What has Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus got to do with market research? Well, note the crop. But as nice as it is, it’s only the bigger picture that tells us the actual story.

This is at the heart of the next issue for discussion; the ‘new’ (?!) practice of listening online.

Of course ‘listening’ itself, as a method of research inquiry, is pretty obvious and hardly new. What is new* for market research however, is;

• the online location per se,
• some of the online listening technologies, and
• in some cases, the actual content generated online.

But new or not, you still need to know exactly who it is that you’re listening to. And you also need to think about the context.

For example…

If you’re undertaking a market research listening exercise for a client, let’s assume, quite reasonably, that your focus will be on listening to their customers or potential customers.

Is the Internet a good place to listen?

Well, of course it is! But there are some very important questions to ask before you begin;

Of all your client’s customers/potential customers, how many have access to the Internet?

And of all your client’s customers/potential customers who have access to the Internet, how many are confident enough in a) their opinions and b) their writing (or video editing) skills, to express those opinions publicly online?

And of all your client’s customers/potential customers who have access to the Internet, and who are confident enough in a) their opinions and b) their writing (or video editing) skills to express their opinions publicly online, how many bother?

And of all your client’s customers/potential customers who have access to the Internet, who are confident enough about a) their opinions and b) their writing (or video editing) skills to express their opinions publicly online, and who bother, how many express those opinions in an articulate way (ie in a way that a marketer or market researcher might find of use)?

The skews are breaking my brain.

Defining your sample in terms of exactly who it is that you want to get feedback from is absolutely key in terms of determining where and how you should collect your data.

Notably, if your client’s target market comprises a wider group of people than the customers or potential customers who fit the very narrow profile described above, then – and critically – collecting useful data to generate useful output will mean going well beyond the insights you glean from your ‘new’ online listening endeavours.

*relatively speaking and/or as the hype would suggest