Why do most business fail? most typical reasons are not the most obvious, for sure. But my concession is that they do fail because they fail to plan, hence they plan to fail already in such business.

This post is to highlight the fundamental reason why any SME should always consider Marketing research in their marketing Planning process. Infact I believe it should be included in your business feasibility studies.

Marketing research involves a process or processes of getting information that connect producers, customers, and end users to help a marketer make decisions that are data driven in evaluating marketing actions; monitoring marketing performance; and improving our understanding of marketing as a process. Market research specifies the information required to address these issues: designs the method for collecting information. Manages and implements the data-collection process; analyzes the results; and communicates the findings and their implications.

Following the schematic diagram below one will see how interlock marketing research is and why you should treat your's as a unique priority.

Examples: International Missteps Caused by Environmental Differences

Warner encountered difficulties when it tried to sell a cinnamon flavored FRESHEN-UP gum in Chile. Because the gum’s taste was unacceptable there, the product fared poorly in the marketplace.

Coca-cola also had little success marketing a product in Chile. When the company attempted to introduce a new grape-flavored drink, it soon discovered that the Chileans were not interested. Apparently, the Chileans prefer wine as their grape drink.

When Pepsi expanded their market to China, they launched with the slogan, "Pepsi brings you back to life." What they did not realize is that the phrase translated to “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.” This may seem like a funny mistake ... but to Pepsi this was a huge mistake, especially when you are trying to build a brand on a global level. Yipes!

The Bud Light slogan was one of the biggest marketing gaffs in terms of ignorance and attitudes towards rape. How anyone could have written these words and not seen the implications is beyond me. The slogan suggests the beer is for a ‘certain type’ of woman who is carefree, gets drunk and does not care what happens to her.

The product was backed up by a Twitter marketing campaign entitled #UpforWhatever. Surely someone at Budweiser would have realized this campaign was going to be doomed from the beginning.
Read more on Marketing research process to get a breakdown on how important marketing research is in your small business planning process.
If you have any other mediums or methods of executing marketing research that address the schematic diagram above, please do share them for others below.