Why is research important?
At Coker, we refer to our research as “Competitive Intelligence” for the sole reason that information is a key to remaining competitive in the marketplace.
With information comes responsibility and follow-through; however, obtaining the right data is the first step towards improving an organization’s place within a market.
The negative to this is that most employees within organizations are required to focus their time on implementing essential functions to make the organization profitable, which might include management, marketing, services, etc. Therefore, there is not much time for managers to consider all of the variables that come into play when looking at expansion, growth, and market competition. Furthermore, they certainly do not have the time or personnel resources to do the background work that is required when considering these strategies.
That is where Coker comes into play. We look to the client’s goals, needs, and business model, and apply that to our information and expertise of the market, ultimately conducting in-depth research and analysis applied to different variables, to produce information and a strategy that the client can take and use on an ongoing basis.
This information may be targeted at growth planning in a certain market or perhaps it is looking to strategic cost-cutting measures, or external options that may benefit internal organizational operations. All in all, we collect the information from various sources and gathering strategies, which will ultimately contribute to clients’ success.
What is SWOT Analysis?
SWOT analysis, or Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, is a strategic research method that analyzes a market, market player, a single organization, or even an individual.
Coker’s SWOT model is one that goes beyond identifying the basic questions in the quadrants, in that we go into in-depth analysis, taking into consideration further variables, factors, and sub-factors to address all areas of analysis.
SWOT analysis can be used in numerous circumstances, such as analyzing a specific organization that could potentially compete with your own, or analyzing a service or product that your organization is considering in a specific target market. Essentially, SWOT is a beneficial tool when trying to capture some of the key variables that must be addressed for a business to become or remain competitive in a marketplace.
How will market and demographic data contribute to effective marketing?
Before a business can be effective in its marketing, a manager must first identify a target.
Who do you market to (women, men, minorities, children, decision-makers, etc)? What are your marketing goals (i.e. increased customers, better communications, brand recognition, etc)? What are some objectives for your marketing (increase ROI by 15%, etc)?
These are all questions that a manager must ask themselves when thinking about marketing. The “shotgun” or “spray and pray” strategy has little or no effect in today’s complex and competitive marketplace.
A company or manager must know their respective marketplace like the back of their hand. Successful and profitable companies can explain their marketplaces with the utmost detail, which ultimately allows them to target potential clients or customers.
Whether you are dealing with a small business or multi-national corporation, knowing the marketplace is essential. This is where demographic, geographic, and market data come into play.
Let’s say for a minute that a small business located in a major metropolitan area is working on a marketing plan, and the manager of this business attempting to develop the most effective strategies, which will ultimately lead to an increase in business.
The manager thinks that online marketing will be the most effective strategy, primarily because the manager recently attended an event conducted by the local industry trade association, and most of the other attendees stated they had websites and conducted other online marketing.
However, when conducting some in-depth research on the business’ local market, the managers found out that a large percentage of the residents were seniors and minority populations. As a result of this data and the subsequent analysis the manager conducted, he/she decided that a website would be effective; however, bi-lingual text on the website would be much more effective, not to mention the fact that this would allow the business to target the dominant minority group.
In another example, let’s take a medical practice that provides therapies to cancer patients. The practice’s administrator is working on some strategic development initiatives targeted at expanding service lines and target patients.
After having a firm conduct some extensive demographic analysis, the administrator realized that well over 50% of the population within the practice’s market area was female. This allowed the administrator to place a significant amount of focus on expanding services aimed specifically at female patients.
How will statistical/survey research benefit my organization?
Research, in the most academic definition of the word, relates to a process that combines specific scientific principles to collect data and analyze that data in a way that shows general and specific results relating to the research topic.
Usually, this type of research is conducted in a manner that takes a sample of a larger group to determine, within a margin of error (MoE), how the entire group would respond if the entire group was researched.
This research is conducted in survey format, which presents certain questions to respondents, whose answers are gathered and weighed against/compared to the rest of the responses.
Research is the most beneficial method of collecting a diverse grouping of answers on a particular subject or issue.
Perhaps a manager needs to know what their target market is like, in relation to the services they provide. Surveying a sample from that market can give them the answers and information they need to know. Or, perhaps an employee of an organization needs feedback from their clients on their services. Survey data can provide that information. Or, if a marketing departments needs more information on how to effectively market their organization’s services to a given demographic, researching a sample from that demographic can help. Finally, if a senior manager needs information on how he/she should compensate employees, surveying individuals in other comparable positions might provide more insight for the manager.
These are all hypothetical situations where survey data can provide extremely valuable information, which will ultimately lead to a competitive advantage for those with the data in their respective marketplace.
Some of the general benefits or uses of survey data might include:
· Market compensation data
· Message or marketing development
· Consumer feedback and opinion
· Public opinion
· Consumer data
· Economic and Market fluctuation data
· Demographic statistics
· External variable data, etc
What is Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence (BI) is a concept that has evolved somewhat over time, particularly with new developments in technology in the past two decades. The term Business Intelligence has been widely used in recent years within the technology development and software industries, particularly as a strategy for collecting, storing, and using raw data as a rational approach to management.
Many companies around the world, particularly major corporations implement large-scale server databases to store, track, and analyze data, which ultimate produces high quality information that leads to better decision making and planning capabilities.
However, BI in general does not only refer to extensive and costly databases. Business Intelligence, in actuality, can refer to any information system that allows an organization (or individual for that matter) to have a competitive advantage in their respective marketplace.
Business Intelligence can be summed up as strategic information that, if interpreted and used effectively, can allow a business to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Business Intelligence can be as extensive as in-depth servers with multi-faceted, complex databases of information; or, it can refer to minor “tidbits” of information that allow a competitor to gain an advantage.
Who polls and why do they poll?
When most people hear about polling in today’s media-driven information society, they typically think of politicians and political campaigns. However, opinion polling feedback can be extremely valuable, ultimately giving businesses that use this strategy a competitive advantage within their marketplace.
All organizations perform some sort of polling. In order to remain at the top of the competition in today’s growing marketplace, businesses need to know what their target markets think about products, how they felt towards certain topics and issues, what their opinions are on various services, and just generally understand what the marketplace thinks about businesses and the services they offer.
If a given market community is not really interested in using technology, then why should an IT company spend millions of dollars marketing to that community? The same can be applied throughout all sectors and industries.
In healthcare, the practices and hospitals who remain at the top of the game frequently poll their patients to receive feedback on the latest operations, developments, procedures, staff, and general service that organization provides.
Many healthcare organizations continuously research their patients, in order to gauge satisfaction and measure the effectiveness and quality that organizations exudes to its patients.
Further, as many healthcare business, including hospitals, health systems, and medical practices are adopting IT solutions, such as Electronic Medical Records and Practice Management Systems, these organizations routinely poll patients, in order to gauge the quality and effectiveness of their services, during a time of transition. Ultimately, adopting technology should be a positive solution for these provider organizations; however, the initial adoption and implementation can be a rough and arduous process, causing a decline in service for the patients. Measuring the quality through ongoing research can allow that organization to maintain efficiency and quality, while upgrading the services through implementing technology.
Ultimately, polling is a method of obtaining advantageous information, which if interpreted and used strategically, can allow a business to plan for long-term growth and success in a much more effective manner.
For more information on Coker’s Competitive Intelligence services, our past research projects and focus areas, or to discuss how our research can benefit you, please contact us.