Earlier this week, Drew and I were honored to have the opportunity to return to our alma mater, Butler University, to speak to the students of Professor Droms Hatch’s marketing research classes. As one of Professor Droms Hatch’s former students, she reached out to me when she saw a notification of my one-year anniversary at Loyalty Research Center come up on LinkedIn.
Her goal in inviting us to guest speak was to show students the real-life application of the concepts and skills they are learning in class and to help educate them about what a career in marketing research might look like.
Marketing research is often not on the forefront of student’s minds when they are considering potential career paths. However, it can be a very rewarding career especially for those with an analytic mindset.
To demonstrate this, Drew walked the students though a variety of research solutions as well as the different phases of the research process. He then used case studies to show research in action and how LRC’s solutions were used to provide valuable insights to real companies. I then walked the students through what a typical day in the life of a marketing researcher looks like from the perspective of a Program Manager.
The students were interested in knowing about the challenges of being a researcher as well as the most rewarding elements of the job. One of the major challenges discussed is getting respondents to take the time to take a survey in an increasingly fast-paced world. To combat this challenge, methods to boost participation rates were discussed. Some of these methods include determining what the characteristics of the respondents are and thinking about the what the best ways to reach them are.
For example, salespeople who are constantly on the road may be most effectively reached via a phone survey, whereas administrators who spend a lot of time at their desks may be most effectively reached via a web-based survey. Additional discussion surrounding boosting participation rates also included sending pre-notifications, customizing subject lines, and having sponsored surveys.
Finally, to wrap up our presentation, Drew and I both agreed that conducting the analysis of both the quantitative and qualitative research, and then delivering the results and recommendations to the clients are the most rewarding elements of our jobs.
Our hope is that we helped the students understand the importance of marketing research and inspired them to consider it as a career.