Cheap marketing research is like a cheap date:  Sure, you have a transient and temporal moment of involvement, but nothing longer term ever comes from it and it can lead to nasty infections. This comparison recently came to mind when a client asked if there was any way we could scale back a proposal for performing market research.  As with most everything else, market research presents a tradeoff between cost and quality.  The results from seeking inexpensive alternatives are the same.  A discount paramour might deliver a life threatening disease and discount market research could deliver a fiscal death sentence. Either way you get … well, let’s not go there. Many miss three essentials about market research, namely qualitative breadth, quantitative depth, and statistical strength.  If any of these three elements are missing, your market research will lead you astray.  Hence, anyone attempting to understand their market needs to commit … Continue reading →