In the past two years, we have watched the Big Data phenomenon lead the market research industry in a new direction. Organizations have built immense databases with information on everything from science to retail, from government to consumer opinions. As growth continues and big data plays a larger role in marketing decisions, suggestions that big data will push out traditional market research have been discussed. But, in all reality, that simply will not happen.

As an intern in the field of market research, I am learning what it is like to be in a career setting, as well as getting a feel for what market research truly entails and if it is where I see myself in the future. On a daily basis, I am putting into practice the information I’ve been learning in my marketing courses and applying it to my work. But, while researching information for a blog post, I noticed a gap between my life as a student and my life in the “real world.” The information I am being taught in my marketing courses does not always match the information industry leaders are saying out here in the working world.

There are few products that can sell themselves. Because of this, we have advertising. Advertising your product can establish your organization’s identity, promote your latest product, attract new customers, remind old customers of how great you are, and, of course, boost sales. How to advertise your product or business successfully is not a guessing game, it’s an extended market research process.

Some of the most successful companies in a range of different industries have made their way to the top because of their marketing strategies. The decisions these industry leaders have made based on how they market their product have led to successful growth and popularity among consumers. To successfully implement these positive marketing strategies, these companies had to create a specific market research budget to ensure they had enough information to effectively promote their product to the world.

Developing a new business idea, and then turning that idea into a reality, is one of the most exciting events in an entrepreneur’s career. However, starting a new business venture can be extremely difficult, even when it might be something you are knowledgeable and passionate about. When a company struggles with any one aspect of the business, recognizing the need for a change of direction can be referred to as pivoting. Failing to have an accurate understanding of the market for your product can lead to problems that cannot be fixed easily.  Pivoting for a company can be a dramatic or small change, with either way having the overall goal to change the business model for a product, strategy, or idea that promotes company growth.

Futuristic, the adjective, means “having or involving very modern technology or design.” The term was once used to describe how the world would be centuries down the road. Yet, we now find ourselves living right in the midst of futuristic times. As with many areas that revolutionize along with technological advances, the term, futuristic, has become a staple in the area of market research methodologies. Indeed, 2014 has never seen more opportunity for analysis of data. The total global amount of data is now estimated at approximately 4 zettabytes, with a zettabyte being 1000^7th bytes. As such, techniques for managing analysis of this massive global population of data must dynamically evolve as well.

When your company launches a product, the marketing needs are going to evolve alongside the product as it progresses through its life cycle. There are four main stages of the product life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Each stage of a product’s life cycle will require different forms of market research to most effectively market your product in the industry.

Businesses all have their own ethical obligations. As a market researcher, you too have ethical guidelines you need to keep in mind when preparing to conduct research or start looking for secondary data. To fully understand business ethics, we have provided an ethics checklist, along with a list of common unethical market research concerns that may arise during the research process.

Most everyone would agree that market research is extremely important. There are hundreds of ways accurate market research can help a company, and that’s why every company should conduct beneficial research. The thing that tends to give market research a bad reputation is when companies carry out unnecessary research that gives company leaders the impression that market research is not valuable, overpriced and irrelevant. And, that simply isn’t true!

I will never forget the time in high school when my 11th-grade English teacher walked into class on the first day of school and assigned a 15-page research paper on George Orwell’s 1984. I had no clue how I was going to write 15 pages of content, especially on a book that, at the time, was pretty challenging. As it turned out, those 15 pages came pretty easily thanks to the help of some secondary sources. Secondary research is just as important in the data collection process of market research. While market research is definitely not high school English, the same concept applies: external secondary research is a tremendous tool with numerous advantages.