I have seen a lot of good ideas and bad ideas but the ideas that have a shot of actually doing something are base off of dedication, drive and basic research. It does not take too long to see where your opportunities are in any market even one as low as this current one. The key to finding out where your oppportunity is is doing some research.
As marketers we must rely on primary and secondary data.
Primary Data is collected for the first time and done for the original marketer. This data is collected for a specific purpose and is generally directly commissioned and costly. In today’s market enironment primary data is used on very high-profit oppotunity ideas by most small businesses.
Here are some methods of primary research:
1.
Interviews
2.
Focus groups
3.
Projective techniques
4.
Product tests and work groups
5.
Commissioned Studies
Secondary marketing research already exist and is relatively cheap. You can get this information from many sources – including the internet and this blog! This data is general and needs to be examined for its usefulness but it can help you create a strong direction for your plans.
Here are some ways to collect this data:
1.
Trade associations and industry press
2.
National and local press, internet
3.
National/international government data. This US Census is a cheap source to start – here is the web site: http://www.census.gov/
During all your research you must focus on several research opportunities:
1- Analyze customers, and their needs
2- Monitor the macro environment
3- Evaluate any marketing activities in place currently
4- Redefine research pool if samples are not satisfactory
The task of research and evaluation of the data is the most difficult part. What do you do what the data you collected? How can I use this data to apply to my product?
Dirty data is a common challenge marketers face and creates havoc on marketing plans. It is hard to learn how to filter out the noise and eliminate the dirty data allowing you to get to the clean “scrubbed” data that a marketing team can rely on to get a task done. Marketers must validate and question any sources that could supply biased data and this data can certainly come from distributors, retailers or other intermediaries and the internet!
Every marketer must research the data validity and reliability before trusting it to a valued decision.
Even small, informal research conducted poorly will not produce relevant required results. All research will have an inherent flaw in it. Poor results can come from many reasons but are often tied to how one gets the data.
To validate most research one must first set the measurements and benchmarks and than validate that it is measuring the right data. Data or reports available for purchase normally make a claim as to what they are measuring such as competitors’ products, market conditions etc. Even the smallest reports qualify how the data was collected. You can search for a number of companies that offered pre-packaged data and reports.
Most governments also offer statistics and marketing data through their commerce agencies for free. These are great tools to understand the basic surface markets. Because you read thi sblog – I’ll help you save a few hundred bucks – try out the FREE gov site http://www.stat-usa.gov/ . ekn links can help you make sense of all this data madness and put it together for you in a strategic marketing report. Contact us now at info@eknlinks.com or visit us at
to learn morw about market research.
Post by : Ken Ninomiya , ekn links
Ken Ninomiya specializes in developing and implementing results-oriented sales and marketing programs for international manufacturers. ?He has held positions with one of the largest food manufacturers in South America, a start up of a fortune 100 company, and Sales Director for a division of Dole and Tressallure (a Revlon licensed company).
Product development major accounts Ken has 19+ years of experience in branded and private label consumer packaged goods and specification/contract products. Appointed as the Trade Liaison to Shanghai, China as a resident from 1992-1994, he helped a number international of companies understand the U.S. market. With an understanding of Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, Ken Ninomiya holds a marketing degree from Dallas Baptist University specializing in International Business, and an Executive MBA from the Chapman School of Business at FIU. Ken has earned academic business awards and the Richard Boulware Scholarship for entrepreneurship. He has authored and created business cases and an interactive business simulation for executive training and is an adjunct professor of executive education in marketing management.
www.eknlinks.com