How to Write a Marketing Research Report

For some marketers, analyzing trends, compiling facts, drawing charts and undertaking research with due diligence is the easy part. Arranging words, formatting the report, articulating conclusions and making recommendations is not so easy. However, there is no reason to worry. Here are specific steps to follow so that you will turn out a market research report that is not just adequate, but an outstanding example of your ability to get to the heart of the matter while building your reputation as a master of marketing.

Instructions

1. Select the most attention-getting or profound fact you unearthed while undertaking your research and turn it into an introductory paragraph. Researchers say the average amount of time readers are willing to give an introduction is seven seconds. You'll have the luxury of a few more since your market research report will be required reading, but offer readers this reassurance: "If the rest of this is as interesting as the introduction, I can't wait to read it."

2. Draft a backgrounder to set the stage for your findings. Explain in the next paragraph or two exactly how the topic in question has been dealt with in the past, what those results have been and why earlier approaches did or didn't work. Basing a new market research report on failed former attempts is a great way to showcase your efforts.

3. Compose a third section of your report that deals with findings. Logically organize the material so that it is easy to digest. Answer questions. Don't be afraid to use footnotes or citations to give the information credibility. You may also wish to include a short paragraph on the methodology you used to compose your market research report.

4. Make recommendations based on your introduction, background and findings. Refute challenges by presenting the questions you would ask if you were in the reader's place. Subject your recommendations to pros and cons to show readers that you have looked at the subject from all angles and produced a market research report that is both comprehensive and analytical.

5. Tie up loose ends by concluding the market research report with options. Readers want answers but it is the nature of a marketing pro to seek options. For instance, your marketing research report concludes that teens would overwhelmingly respond to a new cell phone that blocks calls from parents. Recommendation choices might be: a) Use a social networking approach to sell the phone exclusively over the Internet or b) Spend money to mount an ad campaign in the most popular teen magazines on the market.

6. Finish your draft report, put it away for a day, then return to it with fresh eyes. Make certain that the market research report is logically arranged so it makes sense and leads the reader through the entire piece smoothly and without interruption. You may wish to extrapolate essentials and create either a one page summary or recap of the report so that readers re-visit the points you made within the body of the work.

7. Read the finished market research report aloud to catch poorly phrased sentences, illogical information, hard to understand jargon, syntax errors, contradictory data and problems you failed to spot earlier. Spell check the entire document. Paginate the report so the information is kept in sequence and check to be certain that support material that you referenced in the body of the report is accounted for at the end.