How SMEs are taking an ‘entrepreneurial’ approach to market research
Market research is a key tool in any marketer’s playbook. But when budgets are being squeezed can SMEs find new ways to make their research spend go further?
From surveys to focus groups, field trials to interviews, marketers in large brands have a range of varied and often expensive research methods at their disposal.
And while market research investment is often the first budget to take a hit when an economic downturn occurs – down 3.2% over the first quarter of 2023, according to the latest IPA Bellwether report – almost any big brand marketer will speak of the importance of research in guiding their decision making and growth.
But what of SMEs, with their small and anxiously guarded budgets? Is investing time, effort and money into research justifiable, or are small businesses better off spending their cash elsewhere?
