Editor’s note: Eduardo Roe Smithson is a marketing consultant based in Santiago, Chile.

This article focuses on how an independent consultant can conduct market research in Chile to help marketers make the right decisions. My personal experience in the fascinating and challenging profession of market research began in 1983, while I was in high school. Forced to earn a few pesos in my leisure time, I worked part-time for well-established market research companies carrying out surveys and stratifying sectors of Santiago. I continued working through college to pay my tuition and gain enough working experience for the real world in my field. I sought to be a marketer with expertise in market research.

Few marketers relish the task of digging into piles of useless and often outdated information. Therefore my intention is to highlight the ways an independent researcher can uncover marketing information in Chile, using a variety of secondary sources, without wasting time and money.

"First seek to find the right location and then dig only once."

The markets in developing countries like those in South America demand more than just digging. Paraphrasing Stephen Covey, it is a question of leaning your ladder against the right wall.

There are five main barriers to finding market information in Chile:

  • Most reliable, updated and worthwhile data is confined to private libraries, which are owned and managed by an association or corporation - Sofofa, Fundación Chile, Achap, SII, and others - and sold to the public at prohibitive prices. Accessing it requires being either a member or knowing the right person within the association or being a journalist from an influential newspaper. Second, you need time to jot down what you are searching for and photocopy those few pages that you are allowed to under copyright restrictions. Moreover, to become a member, companies must pay high annual fees, discouraging small to medium-sized companies (which defines about 60 percent of Chilean firms) from obtaining access.
  • The libraries of most state agencies such as INE, Corfo, Sercotec, Biblioteca Nacional, municipal libraries, state universities, and others are open to the public and they have data from various industries, but it is often outdated. Accessing it requires tracking down the scarce librarians and then wading through piles of publications with old data - only to find that the information is unfit for any marketing purposes. These searches require patience and lot of time to go from to place to place, digging into many publications, newspaper files and articles.
  • Few people would argue that Santiago is Chile: 90 percent of Chilean companies have their headquarters in Santiago and business deals are done primarily from here, so it becomes less important for associations, corporations, state agencies, universities and others to keep information in their branches or agencies outside Santiago. So if you want information, it’s best to look for it in Santiago.
  • University/college libraries are often too big to be useful. The best libraries - Universidad de Chile, Universidad Andrés Bello and Universidad Católica - keep hundreds of studies and papers (scattered at each facility) done by undergraduate or graduate students or by researchers. Other interested parties - professionals, researchers and managers - are often unaware of these reports. But accessing the reports requires digging into the archives, searching for key words, jotting down hundreds of codes and hoping that the thesis has not been borrowed by another student (who might never return it).
  • The Internet is one way to find information, but penetration levels in Latin America haven’t reached levels found around the rest of the world, at least not yet. So, obtaining market information on Chile’s industries through the Internet can be difficult but it is not impossible.

"By getting the right shovel you might not need to dig that deep."

Now I’ll explain some tactics I have used to overcome the above barriers (in order of priority or the approach with the best hope of success).

1. The Internet. Affordable computers, word processors, database administration and processing systems, cheap Internet access and other IT tools are forcing companies, state agencies, universities and others to upgrade and improve their current standards. After all, a library without useful and current information has no value for marketers. University students are taking the lead, encouraged by free access to the Internet, to exchange information with their peers electronically.

2. A telephone directory and a phone. In this business of finding information, the phone is a very useful tool. Beforehand jot down the main issues you’re researching, define your respondent profile and prepare a well-designed questionnaire with open- and closed-ended questions. Since Chile is still a small market, most companies are considered to be small-to-medium sized, so you can often speak directly to the owner and obtain names of other potential respondents from them.

3. Associations or corporations. Spending time at a private library chatting with the librarian and asking the right questions will help you in your search. Librarians at these associations are, in general, helpful and know how to get the latest information, but are often neglected by the association members. Take note of any information that comes from your conversations with the librarians or any other in-house contacts.

4. Libraries at embassies or international organizations. Information is limited to the types of products and services that the foreign organization is trying to promote in Chile. Normally, each commercial attaché handles market information on Chilean products that might compete with theirs, including articles from specialized publications and past research. You need to schedule an appointment and have a clear idea of what you’re searching for.

5. University/college libraries. There are hundreds of facilities scattered in Santiago and each has its own reference sources of publications, newspapers, magazines, theses, and past research. So the best approach is to select a number of facilities which might have the information you’re interested in and spend time there gathering articles and publications on your topic. While you are there ask students where to find information, but also do your best to meet professors with knowledge on your topic.

6. Government employees at state agencies. One of the best approaches is to stop by the reception desk at government agencies and get names of the people who manage the type of information you seek. Pay them a visit and use your charm and kindness to persuade them to help you find what you are searching for. If you were given the wrong name, try to find the right one and by all means, keep smiling.

7. Field testing/simulation. This approach is costly but important, because it is the only tactic where you can get a feel for the market and reinforce your findings - and uncover new ones.

Good business

In the last decade, information has become a good business for Chilean publishers. As a result, there are many periodicals with updated and reliable data, mostly focused on mature industries. For example, there are three periodical publications devoted to the salmon fishing industry. The newspapers El Mercurio and Estrategia have joint-ventured with American publications specialized in economics and business to gain more readers and scope. But many industries still lack current information.

The most reliable sources or publications are found in the six most important governmental and private institutions which form the spinal column of the Chilean domestic economy. They periodically publish data on their sectors and gather information by industry.

They are:

- Sociedad Nacional de Minería publishes Bolletín Minero -- Minería, a monthly magazine with general data and/or information on the mining sector.

- Camara de la Construcción publishes Camara de la Construcción, a monthly bulletin focusing on the construction sector.

- Sociedad de Fomento Fabril publishes Boletín Estadísticos de la Sofofa, a monthly bulletin focusing on the domestic industrial sector called.

- Servicio Nacional de Agricultura publishes El Campesino, a monthly magazine focusing on the agriculture sector.

- Asociación de Bancos e Instituciones financieras publishes Revista de la Superintendencia de Bancos e Instituciones Financieras, a monthly magazine focusing on the banking and insurance sector.

- Camara Nacional de Comercio publishes Boletín de Comercio, a monthly bulletin focusing on commerce and trade.

Consistent strategy

With all of the above approaches, you must do your best to come up with a consistent market research strategy, be able to tabulate and process your findings, and get the bits and pieces together and communicate them to your client. The key to market research is in this sentence: "If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster. We may be very busy, we may be very efficient, even very charming, but we will also truly effective only when we begin with the end in mind."