Marketing research process steps

You have an amazing idea that is original and you think can’t be beaten. Your friends and family are in full support of you and think that your product or service will be a winner, but how do you know for sure how the rest of the world will react?

Maybe your original, homemade marmalade will just sit on the shelves or could not even be accepted in stores after months of preparation and money spent. People might be interested in a window-cleaning service, but if the prices are too high or there is too much competition you will have a hard time in your new business.

Research shows that 70% of all new businesses fail because of inadequate market research or because of no research at all.

Market Research is vital before starting any business.The process of marketing research has to be systematic and performed in stages for it to work properly.

The marketing research process are the six steps that would compile a marketing research survey.

• Indentifying and Defining the problem

This step needs to be performed before moving onto anything else. Basically ask yourself what has to be done.

• Developing your approach

Once you have identified the problem you can move onto the approach you would like to take according to the environment you are in. This should also involve the team you are with and their skills. You could draw up an analysis of your whole project and what need to be done.

• Research Design

This is the step you need to think about the most. Some people will contact research market companies for this step as it is the most vital. Information such as questionaire samples, design and data analysis will be captured in this step.

• Collecting of Data

This is the process where the data is collected and the different ways depending on what is suitable to you.

• Performing Data Analysis

This can range from a simple to a more complex project using various tools . It depends how the survey was compiled.

International Marketing Research Process

A few things have to be taken into consideration when marketing internationally because of customs, cultures and traditions so secondary information has to gathered for each country. After doing this the information has to be compared.

If it is your plan to sell your product in the stores then go and see the managers of such stores. Have a plan and an appointment. Don’t be vague about your product. Take a sample with you and be prepared for rejection. If you are rejected ask yourself the question why the supplier didn’t want to take your product in the first place. Move on with a positive frame of mind. It is much better to do it this way than spending lots of money on your finished products to find that they are not selling in the end.

If you aim to is be in the service industry the best way to go about business is to arm yourself with a clipboard, attached with questionaires relevant to your service. For example if it is a window-cleaning business your plan should be to ask questions such as "how much would they pay for such a service, would they actually be interested and how do would they clean their windows."

Some companies will draw up questionnaires for you at a small fee for a more professional look, but this is all up to you.

Using the internet for a case like this might not be such a bright unless you have the addresses of houses and companies you have looked at with a lot of window space. However having direct contact, I feel is more of a personal approach. Walk down a couple of streets where there are a lot of windows per house and go to companies where you can see their windows need a good clean and they are difficult to reach.

You could also do some personal interviews. These are quite common and normally recorded, observing different reactions. There is also another method called Focus Groups where you will interview a group of people at one time. A moderator leads the group where a discussion is formed within the group. Focus group questions would be similar to an interview structure with the exception of more people participating. About three groups need to be interviewed to get the correct balance.

If you are not confident enough or don’t have the time with your own research there is always the option to turn to a professional market research company. Market Researchers who have been trained in this specific area will do your work for you. You will be spending some extra money, but it will definitely be worth your while in the long run.