Marketing Research vs. Polling - by Robert Jasper

Written by General Staff   

At a very basic level, marketing research and polling are similar in that both administer a structured set of questions to a predefined target audience in an effort to gather information. However, the differences between these two practices are significant.

By definition, polling typically has a political component associated with it, and is intended to measure public opinion about issues that are subject to change over a fairly short period of time (i.e., job approval for the President/Congress or the “state of the economy”). In addition to providing headline news stories and hours of debate on cable news programs, polls may also be intended to actually influence public opinion by informing undecided citizens of developing trends or how the rest of the population views an issue. Likewise, while politicians are often quick to claim that they are not swayed by “polls,” there is little doubt that strong public opinion can and does influence the actions of public officials.

In contrast, marketing research generally focuses more on core values, attitudes, and behaviors that are less likely to shift significantly in the short-term. Specifically, there would be no value in conducting a brand image study or in developing a market segmentation plan if the market assumptions driving these efforts were volatile in nature.  Generally, the value of marketing research is not in reporting a specific statistic, such as “50% job approval,” but is in providing a more complete understanding of an issue that allows marketers to make more informed decisions. The results of marketing research studies are generally proprietary in nature, and used to create a competitive advantage that is not readily publicized. There are of course exceptions to this, such as communicating impressive customer satisfaction scores in marketing campaigns.

There are certainly examples of polling in the agricultural sector, such as grower support for commodity “check-off programs” and attitudes towards the latest provisions of the Farm Bill. Both polling and marketing research are useful tools if conducted in an unbiased and objective nature, with a clear definition of how the results will be used.

Mr. Robert G. Jasper
Senior Vice President
Market Probe St. Louis