March 17, 2022

Your Research Roadmap: Do’s and Don’ts

"What was your first marketing mistake"

A lack of keywords in your blog? Failing to create a catchy video title? Neglecting the latest marketing ‘trend?’ Well, for most people, it’s a step before all of this… research.

Unearthing the who, what, why and how of your marketing will ensure predictable and consistent ROI. The use of research to inform your marketing decisions is key to long-term success.

Research helps to:

  • Capture the likes, dislikes, attributes and characteristics of our audience
  • Spot and define new business opportunities
  • Create relevant content for our audience to consume
  • and much much more.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to speak with Gideon Barker, Founder of CustomerIQ. A ‘customer consultancy’, helping clients understand, and therefore serve their customers. As you can imagine, he knows his stuff about research.

Marketing Research…

Gideon Barker has executed hundreds of research projects on behalf of clients, producing insights through a clear and refined research process.

On the surface, you might assume research is easy. You simply type your question into Google… right? Not quite.  

This process contains iterative phases that guide key research decisions, ensuring research outcomes are informative and consistent.

Gideon described a few key areas to consider while conducting your market research.

Before you start

Before starting your research, it is essential to define what you are looking for and where primary research might be required.

Gideon suggested asking the following questions before moving onto the creation of objectives:

  • What has been done so far?
  • What has worked and what hasn’t?
  • Who might your target audience be?
  • What content might they like?

For research to have a real impact, objectives need to be aligned with contextual factors. This phase ensures the context is taken into account when setting objectives.

This phase can be time consuming and technical. Gideon offers support throughout the entire research process.  

Setting Your Objectives

Objectives are essential for guiding the direction of your research.

To define your objectives, ask yourself: What more do we need to know that hasn’t been found by our background research?

This answer will guide your objectives.

For research to have a real impact, objectives need to be aligned with business context and the genuine needs within the business – often understood with the background research highlighted above,

Research Design

What is are required to address your objectives? What’s your method?

Once your objectives are set, it’s time to tackle how you are going to address them. During this phase, you will need to answer some or all of the following:

  • Who you want to speak to?
  • What tasks might participants complete?
  • What questions do you need to ask?
  • How are questions going to be delivered?
  • How is the data going to be analysed and interpreted?
  • Might we need to repeat research?
Executing your research

Typically, you will present findings in a report or presentation deck.

Key findings from the research should be presented clearly, so relevant stakeholders can understand the outcomes.

References to objectives are essential.

If you are looking to capture seriously powerful insights from your research, it is always worth speaking to an expert. Reach out to Gideon Barker at CustomerIQ for more information.

Analysis and Output

What is are required to address your objectives? What’s your method?

Once your objectives are set, it’s time to tackle how you are going to address them. During this phase, you will need to answer some or all of the following:

  • Who you want to speak to?
  • What tasks might participants complete?
  • What questions do you need to ask?
  • How are questions going to be delivered?
  • How is the data going to be analysed and interpreted?
  • Might we need to repeat research?
Implementing Your Research

After the research is complete, the business needs to understand how it will impact future decisions.

Gideon Barker describes a common issue that often occurs at this stage.

“I have coined it the insight adoption gap…the research has been delivered, and then there’s this kind of inertia, there’s no action taken. It’s worth understanding why that happens, various things that contribute to that. It could be the fact that the research doesn’t come back clearly enough, it’s not been inspiring enough, or it’s not generated some clear recommendations. And then on the other side, on the client-side, you know, there’s perhaps a reluctance to change, or there might be a kind of lack of confidence to take research findings and turn them into definite actions”

Common Research Mistakes!

As well as defining a research process, Gideon discussed common mistakes in DIY research.

  • Not defining objectives – Without objectives, your research lacks insight and therefore insight.
  • Leaving it too late in the day – Gideon says “The smoke alarms going off in their office, and they’re like, we need some research…we need it now… So many times I have a conversation about how long would that take? Well, it will take six weeks, and they say well… let’s do it in four.”
  • Don’t Rush the research process – Whether your research is executed internally or outsourced to professionals like Customer IQ, Research CANNOT be rushed!

Fancy more?

Gideon Barker is active across LinkedIn, posting valuable content on the topic of research, marketing and wider industry trends.

If you are looking to receive even more value from Gideon himself, take his customer centricity here…