First off, congratulations on starting a career in market research! I may be biased but I think you made an excellent choice. Market research is a perfect blend of creativity with science and stories with statistics. Following these 8 tips will help you get up to speed quicker and build your own personal brand in market research.
Suit up market researcher. Use these 8 tips to set yourself apart:
Ask questions
All good researchers know how to ask the right questions to get the information needed. It's a skill in survey design, moderating, interviewing during in-depth interviews (IDIs), and other facets of market research. You can learn a lot from your team and your clients by simply asking smart questions.
Or do research and figure out things on your own
At this point we all know how great of a resource the internet can be to find, learn, and teach ourselves topics. As long as you find credible sources, jump on Google and search for tips to write a survey, tips for writing a moderator's guide, and market research training tips. Who knows, you might even come across a few posts from Drive Research.
Stay late
It's not about being inefficient and stretching out workload. Putting in extra time to ensure deliverables are met shows you are passionate, dedicated, and committed to your job. Be willing to put in the time to prioritize your work and take ownership in it.
Study industry trends and share with your team
Reading up on new industry trends is often the first thing to take a back seat when you are busy. If you have some extra time in your first few weeks summarize a new trend in an email to your team and ask for feedback, or craft up a blog post on a new topic.
Dig deep in your analysis
Market research reports should not be a cut and dry run of frequencies for each question. If this is the first report you deliver to your supervisor chances are he or she will be left wanting more. Run cross-tabs and dissect the data to uncover new findings. Break your data by key demographics, by customer profiles and by other key variables. Show you are willing to go beyond the basics.
Find ways to add value in reports
Take a crack at showing data in a new light using an infographic, dashboard, or some other visual tactic. Doing more than what is expected is how you separate yourself and begin to build your personal brand.
Create checklists
Find yourself making the same mistake over and over again? Create a checklist for core functions of your job. Create a report checklist to ensure your single response questions add to 100%, your table of contents is populated, and your top boxes are proofed. Create a data analysis checklist to re-code others, check for duplicates, and review straight-liners.
Double, triple, and quadruple check your work
Attention to detail is absolutely critical in any job. Check everything from reports to surveys, to even something as simple as internal emails. Create a reputation for consistency and quality work and it will echo in other areas of your career as well.
Drive Research is a market research company in Central New York. Have any questions about a career in market research or need advice? Email the Owner and President of Drive at [email protected].