Why Market Research is a Great Career Start

When starting our career, we often take a leap of faith into the unknown.

Some of us might have a preferred career in our heads from our discussions with our peers, others might be influenced by parents.

In this article, I will discuss five key points highlighting why market research is a great career start.

1. Market Research is Forward Looking

When doing market research, you will typically be looking at the future. You will be evaluating innovations, such as changes in the ways we move around (transportation), eat sustainably (new packagings) or entertain ourselves (virtual reality).

All innovations need a market, and companies need to know if these innovations are worth pursuing - if people need them, want them, and will eventually purchase them.

Whenever you are conducting market research, you are usually looking over the horizon. You are exploring the future of your business.

2. Market Research is Central

Because of this close relationship with the direction of the company - and therefore the strategic investments made - market research is highly central.

It is the fabric of the decision-making over big changes - impacting virtually everybody in the company.

Launching a new product, entering a new country, deciding to change your branding... these are all very profound decisions which are likely to be debated by your CEO and his team.

This will give you great exposure to how decisions are made in the real world, with all of its complexities and human components.

3. Market Research is Transferrable

The skills you gain from conducting market research are highly transferrable. In fact, I have personally seen many market research professionals smoothly moving departments.

This is because market research is also connected to several other departments within a business.

If you are studying a new product, you will have the New Product Development Team coming up with new ideas, you may have the User Experience Team making sure the product makes sense to customers, you will certainly have a Marketing & Commercial Teams, and your Finance Team will look closely at how the investment is playing out.

For certain products, your Communication Team will be heavily involved, and they may have a Public Relations & Corporate Communication sub-team to look at the public & political implications of this new product (think anything coming from Tesla or Facebook).

As you connect and work with all of these teams, you will realise how central and transferrable your work is.

4. Market Research is Industry Agnostic

You will find market research everywhere.

Every single industry engages in market research - because every single industry is part of a market. The great thing is that, even though they're all doing market research, they use the tools & methods in very different ways.

This gives you a strategic edge in the job market, but it also keeps your professional life dynamic - you can move across industries and keep learning new ways of applying your research.

For example, an investment bank would use consumer surveys to understand consumer confidence. If people are scared to spend, they might buy less. They might postpone big purchases, such as a house. What impacts should this have on the mortgage rates that the banks will charge?

On the other hand, charities trying to collect donations will use consumer surveys to understand what their donors care about (and consequently will donate more towards). They will adapt marketing campaigns to these findings, and purchase ad space in different channels.

Every industry uses market research slightly differently, as every industry has different goals (make the highest returns from mortgages / obtain as much donations as possible).

5. Market Research IS Business

Think about it, a business is an entity looking for a market.

A business is applied market research.

Markets are always evolving, and therefore, market research must always be conducted to adapt the business to changing environments.

This is how businesses keep going, and how they gain an edge. Most businesses thriving nowadays are leveraging trends that are well researched (the internet, sustainability, need for purpose...) and most businesses are dying by these same trends.

If you are not in tune with the market, chances are there won't be a market for you soon enough.

From the second you even think about launching a business, you are in market research. When your friend says they want to launch a t-shirt business because "all her friends love the idea" - she's conducting market research (field interviews). When she goes online and look at competitors, she's conducting market research (competitor analysis). When she starts to create her logo and looks into different colours, she's conducting market research (brand development).

I could go on and on.

All the way to your friend's t-shirt empire and how market research will follow her until the end - until she does the research for an IPO selling the company on Wall Street.

You're in Good Seats

You got it, if you started working in market research, you're in good seats.

If you're considering it, I hope this gives you some food for thoughts. Market research is itself constantly evolving, and will always be required.

If you had any questions about the industry, please do ask below or reach out to me directly.