Articles

Resource Articles

Why Marketing Research is Vital to Your Business

By: William Lowell, CMC

Information is the rocket fuel of modern business. Without it, your organization is like a lumbering star ship, stranded in deep space and drifting aimlessly toward an immense black hole of uncertainty and risk.

Fortunately, information is a renewable resource, with a seemingly inexhaustible supply readily available through market research. Market research is simply the process of finding out what your customers, potential customers and competitors are thinking and doing, then using that knowledge to generate growth, increase profits and plan for the future. In the moving Arthur, Dudley Moore wistfully observed, "Aren't waiters wonderful? You ask them for things and they bring them to you." The marketplace is the same. If you ask for information,you will get it.

There are literally hundreds of things marketing research can do for you. A very short list might include: helping you measure your image and reputation, identify new market opportunities, predict the success of a new product or service, set prices, improve customer relations, monitor changes in your industry, learn from the competition and make better strategic and operational plans. In addition, marketing research is the most cost effective way to reach out to your existing customers and bring in new business.

How to Make Strategic Planning Work for Your Organization

By: Judy Whalen, IOM

Strategic planning can be either a boon or a bust for an organization. There is much “baggage” that people bring to the process. Some people have had terrible experiences. They vehemently oppose committing time and other resources to it. Others yawn, glaze over and are completely skeptical that the process can produce any measurable results. Others enthusiastically embrace the process and produce extraordinary results.

What makes a strategic planning project successful? How can you get the most out of the time and money invested in the project?

7 Reasons Smart Companies Use Strategic Planning

By: Judy Whalen, IOM

Smart organizations use strategic planning because it helps them:

1. Get where they Sign directing to the Future want to be. Smart organizations know that to be successful, they need to have a clearunderstanding of their current status (where they are now), a vivid vision of where they want to be, a plan for how they will reach their vision and methods to measure their progress. Strategic planning provides the road map that guides them on the journey to their success.