4 steps in becoming a new market research professional

Home 4 steps in becoming a new market research professional

Marketing and market research are the two departments with the highest impact in the short run. Marketers are starting to see the picture, many market researchers are still holding on to their traditional way of thinking.

Here are 4 steps that can help them to understand their future position :

  1. New methods become the new standard. There is a major opportunity for market research. For years they have been shouting: “Let us in the board room, we have interesting stuff to share”. And now, guess what? The board room is hearing things like “companies need to listen to consumers’ ‘listening studies become hot’, … Well, this is your change. Embrace new methods like nethnography. Use your research skills to get more out of the observation of social media. Not claiming this territory means that other departments will. In a few years, people will start to question where your added value will be at that point. And by the way: this is coming fast and hard!
  2.  

  3. Become part of conversation management unit. Try to position the market research department as the ideal partner to leverage consumer relations. You should be the best person to talk to when it comes to understanding what drives positive word-of-mouth. Get involved in the conversation management program your company is thinking about. If there is no conversation management program, why not take the lead in it! 
  4.  

  5. Need for storyteller. capabilities Researchers that can make graphs and show 100 figures on one slide aren’t the most popular people in the world. So: stop doing it. Become a story teller instead. Look at your research, understand the facts and figures. Your job: translate this into an appealing story that support decision making. Your job is not longer to present facts and figures.
  6.  

  7. Manage conversations with participants. A new capability is managing the conversations with participants. It’s my strong belief that every company should build its own client or fan community. This community is the ideal platform for the research department to get insights from. Learn how to co-create, learn how to develop insights from your fans in a community. Being the liaison between your company and your fan base, is a pretty nice position to hold in the company of the future.