Editor’s note: Martin Stolzenberg is an independent research consultant and also senior consultant, global tracking, at Data Development Corporation, a New York research firm.

There are probably more dollars being expended on tracking research than anything else in the researcher’s toolbox, with the exception of competitive sales data. In contemplating tracking research there are a number of elements worth considering for optimizing the program and achieving maximum value. These pertain to conceptualizing the study, choosing a vendor and the actual implementation.

1. Identifying the real purpose of the research

At the outset, your company’s goals in undertaking such a program should be carefully agreed upon and delineated by the intended players and end-users. This should certainly include the highest levels within MRD, marketing and perhaps such entities as strategic planners, corporate communications, R&D and the advertising agency for the brand or brands. Their needs and considerations should be determined by an internal research investigation before any RFP is sent out. At the outset make sure the goals are actionable and deliverable by any realistic standards.

2. Basic focus

Minimally, you want to ensure that the study being created is a good vehicle for tracking both advertising impact and brand imagery. Most often clients are putting their major marketing dollars against advertising. You may want to consider embellishments to the program that help track all company communications, not just advertising. This includes what we call emerging media, like Web sites and special events that the company sponsors. Increasingly, companies are thinking in an overall communications vein and the tracker can be a primary source for evaluating the total communications package.

Also, the concept of tracking research as a scorekeeping vehicle is outmoded. For many companies there are expectations that the research will be a strategic vehicle that will help in guiding marketing planning, e.g., revamping the communications platform to make it more productive or how to spend media dollars more efficiently. Therefore, the tracking study as a device for continuously measuring brand equities should be considered as an integral part of the mission statement of the program.

3. Research scope

In order to maximize the utility of the research you may want to go beyond the borders that usually define your competitive sales data category or media buying targets. In this highly competitive and fragmented marketplace, this is a key consideration in defining the study parameters. Marketing people tend to think of targets in a highly defined way, e.g., those who use certain brands with particular demographics living in particular markets. You may want to include other categories that fulfill the same function or a broader demographic base than used in other research. Why? Because in using a tracking study as a strategic vehicle it is a sound approach to have the broadest representation of category users and prospects for potential target re-definition purposes. Of course, you want to capture an adequate subsample of category users and those in your key demographic set, but make allowances for a true market representation in your study. This will be critical in determining the research viability and is deserving of much thought and agonizing.

4. Continuous versus “dipstick” interviewing

Companies are finding it advantageous to use a continuous approach to tracking. There is, of course, the obvious point that it is not known what has occurred between intervals if a “dipstick” or periodic approach is used. Another is that if the interviewing conforms to peak marketing activity for your brand, it may provide a distorted or partial market picture. Your waves may not coincide with unusual activities on the part of competitors and miss important developments. The cost for continuous interviewing is not a major factor if the study is being done by telephone. A thousand telephone interviews spread over a period of time should not cost appreciably more than the same number of interviews done at a point in time.

What is vital is how results are analyzed. At the outset you may want to consider a beefed-up sample to establish a benchline and to provide some early learning for management who will invariably be anxious to see some results. After that are you going to want to report the findings monthly, quarterly, bi-annually or annually? You do not need a discrete sample for each period but can use rolling averages to take out some of the peaks and valleys and provide cost efficiencies. Often clients initially request frequent reporting. However, as the project progresses, reporting is cut back due to internal inability to report and act on the data so quickly. More time allows for minor changes to be smoothed out in the data and to confirm the marketplace is not changing so rapidly that it requires more frequent reporting.

Most often clients choose to have quarterly toplines with a full presentation twice a year. If a “dipstick” approach is deemed necessary, you may want to consider treating the research as a more in-depth, strategic study that is only done once every several years.

5. Criteria for choosing a research firm for your tracking study

Do not go too wide; you do not want to contact half of the Quirk’s Researcher SourceBook for such an undertaking. Probably, three to five firms should be contacted because you are going to ask them to do a good deal of work in preparing their proposals. Perhaps you will want to use a checklist in reviewing their proposals and capabilities. You may want to have a committee review the proposals and ask one or two finalists to give a presentation.

A good place to start is the reputation of the company. Do they have a history of doing such projects? Are they large enough? Will such a project overwhelm their capabilities? Can you check their references for tracking work? Who is going to service the business? Do you feel comfortable with this person’s/company’s style? What do their tracking presentations and reports look like? Have you seen the team leader present? Is there a chance that the study may be used internationally and does the company have global capabilities for tracking?

What is their philosophy and approach to tracking? Are they adaptable? Is their proposal geared toward your RFP issues or is it a boilerplate of their basic approach? What enhancements do they offer? What kinds of creativity do they demonstrate in their approach?

Cost is always a factor. If there is a wide variation between competitors, try to understand what you are getting for your money. The key issue is not price but value. If there is a firm that you want to award the study to and there are pricing problems, seek out creative solutions like “raising the bridge or lowering the water.” Do not let price be too large a determinant, as most firms of a similar size have comparable cost structures. Lowball pricing could come back to haunt you in the form of less servicing and additional costs for small requests.

6. Interviewing mode

All things considered, telephone interviewing is a more desirable vehicle for tracking research in most situations. However, circumstances can dictate the need for door-to-door work. Telephone provides better field controls, a more rigorous and dispersed sample and more efficient data handling. However, there are considerable tracking studies being done on a door-to-door basis. This can be because of brand line extensions that require pantry checks or showing visual stimuli to clarify brand identification or the necessity to show some kind of visual advertising stimuli. Some clients may also require long interviews that are not appropriate via telephone. If your study is going in the direction of personal interviewing, be sure that the sample is a representative one. Mall interviewing will not work for a descriptive market study and cannot provide results that inspire confidence that a meaningful market picture is being portrayed.

7. The questionnaire

Telephone tracking interviews should not be longer than 20 minutes and personal ones 30 minutes. Try to consciously limit the length of the questionnaire. This is not intended to be a full-blown A&U. There will, undoubtedly, be some communications measures, an awareness and usage grid, an overall brand assessment, brand imagery, category usage and demographic profile. Invariably, you will need some room for timely topical issues that come up. There are creative ways to ask questions and to do question rotations to yield the most information in a succinct fashion. The research company should carefully mold the questionnaire with this in mind. A small-scale pilot test is essential to ensure that the interviewing vehicle and in-going assumptions about incidence and brand penetration are being met.

8. Preliminary analytic plan

Have a preliminary analytic plan developed before the questionnaire is finalized. This will show how each of the pieces fits into the report mosaic and reveal the presence of “so what” questions, redundancies and key omissions.

9. Mining the data

Think of your tracking study as a database that can be continuously used for evaluation and planning purposes. This makes it important that both client and research company have easy access to updated information. This will probably call for some kind of delivery system. Even if you do not want to be bothered, the research company account service staff should be able to easily access the file and to speedily have updated information for you.

Collateral market information, e.g., competitive sales data, advertising and promotional expenditures, etc., can be valuable assets for analytic and planning purposes. You should consider working with your research vendor to use marketing models to determine how to optimally expend advertising dollars or to set marketing goals that are derived from the tracking research and related market information.

10. Dress rehearsal

The first presentation of the tracking data will be a crucial opening scene in creating acceptance of the tracking vehicle within the company. It is, therefore, prudent to allow for an adequate period of time to ensure that the initial report has been prepared in a way that deals with the key issues, presents the data in a favorable format and has credible findings. Have your research vendor prepare “dummy” charts so you can feel comfortable with the organization, look and feel of the report. Attractive graphics will help get the message across and convey large amounts of information meaningfully.

Key element is planning

Looking at all of the key points in this article, it is apparent that the key element is planning. Large tracking undertakings require considerable up-front work to achieve maximum results. But that is not enough. At least once a year step back from your study. Take a fresh look at it to determine if it is achieving your objectives. What changes should be made? What can be eliminated and what should be added? Maintain the study visibility. Add a test market in one of your areas and use the tracking study to evaluate the progress. The planning at the beginning and the planning that emanates from continual reappraisal can keep your tracking research on track.