Marketing Research: Ready…Aim…Shoot!

Photo by Jake Sutton

Ready…..Shoot…Aim. This makes about as much sense as playing with knives but this is exactly the type of mind set many marketers have adapted these days. Who is to expect anything else from a culture that has placed such little emphasis on being patient? Knowing your customer is the name of the game and it is a major problem for marketers today. This problem is so prevalent that Marketing Management Magazine listed it as the #1 challenge facing marketers today. The article explains that sales and marketing professionals say that they know their customers but in actuality suffer from a “Depth Deficit, by failing to think deeply enough about customers.” The article goes on to call for advancement of rudimentary marketing research techniques and introduces the thought of “blending ethnographic and quantitative perspectives.”

The fact of the matter is that marketing and sales initiatives are relying too heavily on assumptions. Just thinking you know the truth is not only lazy but it comes back to haunt you after you have expended every marketing resource ($) into billboards for the entire continent of Antarctica. Marketing research done correctly is supposed to allow your marketing efforts to be direct and effective. The Spray and pray approach drives executives crazy and forces them to cut marketing budgets.

According to a study by Emarketer inc., published in Marketing News, only 5.56% of total worldwide advertising spending in 2006 went towards marketing research. This integral part of marketing campaigns seems to be overlooked these days. If you are disregarding marketing research, think again, done correctly it can make your marketing efforts more directed, efficient, and cost effective. Instead of the spray and pray approach (wasting valuable resources over a large spectrum), adopt a smarter approach where advanced marketing research is done and your marketing efforts adopt a Ready….Aim…Shoot approach.

1. Marketing: The Best Defense is a Good Offense
2. Is B-to-C direct marketing being replaced by C-to-B social media marketing?
3. Marketing is Changing…
4. Cross Media is now our life!
5. NOW is the Time for the Marketing Push!