COLLECTING SECONDARY DATA

In this third article on research techniques, we are going to explore secondary research methodologies.

The stages of research

 Research data comes from two core types of collection methodologies:-

1. Secondary sources
2. Primary research activities

 The building blocks

 

 Research methods will typically use a mix of the above elements. It is usual to follow the following order:-

a)    Secondary research phase

b)    Qualitative phase

c)    Quantitative phase

d)    Sometimes a further qualitative phase may take place

Observation can be used in both primary phases.

It is good practice to ‘triangulate’ research methods. So by using 3 different methodologies to explore a given objective. This avoids atypical findings and ensures that a representative set of findings has been secured, as far as is possible.

 What is secondary data?

 

 This is existing data that was originally collected for another purpose. Also known as desk research because it always used to be done sitting at a desk! 

Secondary data should ALWAYS be gathered FIRST.

 It is often described as being less expensive than primary. This can be the case but not always. The activities need to be planned and closely managed to ensure that they do not absorb significant amounts of time and therefore cost.

 Much online research is undertaken by secondary data gathering using search engines, directories, forums and so on.

 Secondary data provides a basis for primary research and can, sometimes, meet current research needs without the need to continue to a primary stage.

 So what is primary data then?

 

This is data gathered expressly for the research purpose. We usually collect this type of data SECOND  – AFTER secondary sources have been exhausted.

The key elements here are the aspects of observing what happens and questioning why, how, who, when, which and so on.

The methods available will be explored in more detail in a future techniques article.

 
Data forms

Data comes in two forms. Qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative data is gathered by using …”A body of research techniques which seeks insights through loosely structured, mainly verbal data rather than measurements. Analysis is interpretive, subjective, impressionistic and diagnostic.” *

It is important to remember that this type of data is non-quantifiable. It is about what people ‘feel’, their perceptions, views, attitudes and so on. Things that are hard to quantify but just as important as numbers in many ways. The techniques to gather this data tend to be largely unstructured enabling respondents to talk about things in the way that they wish to.

 

So this is about numbers – Percentages, rankings, scores, values, shares, numbers of those that buy, don’t buy, might buy, prices and so on.

The research process

 

 

The above visual shows the steps that need to take placed in a typical research process. It is a useful checklist to remind us of the importance of clearly identifying what it is that we want the research to deliver from the outset.

The nature of secondary data

There are 2 distinct sources of secondary data – internal and external.

Always seek internal sources first. Most go straight to Google without considering whether data might exist within the organisation. This can sometimes be in the ‘heads’ of personnel. Competitor information can sometimes be unearthed in sales persons’ cars, for example!

INTERNAL SOURCES

• Sales figures
• Operational data – stock levels, etc
• Customer satisfaction results
• Advertising spend
• Customer complaints records
• Effectiveness data from promotional campaigns
• Marketing research reports from past studies
• PERSONNEL!!

 

EXTERNAL SOURCES

External sources are numerous. Consumer Generated Media (CGM), especially, has grown in importance as a data source.The key is to avoid spending too much time following ‘blind alleys’. This is where the time and cost can escalate sharply.

• Directories
• Country information
• Published marketing research reports
• News sources
• CGM (Newsgroups, blogs, groups)
• Internet – single search engines, and multiple search engines

 

The desk research or secondary research market is complex  – see below for some of the sources:-

 

Source: N Bradley

Some useful sites include:-

•  Google Scholar

www.scholar.google.com

•  World Factbook

www.cia.gov

•  Published Market Reports

www.marketresearch.com

•  Trade associations

www.taforum.org

Googlepublic is a particularly useful source for country based data.

Planning secondary or desk research

 

As mentioned above, planning desk research is all important.

Decide what you will explore and how long you will spend doing it. Do not exceed these boundaries before you review progress!

Do one thing at a time. Gather data sources and bookmark them. Do not be tempted to read each as you find the source. You will be diverted from your plan and end up exploring multiple potential ‘blind allies’! Think how easy it is to get diverted when searching for a holiday on the internet, for example.

Once you have gathered a number of data items, stop and skim read them. Then review and assess which are valuable and worthy of further exploration and which aren’t?

Internet Search Strategies

 

You must decide:

• Time to spend
• Number of sources you will look at
• Age of sources. How far back will you go?
• Format of data. What type of data are you seeking?
• Methodology to use. What approach(es) to data gathering will you use?

 

Allocate time to:

• Identify sources
• Locate sources
• Secure access to published/ peer approved material

 

Useful techniques to use

Use Boolean logic to make your search more efficient. This uses AND, OR, +, – and placing search words in speech marks to hone your search approach and save considerable time. The effectiveness of these can vary by search engine but generally the defaults are as follows:-

 

OR delivers material containing just College, just University and where College and University appear together.

 

AND delivers ONLY material where poverty AND crime appear.

 

 

NOT means that material where a word appears will NOT be included. So in this case only material with cats will appear. Beware however, where cats and dogs appear together the material will not appear in the search.

Internet search strategies

• Wildcard *
• Dictionary of synonyms
• Bookmarks/Favourites
• Find in page facility (via view or edit)
  • CTRL F
• Recommendations, links and rings from sites you visit initially

The wildcard (*) is a useful tool to reduce typing long search strings. Add the * to a short set of words and the search engine will find all material starting with these words. Most search engines tend to do this by default now.

• Set up temporary information requests
• Use human experts
• Talk to people! Email authors!

 

Don’t forget the power of talking to people that have some insight into what you are searching for. As indicated, these people may be in your own organisation, a trade body, an author of an original source or a librarian in a library!

• Plan to stop receiving information.

 

Evaluation

Due to the inherent problems with secondary data – it was collected for some purpose other than yours – it is important to evaluate its quality and relevance. The internet provides us with large volumes of data but this makes it all the more important to ensure that it is carefully sifted and tested for validity and reliability.

Validity and reliability issues with all data

Validity = Are we measuring what we think we are measuring?

Reliability = If we did it again would we get the same results?

 

 

Recording and reporting sources

Use Harvard referencing here to ensure that sources are captured and then reported effectively.

It is especially important to record dates and addresses for internet based data as these can frequently be updated, removed, amended and so on due to their nature.

You can find a detailed set of advice given by the CIM to its students and tutors on using Harvard referencing here.

CIM guide to Harvard Referencing

 Limitations of secondary data

• Availability

Remember that data is not always available on the internet. Not all material gets placed on the net. Think about your requirements and seek others input on how and where data to meet these might be found.

• Applicability
• Accuracy
• Comparability
• BIAS
• Age
• How parameters defined for sampling, for example
• Sufficiency – it there enough data for your purpose?

As already mentioned, key limitations revolve around the fact that the data was not created for your purpose. More often than not it provides you with a base for primary research rather than being totally sufficient for your needs. ALWAYS look at secondary data with a healthy degree of scepticism. It is valid? Who was the audience for the data in the first place? What are the likely biases implicit for that audience? How was the sample structured? Are the recommendations sound and based on valid research data?

Finally, the data may just not exist so primary data collection is your only route!

Some pros and cons for secondary collection methods

 

SECONDARY  METHODS	ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
DESK RESEARCH	Not everything is available on the internet! There are books and other printed media that are not available via traditional searches. Using a library and especially  the skills and knowledge of a good librarian can significantly short circuit the secondary data gathering process	Time. As with all secondary data collection there are plenty of dead ends that will be arrived at with this method. You have to travel (usually) to the source. So significant potential for time and cost.
SECONDARY DATA SEARCHING ONLINE	Inexpensive if planned and managed well. Vast quantities of data available.	Not all desired data is online! Need to go back to source where at all possible. Need to combine data to verify and validate it.
BLOGS/ CGM (CONSUMER GENERATED MEDIA)	A good source of data potentially. A subset of secondary data collection.	Same issues as other secondary sources. Who says? Why are they saying it? Be sceptical. Ask validity and reliability questions of any data you derive from these sources.

 For help and advice on gathering secondary data contact Steve at Bax Interaction now. Click here

We see them here. We see them there. Questionnaires now seem to be everywhere.

Everyone appears to be asking more and more questions.

This is generally good, right? Or is it?

Doing some research poorly is probably worse than doing none at all, in fact. I am reminded of a quote from Ruth Mc Neil, a fellow of the Market Research Society, who responded to the Sony Walkman research debacle – when research results suggested that the product would bomb with consumers – by saying “People who use the wrong research get the wrong result. If the product had been described properly, consumers would have realised that they did need it after all”.

This thinking can be applied to the boom in Do It Yourself (DIY) surveys. If you ask the wrong questions, in the wrong way – you will get the wrong answers! This could lead to making unjustified and potentially costly decisions.

For many years now, I have been on a quest to find the perfect questionnaire. I have yet to find such a thing or, as yet, to create one myself! I am not convinced that such a thing exists!

There appears to be a similarity between people’s views on questionnaire design and driving skills. Everyone appears to believe that they are able to do it and can do it very well! As we know, the difference between this perception and reality can be very different!

Like any other skill, designing effective questionnaires and selecting the right methodology for ensuring that the right people are targeted and that response rates are maximised through the delivery mechanism and so on needs to be learnt and developed. We are not born with an innate ability to design exceptional questionnaires!

Online DIY survey software enables anyone to get in ‘a car and drive’ (design a questionnaire) sometimes with disastrous results.

So where am I going with all this? I went for a pub lunch with my family in Essex. The pub shall remain nameless.

At the end of a very good lunch, we asked for the bill and, as is often the case now, a ‘Have Your Say’ customer comments card came with it! At face value, I thought this looked good and saved it for use in future marketing college delegate workshops!

On closer inspection, I noticed some issues with it.

Introduction

• Very good to see that there was one. The wording was a little odd though – “To help make your experience as enjoyable as possible we’re asking for your opinions” – Sounds OK except that this is being asked at the end of the meal so the respondent is about to leave.  
• Classification questions right at the top – Name and Email address. This takes up a quarter of the space available which is perhaps a little much. It does say that “Any information you provide us with is strictly confidential and will not be passed on to any third party”. Fine,  but presumably they intend to use it for their own direct marketing purposes but they do not say so.

Ratings

•  They made good use of rating scales although I am always slightly concerned  by  the use of “Okay” as ‘middle ground’.

Open questions

There were two of these.

1. “Please comment on your experience and suggestions on any improvements”

 

It was going so well! Here we have a double barrelled and ambiguous open question. Unfortunately, it is badly written so it doesn’t make sense either.

1. “What would you like to see changed or improved here? (E.g. theme nights, music, certain dishes etc)”

Sorry to be pedantic but changed or improved would be better as two questions perhaps. Are the examples given changes or improvements to the meal and or the service which is what they have been questioning up to this point? It is unclear.

Multi choice

“What age group are you in?”

This is fine as a classification question.

“Who was with you?”

Again, slightly confusing. One of the options was “Own”. Presumably, on my “own”? Or “no-one” perhaps?

“Are you doing anything else in the area” Options were “Work, Shopping, Leisure, Other (no space to add any details) or No”

What is the purpose of this question? It is unclear as to how they might use this to make ‘your experience as enjoyable as possible’.

 So, as I stated earlier, the comments card looked reasonable at first glance but this short questionnaire is trying to do too much. It is attempting to get insight on at least seven areas

i)                    Volunteered data so that they can market to you

1. Age
2. Name
3. Email address

ii)                   A rating of the meal

iii)                 A rating of the service delivery

iv)                 Comments on the experience?

v)                  Suggestions for improvements  to the experience? (assumed)

vi)                 The type of customers that are eating in the pub?

vii)               What changes or improvements are desired for the pub as a whole? (assumed)

This is too much for one side of a card 21 cm by 14.5 cms!

Of perhaps more concern is that they are missing the opportunity to get more  depth of response on key elements such as the venue, location, facilities e.g. parking, atmosphere, likelihood of returning etc…

This may appear very critical but I regularly see much worse.

The message?

 Research needs to conducted using robust methodologies that deliver against clearly identified objectives.

 By all means create your own questionnaires or surveys but perhaps consider taking some ‘driving lessons’ to hone your skills too!

 We offer a service that can help to improve your questionnaires called The Quest. Find out more about how you can get your existing or draft questionnaires vetted here.

  

Having taught marketing for nearly 20 years, I have long held the view that all marketers should come up with their own ‘model’ at some time or other in their careers.

As a profession, marketing uses large amounts of jargon and due to the nature of its role it also

has more than its fair share of models and matrices at its disposal.

One of the phrases that I have heard a lot recently is “should do marketing”.  It is being used to mean marketing activities that everyone should do such as send out newsletters or use social media.

What nonsense!  Yes, all organisations should do marketing but that is not the message being implied  by the use of the above phrase.  The suggestion is that there are certain key marketing activities that all organisations should be doing and that not to do them, therefore, is a serious failing on their part.  Something to be ashamed of.

I do not subscribe to this view.  The whole process of effective marketing is about matching the capabilities of the organisation to the needs and wants of its customers and markets for mutual benefit.  By definition, this means that in all cases effective ‘matching’ will be different. Therefore, the ways in which this is best communicated and via which media are also likely to be different.

Out of my frustration at this sweeping generalisation was born my own marketing model!

I have called it the marketing activity measurement model or MAM for short – yet another acronym to remember.

Its purpose is a simple one.

The aim is to help you to stop doing, so called, ‘should do’ marketing that isn’t working and to develop and improve upon the activities that are.

Marketing Activity Measurement Grid

To use the model you need to follow these three simple steps:-

STEP 1

Place all of your organisation’s marketing activities where you consider them to be on the grid.

* If you don’t know what return you are getting then they should be towards the left hand side of the grid

 * If you do know then they should be on the right hand side

STEP 2

Position each activity RELATIVE to the others. In other words, if one activity had the highest spend and gives you the best return it should be at the top right corner. Other high spend,  measured activities that deliver a lower return should be to the left and to the bottom of the lighter green box depending on known data.

STEP 3

• Act on what you see.
• Find ways to measure return on activities to the left side of the grid.
• Look at creative ways to do this. Do some research. Measure numbers of enquiries, responses, sales, visits etc… 
• Test new activities and force them into this model. Clearly, start with a small spend and then test results – then you can move to the right (green) side of the grid. When an activity stops delivering a return stop doing it!

 

What each quadrant indicates

1.       RED – LOW SPEND/ LOW OR UNKNOWN RETURN

This is intentionally in red.  It indicates you should stop what you’re doing and at the least measure it.  If you find that you are getting a low return then  stop doing the activity altogether.  If your findings move your position to the right i.e. the dark green box in the bottom right hand corner – then consider spending more until the optimum balance between spend and return is reached.

2.       AMBER – HIGH SPEND/ LOW OR UNKNOWN RETURN

This quadrant is amber – i.e. possibly an issue to address – based on the assumption that you have a high spend on an activity for some reason.  Perhaps this is due to historic reasons or insight into your own market communication dynamics.  None of this changes the fact that until you are able to measure this activity you should reduce your spend to enable you to make a ‘should’ or ‘should not’ do decision.  If the measured return is high, the position of this activity moves to the right i.e.  the light green box.  Once here, you can look to make improvements to the activity or seek to find ways to lower spend and maintain the level of return.

1. LIGHT GREEN-HIGH SPEND/ HIGH – FULLY MEASURED RETURN

Activities in this quadrant clearly fall within the ‘should do marketing’ category.  The indication here is that you should look to improve the activity.  How can you make it more effective for the same spend?  Are there opportunities for you to move your position down to the bottom right corner i.e. the dark green box?  Test different spend levels to establish whether the relationship between spend and return is affected.  If there is an opportunity to lower your spend whilst achieving the same return,  then this should be considered.

1. DARK GREEN- LOW SPEND/ HIGH – FULLY MEASURED RETURN

Again, these are ‘should do’ activities.  The indication is that you repeat the activities and seek to improve them in a similar way to quadrant 3.  Test the effect of increasing spend. Is the relationship between spend and return constant?  If so, invest until a  balance point is reached.

Like many other marketing models, this is all common sense.  Also, like many other marketing models, it exists because common sense isn’t being applied!

Finally, here is my take on ‘should do’ marketing:-

3 things …

ONE

Understand your markets and your customers sufficiently well to match their communications needs creatively

TWO

Measure ALL marketing activities

THREE

Then… continue with developing what works and STOP doing what doesn’t

In the event of the unthinkable happening to you and your business, you will have many things to consider.  There will be the immediate practical issues and the security issues amongst others.  This article focuses on what you need to do from a marketing perspective.  This isn’t just about cancelling that new advert that you have booked!  This encompasses all aspects of communicating with your marketplace and what you need to consider in terms of tactical marketing activity.

First and foremost, you will want to reassure your key stakeholders that you have matters in hand and are able to continue, albeit in a reduced capacity, to supply and service their needs.

So where do you start?  Who do you talk to you first?  Unless you have previously encountered a major communication crisis such as this you probably hadn’t considered any priority order in which you might do this.

What do we mean by stakeholders?  These are your customers, your potential customers, your employees, your bank, your suppliers, the media etc…

There is an excellent stakeholder mapping model that I have used personally in times of crisis to decide quickly and confidently who needs to be contacted when and in what order.  This model is shown below.

 

As you can see, the model forces you to consider your stakeholders in terms of their power or importance and their interest in the current situation.  It is a good idea to ‘map’ stakeholders in 2 different ways –now and where you think they may lie after the crisis is over.  You can use the same grid for this by using different colours to show now and future.

Practice doing this –  imagine you are in this situation now –where would you place your various stakeholders? 

Keep this draft, it may provide a good basis for you at some future time.

You contact the key players first (bottom right hand box)  and provide the maximum amount of information, those with low power/ importance and low interest (top left hand box) do not require your immediate attention or a great deal of information either.

So having done this, in a real situation, the model helps by showing you who to contact , in what order and the level of information each stakeholder needs.  As you can imagine, every single stakeholder does not need the same amount of information!

Marketing tactics

Marketing theory can help us to think logically about the business and its marketing as a whole.  The 7 P’S-Product, Place, Price, Promotion, Physical Evidence, People and Process-enable us consider what we need to do within each element.

Some of the issues you may need to consider are as follows:-

PRODUCT

• Are you able to deliver?
• Has your stock being damaged?  What is recoverable?
• Can you continue to deliver the service that you provide? 
• If you’re involved in manufacture, how long will it be until you can re-establish production?

And so on…

PLACE

• Are you able to continue to operate from your existing premises?
• If not, where can you operate from the short term?
• Will this have an impact on serving your current market area?

PRICE

• The need to urgently source materials or products to satisfy customer demand may impact on the price you pay.  You may need to consider a price increase in the short or medium term.  Be open with your customers, explain the current situation and seek their support.  If they value the service or products that you supply they will want to work with you to get you over the crisis.
• You may need to consider cash flow issues.  Consider adjusting your terms and, once again, ensure that your customers are aware of the current situation and your reasons for making changes.

PROMOTION

• Communicate, communicate, communicate.?
  • Use all media tools at your disposal to keep the market,  your customers and other stakeholders aware of your situation, your plans and what you’re doing to keep  your business going.
  • The best methods for communicating will depend on your market sector and are the  subject of a separate article in this series.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

• This refers to all of the various physical aspects of your business and your brand.
  • Your signage
  • Your vehicles
  • Your literature
  • Your website
  • Your premises

And so on…

PEOPLE

• Do you need to consider additional resource, in terms of help, to get you past this crisis as quickly as possible?
• Existing personnel will need to be kept informed regularly.  If you don’t do this already, consider daily or weekly briefings to keep them fully up to date.
• You may need to consider changing existing roles to meet the demands that you face.  Training and mentoring may be important here. Seek outside help if you need it.
• Even if you don’t usually outsource, now’s the time to consider it.  Get some marketing help, get some help with your logistics and call in any favours!

PROCESS

• It will be clear that you might need to change the way you do things following a crisis.
• Putting in place plans for business continuity in the event of an unforeseen crisis is a very good idea. 
• Think about some of the elements that have been highlighted above.  Think about your stakeholders.  Think about who you might call upon in a time of emergency.
• Write these thoughts down.  Keep a copy away from your premises.  Tell somebody else where it is and if the time comes use it to keep a clear head and keep your business going. 

‘The Quest’- An end to questionable questionnaires?

After many years of coming across questionable questionnaires purporting to provide useful information, Steve Bax, Managing Director of Bax Interaction Limited (BIL) has created a brand new service that guarantees a better result.

‘The Quest’ is a highly accessible, fast and cost effective service that fine tunes existing or draft questionnaires along with their proposed delivery mechanisms to directly improve the quality of information coming back as well as the response rates.

Steve commented “As a research professional, I have became increasingly frustrated by seeing research questionnaires that are hard to complete, lacking in relevance and confusing” and far too often from companies and other organisations that really should know better! Completing poorly designed questionnaires is such a waste of time for everyone involved, as ambiguous or unclear questions not only put off the respondent but can’t possibly provide clear answers to what their creator is trying to find out. With the huge growth in organisations doing research themselves this help is really needed.”.

The idea behind ‘The Quest’ is to provide organisations with a professional evaluation of a draft questionnaire in the form of an actionable, diagnostic report. It enables individuals in small and large companies alike access to marketing research expertise at an affordable price, without having to engage an agency or similar for an entire project. The diagnostic report, covering all key aspects of questionnaire based research, will enable improvements to be made to the questionnaire itself, and the delivery method and approach to deliver the answers needed to make key decisions within an organisation. .

Steve added “Our research has shown that there are many people in organisations, like product managers for example, needing answers to key issues, but who have no real knowledge of how to frame the questions to get them. This is not a criticism as it is not their specialist area. We hope that they will now come to us for fast professional advice on their specific project and will in the process learn more about how to do their own questionnaire design in the future”

To find out more about ‘The Quest’ read the section on the website or contact Steve now.

Draft or existing questionnaires, together with some background information can be submitted electronically. This newly launched service is available at an introductory offer price of just £250 excl. VAT. .

As Steve says, “We believe it’s a small price to pay for relevant, specific and actionable advice that is guaranteed to directly improve research effectiveness”

Bax Interaction’s new in tune website goes live today!

Bax Interaction, a Cambridge based marketing research, strategy and training consultancy, has launched a brand new website to clearly articulate its key services and showcase its capabilities.
The new site launched today has been created by Nextnorth using new platform technology, graphics and site map.

The previous site had been in place since 2007 and was seen by the company as increasingly dated and out of alignment with current web and marketing thinking. Its extensive use of Flash meant that there were problems viewing it on any Apple based devices and some of the other ways in which the site worked did not meet current best practice.

A key objective for the new site is to reposition the company to more closely match its capabilities to the needs and wants of its marketplace. The overall aims of the business are to fine tune the marketing strategies and activities of its clients. This is shown visually in the imagery used within the site. For example, a set of bass guitar tuners on the homepage shows the tuning aspects of the company’s services as well as being a clear link to the musical passions of the company’s MD, the importance of accuracy and adjustment are depicted in kitesurfing and surfing imagery and the need for marketing research to be highly-targeted and focused is shown by an archer on one of the new services pages ‘The Quest’(a fast, cost effective, questionnaire checking service).

A further objective was to bring some personality into the design to avoid it looking like yet another corporate marketing consultancy site.

Steve Bax explained the scale of the task set for the web design agency. “This was a tough brief for Andrew Clark at Nextnorth to undertake. The need to bring the personalities of the people involved together with the services being provided is not easy from a design perspective. I think that Andrew has achieved exactly what was envisaged from the original brief. The use of imagery that reflects both the nature of the services being offered and some of my personal passions, that are reflected in the ethos of the company, brings the site to life and clearly shows why Bax Interaction is different.”

Andrew Clark from Nextnorth said “Steve presented us with an interesting challenge of communicating Bax Interaction’s core business competencies through a vibrant and highly personal interface. We are delighted that the new website delivers on this objective as well as providing a flexible platform to expand the company’s business reach through the use of social media and targeted online services.”

Unusually for a marketing consultancy website, there are a number of guarantees being offered to reflect the confidence that the company has in its services. Bax Interaction is prepared to guarantee that following its recommendations will result in measurable, improved marketing effectiveness.

As a specialist marketing company openly averse to what it calls “should do” marketing this is a clear endorsement by Bax Interaction of the importance of having an effective, up to date website in the promotional mix.

Research – what is it good for?
Ever since Henry Ford uttered his immortal critique of market research “If I had asked people what they wanted, they’d have told me a faster horse” – the business world has been divided on whether it is instinct or painstaking market research that is the key to commercial success

Market research remains a sizeable industry. ESOMAR estimate in their industry report (1) that the market was worth some $28.9 billion in 2009. The UK alone was worth $3.2 billion or 11% of the global market. Globally, the manufacturing sector is the largest user taking 46% of turnover in 2009.

With research so important to many sectors, why is it that it seems to be such a taboo word with so many organisations that I speak with?
We wouldn’t go on holiday without looking at brochures, online, recommendations or reviews. We wouldn’t buy a car without exploring the options, road testing it and so on. We wouldn’t buy a house without looking at it, exploring the area, talking to neighbours, looking at schools nearby etc…
So why do we so often leave all of this good sense behind us in the workplace?

We tend to assume we know our markets – we assume we know what our customers’ wants and needs are and we assume that we are satisfying them! But are we?
There is a danger in making assumptions.


Latest estimates by Lightspeed (2) indicate that nearly 30% of all humans use the internet. Market research has been rocked by this – ESOMAR statistics show that 26% of total research spend in the UK in 2009 was on online research.

What has also clearly grown is the use of DIY online market research. This, of course, is not visible in the above statistics! It is hidden in overhead costs within those organisations using it.

Unfortunately, when DIY research is done badly it causes an increase in research ‘fatigue’ – people get tired of poorly designed questionnaires and it can encourage those who would have us believe that research only tells us what we already know.

There are other issues too – Changes in Data Protection regulation are happening now. If you are undertaking DIY research the onus of complying with these is on you.
Nevertheless, my view is that any research is better than none.
Providing you are complying with the core principles of being transparent and gaining agreement to what you’re doing from those that you are seeking to get data from – you are largely doing the right things.

I think DIY research is here with us to stay. The ability to reach our customers and target customers easily online is just too tempting to ignore. The secret is to use the services of researchers like us to get a professional critique of your approach. We are launching a brand new service called The Quest which does just this – quickly, easily and cost effectively.

Marketing and market research can answer a wide range of key questions for us:-

• What, where and when our customers and potential customers buying?



• Who is buying and, equally importantly, who isn’t?



• How does our organisation compare with our competitors?



• Why do our customers respond to some promotions and not others?



• What would customers and potential customers do if we changed the price, if we launched a new product or service, if we undertook a new campaign and so on?



• What do our customers REALLY think about us?



• What is happening in the marketplace and the business environment?

Primarily, research is about reducing risk. It can save you money.

If marketing is about matching an organisation’s capabilities to the needs and wants of its marketplace(s) then improving our understanding of how well we are doing that is vital.

It is the difference between bumping around in the dark trying to find the right way ahead or putting all the lights on and being able to see exactly where to go.

Undertake research, your future business or organisation’s success depends on it. By all means do your own research but do seriously consider getting advice on doing it well. Think about the key issues you need to explore in your organisation and market setting. What is it you need to know? Perhaps it is as simple as finding out what your customers and potential customers really think about you! But whatever it is seek the help of research specialists. They will be able to suggest the best way to research the issues you face.

In my experience – those that do marketing research are more successful than those that don’t.

Article by Steve Bax, Managing Director of Bax Interaction, originally published in on Brand magazine published by MOBAS Spring Summer 2011


Sources:


1. Global Market Research 2010. ESOMAR Industry Report in cooperation with KPMG Advisory.

2. The Rise and Future of Online Research. David Day. Lightspeed Ahead Newsletter. Accessed 15.12.2010

What is marketing anyway?

Sounds like a line from an old Howard Jones song – “What is Love?”

There are numerous definitions of this word marketing. Here are just some of them.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines it as

The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably

What do we think of that one?

It sounds reasonable but does it set marketers aside in any way from anyone else in business?

A friend of mine, an ex Chairman of a board of directors that I sat on, said just this to me last week . He said “Isn’t that just good business practice? It is certainly what I do as a MD of a company. It is common sense to make sure that you are satisfying customer needs and doing so in a profitable way.” I have to say he is right so we need to look further.

The American Marketing Association revisits its definition every five years . Its last review was in 2007 and their definition is currently:-

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large

How about that?

Sounds a little closer to how non-marketers might think of marketing perhaps? Key words like ‘creating, communicating and offerings that have value’ all sound like how marketers might speak about their profession.

Still sounds like just good business practice though doesn’t it? What is marketing’s point of difference then? Where is there any mention of mutual benefit? A key missing element for me is the need for there to be some form of explicit mention of benefit to the organisation (institution(s)) that are doing all of this. Otherwise, for them, what is the point?

Philip Kotler stated ,in his book ‘Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control’ Seventh Edition published in 1991, “We like the following definition of marketing: Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering and exchanging products of value with others.”

Very good but what does it mean to non academics and non marketers? For example, is there not a confusion between ‘need’ and ‘want’? There is much discussion recently that marketing aims to create ‘wants’ that might or might not address a need or needs. Do we really need an iPhone, for example? We can probably try to justify that we do but many of us just want one!


One of my key clients, in the professional services sector, recently stressed just how important this distinction is. She pointed out that many firms can provide what the client ‘needs’ e.g. audits, accounts, tax returns and so on and there is a tendency to focus on ‘selling’ these things to win new clients. However, she said “… the angle for marketing is to find out what clients want and then look at how the firm can deliver that better than anyone else.” This is finding a real point of difference.


So are we any closer to a definition that is crystal clear and explains what marketing is?

Perhaps we need to look elsewhere?

Malcolm McDonald stated in his book, ‘Marketing Plans: How to prepare them: How to use them?’ Second Edition published in 1989, that the marketing concept is “Basically, the central idea of marketing is of a matching between a company’s capabilities and the wants of customers in order to achieve the objectives of both parties.”

Any clearer?

I like the ideas of matching and of some form of mutual benefit.

He also wrote

“Finding out what the customer wants and providing it!”

Short and to the point but it could still be applied to a product development or sales person’s role couldn’t it?

My marketing lecturer , Stephen Godwin, back in the 80’s described marketing as:-

“Matching supply and demand for a mutually beneficial exchange”

As you can see this very much reflects a TWO WAY process





I like this too and have probably used this definition more than any others but does this really elevate marketing above good business management practice?


It may be easier to look at what marketing ISN’T!

Here is a short list

1. Marketing is NOT just about selling as Theodore Levitt explains:


”Selling focuses on the needs of the seller; marketing on the needs of the buyer. Selling is preoccupied with the seller’s need to convert his product into cash; marketing with the idea of satisfying the NEEDS OF THE CUSTOMER by means of the product and the whole cluster of things associated with the creating, delivering and finally consuming it.”


This is clear to me!


2. It is NOT just ‘promotion’ or ‘advertising’.


A number of my clients over the years have said to me words to the effect of “ Oh, I didn’t realise that you were going to advise me on what to do with my staff and my internal processes. I thought you were just going to advise me on my promotional activities!”

These comments are often made by successful business owners or directors so if they don’t fully understand what marketing is!.

3. It is NOT ‘rocket science’!


There is a wide array of models, many of which are very powerful in delivering effective marketing strategies, but they can cause non-marketers to see marketing as ‘smoke and mirrors’. The principles of good marketing i.e. establishing where you and your target market are now and what you can do to get to where you want to be are sound and no more complex than any other forms of planning.


4. It is NOT just jargon!


Experienced marketers do know what they are doing! They have learnt both from academics as well as from their own and others experiences how to match an organisation’s capabilities with its chosen markets. Like many other professions, we can suffer from overuse of jargon. This does not help our cause.


5. But..there is no magic formula!


I often find that clients expect a magic wand to be waved and then everything will be fine. This is unrealistic – marketing cannot work magic. It can help to prioritise what an organisation should and should not be doing to address the issues found from looking at ‘where are we now?’ (the marketing audit). But the organisation still needs to take decisions, act, review and adjust plans as needed and accept the core principles of good marketing practice into its culture. Not always an easy task by any means.


6. It is NOT ‘party planning’!


One of my favourites! Obviously said ‘tongue in cheek’ but it is clearly what some organisations believe the marketing function to be. If you have read this far you are probably staggered by this perception from non-marketers but it can be what marketers are up against. For the record, marketing is not just about organising small events at the whim of company management!


So what aspects of marketing actually work? Why is it so important? If we ignore definitions and perceptions for a moment, let’s think about this:-

a) Planning works .


It really does. How can we know if we have got there if we didn’t know where we were going?

b) Keeping to a long term strategy works.


Sticking to the plan is generally the best way to realise your goals as an organisation.

c) Ensuring that you recognise that marketing is not just about promotion works.


Again, it really helps to consciously try to change your own perceptions as to what marketing is and what it can do. Then try to educate others by example as well as with the theories.


d) Having the right products or services at the right price, at the right time, with the right people and skills and the right processes, being in the right markets and knowing what your competitors are doing works!


e) Creative use of communications really works


To try to summarise all of this


So over to the adapted Howard Jones song line once again “What is marketing anyway?”

Here is another attempt at a definition that still works for the 21st Century:-

Marketing is ‘Matching your capabilities to identified market needs and wants for a mutually beneficial exchange’


Do we really need to worry over complex definitions though? Perhaps the last few words should go to Peter Drucker which are still so relevant today.

“…the purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”

“Marketing is so basic that is cannot be considered a separate function. It is the whole business (or organisation?) seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, from the CUSTOMER’S point of view.”