Add Market Research to your Project Plan

The number one mistake I see repeated time and time again is the project team assuming, within a vacuum, they already know what’s important to the end-user/consumer of a technology or a process.

A project equals a change within an organization. Whether you are talking about a new process or new technology it’s a change. The most effective change management strategies are those built on the basic principals of Marketing. The first rule of Marketing is “know your customer”. The same holds true when promoting your project. First, understand who the change impacts. Marketers do research before introducing a new product or message. They identify their target audience then talk to them to find out how they might use a new product or perceive a new message. In marketing this process of getting to know your customer is used to make what they are selling relevant to consumers. Conduct “market research” within your organization and get answers to:

• Who does this project impact?
• How is what the project will replace perceived today? What kind of baggage exists?
• What are the issues today?
• What are the real needs of those impacted?

Using a “Market Research” approach to engage those impacted during the planning phase of your project will help ease their transition into the new world and sets the stage for end-users to embrace the changes to come.