With Mother’s Day coming up this Sunday, the day after Saturday (yes, it’s this Sunday, May 8th – yet another reminder!), we put together a few things we have heard our mothers say. Although they probably didn’t have market research in mind as they were trying to teach us valuable life lessons, we always have market research on the mind here in the Bunker. Here is our spin on some classic sayings from moms and their impact on our daily market research work.
1. “Would you jump off a bridge if everyone else did?” The time-tested advice saying you don’t have to do something just because everyone else is. We equate this to some of the new methodologies that are emerging in the marketing research industry. Just because a methodology or concept sounds new and trendy (e.g., crowdsourcing), doesn’t mean it’s right for your project or your client. Quite often, it can be best to stick with a proven and reliable methodology for conducting research. Even when all options are considered for a quantitative study – timeline, cost, deliverables – sometimes you just can’t beat the data quality offered by a well-prepared telephone survey.
2. “Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.” Seems pretty basic right? But when you’re conducting market research, no matter how small the scope may be, how small the client may be, or how small the bid, make sure it is done right. This valuable life lesson from mom can be carried through all phases of market research – proposal writing, survey design, fieldwork, quality control monitoring, analysis, report writing, and presentations.
3. “Don’t leave the dinner table until you finish all of your vegetables!” Sometimes that little side-dish might not be the tastiest thing, but there are tons of reasons your mom is telling you to eat it. If you’re conducting market research, don’t cut corners because something is unpleasant to get through. For instance, it may mean staying late and running those extra cross-tabulations for your client’s report. For businesses about to engage market research, it could also mean taking the time to put together your customer data no matter how unorganized it may be.
4. “Go outside and play!” From a market research perspective, we find this applies best with our site selection market research in terms of always going to visit the site or plot of land in person. This helps the research team get on-site perspectives on the proposed location. However, the adage “go outside and play” can apply to really any market research project you work on. If you are doing a survey for a restaurant, take a night to eat there to see firsthand how the food and service rates on your scale. If you are doing a survey on a local entertainment venue, take some time one weekend and go check it out. It will provide you with observational data and help you better interpret survey responses because you’ve actually experienced it yourself.
