Market research is the most important component of a higher ed brand strategy project. Without a solid understanding of how your most important audiences currently perceive your brand, it’s difficult to strike the right balance of reality and aspiration in evolving your brand positioning.
Check out these 5 tips for conducting brand research on a budget. #mStoner
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Solid market research doesn’t have to be expensive. Five tips for doing higher ed brand research without a high price tag:
1. Do qualitative research.
In-depth qualitative interviews — which can be focus groups or one-on-one interviews — are more important for the success of a brand strategy project than quantitative interviews. Even if we eventually conduct quantitative surveys as part of a brand strategy project, we always recommend starting with qualitative. Why? Because it answers the questions that inevitably come up during quantitative market research.
2. Recruit willing participants.
In general, people with high affinity are the best source of information about your brand. They know the most about your institution and will use rich language to talk about it. The greater the affinity a person has with your institution, the stronger their willingness to participate in market research … and the lower the incentive you’ll need to offer them to participate.
3. Use your own facilities.
You don’t need a fancy focus group facility, a one-way mirror, or a private viewing room to conduct market research. All you need is a conference table big enough for everyone to sit around, a flip-chart, and some table tents for people to write their names on.
4. Limit the number of groups.
Getting great information to inform your brand doesn’t require a lot of focus groups. Generally, we recommend 15-20 people per audience (for example, current students, prospective undergrad students, prospective parents), which translates to two focus groups. With only one group, an outlier participant can skew the findings. Two groups helps to ensure that you’re getting an accurate perception.
5. Do your own recruiting.
We always recommend using an outside moderator to conduct the research. This ensures that you’re getting an unbiased opinion on the research, and also minimizes the risk that respondents are telling an internal school representative what he or she wants to hear. But even if you use an outside moderator, you can minimize cost by doing your own recruiting. The best way to do it is to email a list of participants who meet the criteria you’re looking for, and recruit based on the responses. Don’t necessarily accept the first people who respond. You want to make sure you have a diverse group (gender, diversity, year in school), so manage the sign-ups accordingly.
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