Can we do our own market research? If so, how?

Summary:

Some suggestions on how to do basic, low cost, practical research

Answer:

If you don't have the budget to hire a professional and want to do the
research yourself, you need to be VERY CAREFUL. Educate yourself on the "how
to's." Start with a comprehensive introduction such as Aaker and Day,
Marketing Research: Private and Public Sector Decisions, New York: Wiley,
1980. See what you can learn from the Free Management Library. They have
information on:

• Planning Your Research
  
• Various Research Methods, including advantages and disadvantages
  
• Selecting Research Methods
  
• Method: Appreciative Inquiry
  
• Method: Case Study Design
  
• Method: Focus Groups
  
• Method: Interview Design
  
• Method: Listening
  
• Method: Questioning (face to face)
  
• Method: Questionnaires
  
• Method: Surveys
  
• Analyzing, Interpreting and Reporting Results
  

See http://www.mapnp.org/library/research/research.htm. At
http://www.mapnp.org/library/evaluatn/fnl_eval.htm, there are additional
resources such as frequently asked questions about qualitative research,
ethics in conducting research, resources for qualitative researchers and
links to many research methods

Use the expertise of board members or volunteers who have training in
marketing
research. Ask for pro bono help from local marketing firms. Remember that
nonprofits are far more complicated than for-profits and so is the
marketing. You probably won't have the big budgets for advertising and PR
that for-profits have, either.

Also, if you want to get some general ideas about what and how to market, try
running some meetings with randomly selected members of your "customer
pool." These are called focus groups by the pros but they really consist
of discussion sessions about what people want from your agency and what
they think of you. The most important rule is to "play dumb", i.e. don't
put words in their mouths. Listen to what they have to tell you.

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Info from Free Library, etc posted 8/19/99 -- CM Additional information
added 12/19/00 -- LBS