Marketing research is not well understood, especially for business-to-business marketers. Some of the more common myths are listed below, and you may be familiar with them. Over the years, we have seen many, and our view is that these myths should not get in the way of you seeing fair value in using marketing research.

If any of these myths apply to your situation, we’d like to hear from you! Frankly, none of these should turn you away from marketing research, especially if you understand the full range of applications to your business.

1. Marketing research is complex – all smoke and mirrors. Cannot trust what you do not understand.
2. Research is highly technical – our management will never be able to relate to it.
3. Do not see any ROI – not tied to any measures of value or tangible outcomes that drive our business, like increasing sales, reducing costs, or improving margins.
4. Our industry is very complex – research people don’t understand our business and could not possibly help us.
5. Takes too long to do – not helpful for our fast changing business.
6. No one in our industry does any, and we’re doing just fine. Just don’t see the point.
7. Research only confirms what we already know – we know what our customers want.
8. Only important for sales/marketing – it’s not a management tool.
9. We tried doing research in-house – it wasn’t very helpful and no one read the report.
10. We used a research supplier once – did not work out, haven’t bothered since.

What is Marketing Research?

Why Do You Need Marketing Research?