t set goals right away: wait until you’ve had a few years of data to see the patterns of movement.
- Establish benchmarking metrics: conducting market research annually or semi-annually enables you to determine baseline metrics and track your brand over time.