Marketing  Research    for  Nonprofits  

Brad  Majors  Goodwill  Industries  of  Upstate/Midlands  SC  

““You  can  only  improve  something  if  you  can  

measure  it.””    

William  Thomson,  Lord  Kelvin  

Marketing  Research  �   The  systematic  and  objective  process  of  generating  

information  to  aid  in  making  marketing  decisions    (Exploring  Marketing  Research  by  William  Zikmund)  �   Specifying  what  information  is  required  �   Designing  the  method  for  collecting  information  �   Managing  and  implementing  the  collection  of  data  �   Analyzing  the  results  �   Communicating  findings  and  implications  

What  to  research?    �   Attitudes/Behaviors  of  current/prospective  donors  

�   Knowledge  of  nonprofit  held  by  business  sector  

�   Awareness/understanding  of  mission  

�   Attitudes  of  employees  

�   Demographic  trends  of  current/past  donors/clients  

�   Awareness  of  specific  news  story  

�   Satisfaction  with  current  services  

�   Services  needed  by  community  (Community  Needs  Assessment)  

Knowledge,  Attitudes    and  Behavior  

�   All  marketing  research  can  be  divided  into  Knowledge  Research,  Attitudinal  Research  and  Behavioral  Research.      

�   When  we  ask  someone  what  facts  they  know  about  something,  we  are  measuring  knowledge.  

 �   When  we  ask  people  how  they  feel  about  something,  we  are  

measuring  attitudes.      �   When  we  measure  an  activity,  like  who  actually  uses  our  

services,  that  is  Behavioral  Research.    

Measuring  Knowledge  �   Determining  what  people  know  about  your  nonprofit  is  

knowledge  research.    In  many  ways,  when  we  measure  awareness,  we  are  measuring  knowledge:  �   Does  the  community  fully  understand  your  mission?  �   What  programs  at  your  nonprofit  are  people  familiar  with?  �   Do  they  know  about  stories  that  appeared  in  the  press?  �   Do  they  know  how  to  contact  your  nonprofit?    �   Do  they  know  how  your  nonprofit  contributes  to  the  

community?  Mission  awareness/understanding?  �   What  FACTS  about  your  nonprofit  do  they  know?  �   Do  they  recall  any  of  your  NPO’’s  advertising?  �   What  is  the  NPO’’s  campaign  theme?  

Measuring  Attitudes  �   Here,  we  are  measuring  ““feelings””  and  your  

questions  should  reflect  this.    �   How  do  you  feel  about  the  NPO’’s  new  name?  �   What  do  you  feel  are  the  NPO’’s  major  strengths?  �   Do  you  feel  the  NPO’’s  intake  system  is  customer-­‐

friendly?  �   How  can  our  nonprofit  better  address  the  needs  of  key  

organizations  in  the  community?  �   How  do  you  feel  the  NPO  is  meeting  the  needs  of  

individuals  in  the  community?  

What  Behaviors  can  we  measure?  

�   Those  served  (by  demographic  segment)  �   Gender,  age,  ethnicity,  location,  program  

�   Attendance  at  organizational  events  

�   Articles  in  the  newspaper  about  the  NPO  

�   Visitors  to  the  NPO  website  

�   Social  Media  Engagement  

�   Interactions  with  NPO  –  donations  made,  volunteer  hours  served,  etc.  

 

Secondary  vs.  Primary  Research  

�   If  you  are  performing  the  initial  research  study,  you  are  involved  in  Primary  Research.  

�   If  you  are  learning  more  about  a  subject  from  someone  else’’s  research,  you  are  conducting  Secondary  Research.    

�   Both  are  excellent  sources  of  learning  and  market  wisdom.  

Categories  of  Marketing  Research  

�   Secondary  Data  Analysis  

�   Observation  

�   Pilot  Studies  �   Focus  Groups  �   One-­‐on-­‐ones  

�   Projective  Techniques  

�   Experience  Surveys  

�   Case  Studies  

�   Experiments  

�   Surveys    

Secondary  Data  Analysis  

�   This  technique  should  always  be  the  first  step  in  any  marketing  research.  Look  at  all  the  information  already  gathered  by  someone  else.  It  could  prove  very  useful  and  might  alleviate  the  need  to  fund  more  expensive  primary  research.      

�   Sources  �   Internet  search  engines  like  Google  �   US  Census  Bureau  (population,  housing,  etc.)  �   Federal/State/Local  governments  (Dept.  of  Employment  &  

Workforce,  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Dept.  of  Veteran  Affairs)  �   Business/Professional  Organizations  (SCANPO,  Association  of  

Fundraising  Professionals,  etc.)    

Qualitative  Research  �   Observation  

�   Pilot  Studies  

�   Experience  Surveys  

�   Case  Studies  

Observation  �   This  is  Behavioral  Research  at  its  best.    What  are  people  DOING?    

�   Get  a  clipboard  and  watch  what  clients,  prospective  donors,  etc.  are  doing…    �    Secret  Shoppers:  how  are  clients  treated  at  your  intake  center?  �   What  patterns  do  store  shoppers  follow  in  our  Goodwill  

Industries  stores?  �   How  do  website  visitors  use  your  website?  (Usability  studies,  

Google  Analytics)  �   What  are  they  responding  to  on  various  social  media  platforms?  �   When  do  people  volunteer?      

 

Pilot  Studies  �   Qualitative  techniques  

�   Focus  groups  �   One-­‐on-­‐ones  �   Projective  techniques  

Focus  Groups  �   Used  heavily  in  the  advertising  agency  business  

�   Best  used  when  …  �    Trying  to  collect  a  range  of  opinions    for  future  

quantitative  research  �   What  types  of  training  programs  should  GI  offer  in  the  

future?  

�   Generating  new  ideas  by  having  participants  build  on  each  others’’  contributions      

One-­‐on-­‐Ones  �   An  intimate  discussion  between  the  questioner  and  

the  respondent  

�   Benefits  over  focus  groups  �   Overcomes  the  ““group  think””  that  can  happen  in  any  

focus  group  if  the  moderator  does  not  monitor  closely  �   Allows  for  a  very  in-­‐depth  discussion  of  important  

issues    

Projective  Techniques  �   Oscar  Wilde:  ““A  man  is  least  himself  when  he  talks  in  

his  own  person;  when  he  is  given  a  mask  he  will  tell  the  truth.””  

�   Projective  technique:  an  indirect  means  of  questioning  that  enables  a  respondent  to  project  beliefs  and  feelings  onto  a  third  party,  an  inanimate  object,  or  a  task  situation.    

�   This  type  of  qualitative  technique  has  been  closely  associated  with  Account  Planning  in  many  advertising  agencies.    

Projective  Techniques  �   Word  association  tests  

�   Sentence  completion  method  

�   Third-­‐person/role  playing  

�   Thematic  Apperception  Test  (TAT)  �   Series  of  action  pictures  -­‐-­‐  what  happens  next?  

�   Cartoon  tests  �   Dialog  bubbles  completed  by  respondent  

Experience  Surveys  �   Exploratory  technique  in  which  a  person  with  

considerably  more  experience  in  a  specific  area  is  interviewed  about  their  expertise  or  previous  market  experience.    A  good  interviewer  can  make  this  search  for  ‘‘best  practices’’  very  productive.  

�   This  technique  is  used  often  at  GIUMSC.  If  we  know  another  Goodwill  is  particularly  strong  in  a  certain  area,  we  will  go  visit  them  and  learn  from  their  Best  Practices.    �   What  fundraising  programs  are  working  best  for  other  

Goodwills?    

Case  Studies  �   Case  Studies  are  another  qualitative  technique  similar  

to  Experience  Surveys  but  the  emphasis  with  Case  Studies  is  the  situation  and  not  the  person  being  questioned.  �   What  was  the  situation  before  something  happened?  �   What  happened  and  what  was  the  effect?  �   How  did  the  NPO  respond?  �   What  was  the  outcome  of  that  response?  �   What  are  the  ‘‘lessons  learned’’  from  the  situation?  

Quantitative  Research  �   Surveys  

�   Experiments/Test  Markets  

Experiments  �   Quantitative  research    

�   Most  popular  type  of  Experiment  is  a  test  market.  These  are  in-­‐market  trials  to  determine  if  a  certain  product  or  service  has  market  validity.  

�   Most  accurate  as  predictive  research  

�   Very  expensive  

Surveys  �   Several  types,  but  most  popular  are:  

�   Syndicated  ongoing  surveys  -­‐-­‐  e.g.  AFP’’s  annual  salary  survey,  IU’’s  Center  on  Philanthropy’’s  annual  giving  survey  

�   One-­‐time  study  -­‐-­‐  a  snapshot  in  time  �   Polling  -­‐-­‐  one  question  to  check  attitudes  

�   Longitudinal  (panel)  study  -­‐-­‐  ask  same  questions  year  after  year  but  are  looking  for  changes  in  attitudes  or  behavior  over  time  

Surveys  �   Big  news  continues  to  be  Survey  Monkey  

�   Low  cost:  $200/year,  unlimited  number  of  responses  

�   Simple  process  �  Design  your  survey  �  Collect  responses  �  Analyze  your  results  

   

Survey  Monkey  �   SM  can  be  used  to  determine    attitudes  regarding  

�   Name  of  your  nonprofit  �   To  what  extent  people  embrace  your  mission  �   What  others  think  of  the  impact  you  have  in  the  

community  �   Opinions  of  your  signage  and  other  marketing  

communications  �   How  well  people  were  treated  when  they  visited  your  

NPO  

Final  Thoughts  �   Be  sure  you  have  identified  the  information  needed  thoroughly.  

�   Go  into  the  research  wanting  the  truth  from  respondents.  

�   Use  the  appropriate  research  technique.  

�   Develop  your  questions  so  that  you  remove  all  bias.    

�   Ask  the  big  questions  and  respect  the  time  of  the  respondent.  

�   Manage  the  in-­‐field  experience  so  that  your  effort  is  not  compromised.      

�   Demonstrate  value  of  research  by  showing  next  steps  during  presentation  of  findings.  

Next  Steps  �   Think  about  two  burning  questions  you  have  right  

now.    

�   Can  one  of  them  be  addressed  with  qualitative  research?      

�   Can  you  use  Survey  Monkey  to  address  the  other  issue  in  a  quantitative  study?    

�   Consider  doing  one  quantitative  study  every  quarter.  This  ensures  you  stay  on  target  in  helping  your  organization  make  data-­‐driven  decisions.    

Contact  me  if  I  can  help  �   Brad  Majors  

�   Goodwill  Industries  of  Upstate/Midlands  SC  �   864-­‐351-­‐0137  � bmajors@goodwillsc.org  �   115  Haywood  Road,  Greenville  SC  29607