Editors Note: Kate Weymer, Microsoft, was selected as a finalist of the 2022 Researcher of the Year (End-Client) Award which is a category in the Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards. To find out more about the awards click here.
Two things come to mind when I’m talking to new-in-career market researchers. The first is to know the business! The insights we generate from the research we do are only useful in the context of a clear and actionable business recommendation. The key to communicating an insight or recommendation is grounding it in the specifics of how the business operates. A deep understanding of how various business functions operate, how a business makes money, the short and longer term strategies of the company will ensure your recommended “go-do’s” stemming from the insights are well received and acted upon. The second is that market research is a vast and growing field. There are no shortages of ways to keep your work life interesting. For example, doing the same type of research for a new business/category/industry can feel like a night and day difference. The evolution of the industry in terms of digital transformation and data science integration is so powerful and ever evolving. My advice would be to stay curious about new technologies and methodologies and continue to build out your research “tool box” – this is such an exciting space to be in!
I think the amazing advances in digital transformations within companies as well as the accelerating rate of new data science techniques and technologies are going to amplify the impact researchers can have on their businesses. The advancements in deep learning, machine learning and explainable AI are staggering and it just takes some subject matter expertise and thoughtful ideation to bring these powerful methods together with traditional market research. For example, at Microsoft we’ve found a way to tie attitudes and perception...