Alumni Affairs and the Market Research Process

In this learning activity, we will develop skills related to identifying the step-by-step market research approach. To accomplish your marketing objectives, you will need to conduct either primary (first hand) or secondary (second hand) research. Developing an understanding of your target market or segment is critical to marketing success and doing the research is the only way to make sure you know all the details you need. Use the case study below to develop a rough market research plan, and consider how you might put it in place!

Imagine that you are leading the Alumni Affairs team and you are about to launch a marketing campaign for the 2021 fundraising season. You need to know about how to market the new fundraising and donation campaign to Alumni effectively, or your campaign will be a failure this year. How would you design a marketing research study to learn more about your target market, and what choices would you make along the way?

Questions

How would you define the problem/issue/opportunity that your team is facing?

How can you frame it as a research question?

Who do you want to learn from? (who is your study sample?)

What will you do to gather the insight that you need (research method or process)

Is your selected research method qualitative or quantitative?

How would you share the information you gather with the rest of your team?