There are lots of reasons why you might decide to do a deep dive into understanding your market. Maybe you are looking at how effective your new marketing campaign will be to capture the target segment that you want, or you’re looking to launch a new product and you want to understand the market for it. Often companies think that because they understand their product so they are ready to undertake a market research project on their own. It’s a natural reaction, you already have an in-house team and its can’t be that hard to send out some surveys, maybe hold some focus groups, and get a sense of the market landscape, can it?
If that’s you, consider why this might not be the best strategy.
First, expertise. Market research teams are filled with folks who live and breathe data. It’s also valuable to have a team with both qualitative and quantitative expertise. These teams are versed in best practices and can draw upon their collective experience to create and execute a valid research design. They also have the ability to easily draw on secondary information already available to them through experience and research database subscriptions that can help situate and contextualize your study. Quality data collection is critical, and these firms know how to build and test effective surveys that actually capture the data and market segments you want to gain insights into, recruit the right participants, conduct and analyzing in-depth interviews and focus groups, code date, and delivery quality data analytics.
Second, bias. The very expertise that makes your team great can create blinders. Bias can be subconscious, but the reality is that everyone in your company is deeply vested in your products. This means that there is bias and its presence will still impact the questions that are asked, how data is interpreted, what is ignored, etc. Businesses struggle when they aren’t able to truly look at their market, or themselves, objectively. Hiring a market research firm ensures that the research will be unbiased.
Third, its actually cheaper in the long run. By partnering with a marketing research first you can save your company countless lost hours learning to do something they aren’t experts in, time and money wasted on improperly designed studies, and questionable ability to deliver an objective findings. Getting high quality real time data that you can use to make your products better delivers huge wins financially in the long run.
The bottom line is that accurate and timely data mean better business. Smart firms also understand that understanding their customers pays other dividends beyond greater marketing effectiveness. Having a pulse on your customers, as well as those who aren’t currently in your market, is a powerful tool for identifying innovations and developing new products for the future.
Lauren Collins is a Research Director for Resolution Research & Marketing, Inc and PaidStudies.com, as well as Global Women in Blockchain where she is a board member. Lauren is a higher education scholar and PhD Candidate at the University of Denver, where she also teaches Global Citizenship and is a fellow at the Center for Sustainability.