I took a class in which a story was told about a fruit vendor who changed location because he observed that richer persons lived 2 streets over from where he was originally located. The teacher asked if this is data analysis/research. Someone said yes, the brain of the fruit vendor was his computer, and observation was the vendor’s methodology. In your business, you do research every day, whether you know it or not. The challenge may be making sense of it all. Market research does require some unbiased viewpoints you as a business owner may not be able to sustain because you are so close to your business. Imagine if the fruit vendor looked at the relationships he had with the lower-income street residents instead of profitability, he may have lost out on higher earnings. Getting out of your head with your business by talking to intermediaries such as Data Minders Business Research can clarify your unofficial research and present realistic findings that you can use to make better decisions.
Keywords: strategy, brand, market research, customer, the consumer.