When Is Market Research Unnecessary for your Business?
When Is Market Research Avoidable?
Market research is one of the important tools of marketing management–in most cases. However, there may be certain situations when market research is unnecessary. In such situations, it may be a superfluous effort to perform primary market research, which can be a time-consuming and expensive exercise. Particularly, in the times of an ongoing economic slowdown where most companies are looking at cutting costs, the market research activity must be used judicially in situations where it is vital to the business.
Easy Access to Secondary Sources of Data
One situation on when is market research is unnecessary, is when there is easy or even free access available to authentic and reliable secondary data sources. Conducting an extensive primary market research exercise may be redundant in such situations if some professional research agencies have already conducted thorough research on precisely the same issues. If such data is freely available in public domain, either with or without payment, it makes no point in repeating the same exercise at the company’s own cost.
There are a number of professional data selling companies or research organizations that have the latest data which has been scientifically collected and analyzed. If the data matches with your business needs perfectly, it can save a substantial amount of time and money for the business to simply purchase or obtain that data and use it for business decision making purposes. In many situations, such data can be more comprehensive and accurate than the primary research data collected by an individual business organization.
When the Business has a Ready Client Base
Some businesses operate as ancillary units to a primary or large business organization. It could be a factory producing a small spare part for an automobile manufacturer. If the business is of such specific nature where the client has already committed to a buyback contract, and the full production of goods or services will be dedicated to that client or group of clients alone, the need for market research may be eliminated.
The focus of such business is clear that the goods or services will be produced as per the specifications of the client, and the entire production will be exclusively done per the client or the brand. Under such an arrangement, the business must direct its maximum energies on quality production as per the client’s needs. But the marketing costs of the business are drastically reduced for such a business, and market research also becomes unnecessary.
When the Business Involves a Personal Skill
Some human skills have a perpetual demand that may be evident from the past and present behavior of the markets. It could be a self-employed business such as translation services, medical transcription services, accounting services or professional writing services. In such cases, it may be important to market your services effectively and present your skills before prospective clients to gain the business.
It also may not be necessary to conduct market research as a freelance self-employed writer or accountant. Therefore, marketing expenditure may be necessary to promote the availability of your services. But within a limited marketing budget, it may not be required to conduct any market research where the market demand for such services is self-evident.
If you’re wondering when is market research unnecessary, if you find your business in one of the above areas or situations, you may be able to skip a market analysis and focus on the business at hand.
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