15 pitfalls to avoid in marketing research

Is Marketing Research an Art or a Science? Well, neither, according to Bors Hulesch, Captain at Marketing Research firm, Brains and Cheek. In a recent talk at Oxford Brookes University Business School, Bors explained why he believes that Marketing Research is a craft – more specifically, the craft of managing anxiety about uncertainty.

To reduce uncertainty, marketing researchers need to generate insight – that is, the nugget of truly novel information obtained by looking in a different way at the data out there. The insight generated by Marketing Research, in turn, becomes an enabler of change in the organisation. Take salad cream, for instance. Through careful marketing research, Heinz re-positioned the brand of its salad cream sauce, from this to this, effectively turning around the product’s fortunes.

Due to its role in change, Borsh Hulesch emphasised, Marketing Research is more than a thought process – it is a business process, as well, though one with numerous pitfalls for the less experienced researcher.

Drawing on a range of examples from his own practice, from baby wipes to drugs for the management of chronic diseases, Bors offered the following list of 15 pitfalls to avoid in Marketing Research.

What other pitfalls should be on this list? Let me know.

If you would like to know more about Bors Hulesch’s approach to ‘managing anxiety about uncertainty’, you can reach him here.