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Marketing Research Steps: Marketing Research Approach

Once your problem is better defined, you can move onto developing marketing research approach, which will generally be around a defined set of objectives.

Clear objectives developed in Step 1 will lend themselves to better marketing research approach development. Developing your approach should consist of honestly assessing you and your team’s market research skills, establishing a budget, understanding your environment and its influencing factors, developing an analysis model, and formulating hypotheses.

Project Analysis

• How difficult is the project to execute?
• Is it a large sample (500+) or small sample (<200)?
• Will the project need advanced analysis?
• What are the likely methodological approaches?
• Is in-depth and detailed reporting or executive summary reporting needed?

Skills Analysis

• Is there in-house market research available to meet project needs?
• Is the in-house market research expertise available during the given timeframe?
• What parts of the market research process can be handled internally?

Budget Analysis

• Is this a strategic problem/issue or a tactical one?
• Is it a $20,000 project or $200,000 project — what is the information worth?
• Where will the budget come from, and can it be shared between departments?
• Who are those most likely to benefit from the research, and likely those most willing to fund the project?
• In what timeframe will budget be available?

Environment

• What is the overall economic environment?
• What is the economic environment relative to your products/services?
• What is the governmental environment (regulatory, etc.)?

Overall Theory of the Marketing Research Approach

• What is your overall theory and hypothesis?
• What do you intend to prove or disprove?
• What actions are your company willing to take based upon survey results?
• What are the internal/external roadblocks that will need to be overcome to drive results?

Contact Polaris to learn more about marketing research approach.