Methodology Matters

While some areas of marketing are highly important for some companies and relatively unimportant to others, market research, analysis and measurement are vital for every organization. When this work is performed well, the output will help the company understand its competition, its customers, its capabilities and how it is perceived in the marketplace in ways that will enable great decisions that can lead to fantastic growth. Marketing cannot become a profit center without good analysis and measurement.

Unfortunately, most of the time, this work is not performed well at all. Probably 80% or more of the market research and analysis we see when we consult with a company is bad enough to make the conclusions questionable at best and dangerous at worst because it can have the effect of leading the company to make bad decisions and ignoring enormous risks.

Market research and analysis is an expert discipline and there are proven methodologies and standards that will result in statistically valid and accurate conclusions. We find that many individuals who are in the market research industry have no training in the field, and this holds true in both the corporate and consulting communities. We have seen wildly expensive research projects conducted by some of the world's biggest names in consulting that were so flawed that they concluded with "findings" that turned out to be completely and utterly wrong -- and potentially fatal to their clients because they prescribed precisely the wrong things to do.