Mexico City or Monterrey? Colombia or Argentina? Chile or Venezuela? Where should you look for your next focus group ?
If you are a car salesman in Argentina, the answer is pretty obvious, Buenos Aires, but if you are doing market research for a national or even international company, should your next focus groups be in China or Spain?
Choosing the right market to create a focus group is more of an art than a science. The typical project has 4-12 focus groups spread across 2-6 markets, although some can grow much larger.
There are several factors that should influence the selection of markets for a focus group, one of these being diversity. It is common that market selection always results in deciding which of the three of the 10 largest markets in Latin America will be selected for the project. However, many Latin Americans do not live in urban areas so creating a focus group in a small city might not be the most convenient option as creating them in larger cities where tourism is concentrated; it would be a mistake to continue going to these markets over and over again.
People in Chicago really do tend to think differently or have a different way of looking at the world around them than people in smaller towns. The type of diversity appropriate for each project is also important. A focus group on technology might require different parameters for market selection than a focus group on politics.
Even within the market, there is a strategy for selecting which location to use. For example, there will likely be a difference between the different types of people who will be recruited in locations outside the city and in the city.
Mixing and matching markets within a project can be very useful. For nation-specific advertising lithuania phone number a direct advertising campaign, we might recommend an urban location, a suburban location, and a smaller market as well as some diversity by region.
Depending on the specific topic at hand and your recruiting needs, you might select a sample market. This is particularly important in international groups; Europe is more than just Germany, France and England. The French do not adequately represent the thinking that exists in the rest of southeastern Europe: there are big differences between France and Portugal, Greece, Italy and Spain.
Common mistakes when creating a focus group
There are several common mistakes when selecting markets for market research . One of the most common is wanting to select “representative” markets , but the problem is that focus groups are not “representative” per se. The 10 people you have around the conference table do not represent an entire country, much less a continent.
As a qualitative methodology, a focus group does not represent anything; diversity is important but it will not lead you to any representative example, so do not worry if you read somewhere that Mexico or Argentina are more "representative" of Latin America.
Another mistake is failing to recognize the impact a major company has on its home market. For example, Microsoft is a major presence in Seattle and The Big Three has a high impact in Detroit. Going into the home market of a company that is frequently in the local news or has a higher unemployment impact locally can be a big mistake. Would a person who has relatives at GM who handle the accounts take the time to do a full evaluation of an imported vehicle? It's highly unlikely.