Typically when a set of products, concepts or even advertisements are shown to research participants they are assigned labels. This is done to help remove bias and make it easier to discuss the various stimuli. Picking labels to identify your product is not always as “easy as ABC.” Choosing labels for stimulus testing can be tricky.
I was thrilled to receive a request last month from our marketing partner, C Squared Advertising, to be a guest poster on their website.
Since the C Squared team understands that market research is much more than just asking questions, they asked me to write about my approach to uncovering audience perceptions and opinions. I shared with their audience the importance of preparation before the research even starts, as well as provided some insight into my approach to ensure market research success.
Wondering why you should use focus groups? Focus groups are a traditional form of qualitative market research that still has a lot of value today. This methodology digs into the ‘why’ behind behaviors such as exercising or purchasing certain items. We also can learn about attitudes, motivations, and gather insight into the target demographic.
With these recent posts regarding report writing, I thought it was appropriate to make note of an article I wrote. It’s titled, “Make Your Reports Pop with Creativity, Color, and Call Outs” and was published in VIEWS, the Qualitative Research Consultants Association magazine’s Fall 2014 issue. I thought you might be interested in this article because it outlines my top 10 tips for giving your reports a visual upgrade.
The saying “a picture’s worth a thousand words” is true. A huge part of what makes a report or presentation more appealing to an audience is the use of images. Images bring the presentation to life, often by illustrating the topic or just adding color. There are a number of image sources we have identified; but you should always check to make sure the image is available to use.
Since Hardwick Research has been in business for 20 years, we know how to write a great research report. The formats have changed over the years, but the basic principals have not. Follow the three steps below and you’ll learn the key to our approach.
We occasionally receive calls from businesses wanting to conduct research on their industry or target market, but they don’t have the budget for a full study. Research can be expensive. Here’s a list of do-it-yourself market research resources:
You may not know this about me, but I pick up pennies. As a matter of fact, I will pick up any denomination of money I see on the ground. I’ve even found paper money in addition to coins. I’m actually pretty good at spotting “free” money. I’m not sure if it’s because I spend too much time looking down or if I just have a sixth sense about finding money on the ground.
It’s that time of year again, when the Hardwick Research staff puts away its projective techniques and shelves the statistical significance testing in order to break out the aprons. This is the 10th year we are sending our clients fudge. Not just any fudge, but my homemade chocolate fudge (no nuts). Who wants to ruin amazing fudge by adding nuts?!
On December 15th, I had the honor of presenting at the 2014 SPARKS conference. Contrary to what the name suggests, SPARKS is not an acronym. Rather, it is actually being used as an “action-word” meaning to mean ‘spark the conversation and inspiration for social marketing.’