Conducting market research is a key skill required in consulting. Consulting involves working on different assignments in completely different industries, hence knowing how to conduct market research is a fundamental skill all people who want to work in consulting need to have. In addition to doing market research, you need to know how to best present the findings to the client in a straightforward way.
Below I will provide a step-by-step guide on how to create a thorough market research presentation.
1. Have a good understanding of the industry
While you might think that you already know about most industries, some companies might want to conduct market research on something that you have never heard of, such as asset tokenization for the fine arts market or the tabletop gaming industry.
It is crucial that you understand the industry BEFORE you begin writing about it. You may skip this part if you are already familiar with the market, but the mistake that people often make is they start finding specific things about the market without understanding the broader picture. This can lead to incomplete research and an unhappy supervisor or client. Hence, the first step is to carefully and thoroughly understand the industry that you are researching.
2. Start with an overview
After understanding the industry you are working on, you can start working on your presentation. The first thing that you should mention in the presentation is an overview of the market, which should be completely summarized in one slide.
Usually a good overview includes:
- Estimated market size
- Major players
- Market trends
The market size should include the number of customers and revenue but shouldn’t give any detailed information such as revenue per customer, difference in regional revenue, or customer-centric information as that can be mentioned on later slides.
You should mention roughly 3 to 5 big players in the market, which would be the companies with the largest market share and biggest name recognition. New but successful companies can be mentioned later on.
Finally, you should include statistics on how the market has been doing, with one crucial element being revenues and number of customers for at least the past 5 years.
Ideally, 80% of this first slide will be infographics with little text.
3. Consumer research
The next thing to mention in your presentation would be a summary of your consumer research. A good understanding of consumer demographics and desires can completely change how the market is viewed.
This section should include more than 2 but less than 5 slides, depending on how thorough your research has been and how much information is available for that given market.
Key aspects of consumer research that should be included are:
- Age groups – a distribution of consumers by generation
- Brand loyalty – how attached are consumers to each company
- Price sensitivity – how likely are consumers to pick a brand that offers the lowest price
- Specifics about changes in consumer behavior. For example, during the past decade there has been a major shift in the gaming industry where the market share of men has decreased as women are buying more smartphone games.
4. SWOT analysis
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is one of the most famous ways to analyse a market. Here you could take two approaches: devote one slide to each of these components, or create multiple slides combining yet not naming them directly. You can’t go wrong with either of these approaches. Just make sure that you include all four components in your market overview.
5. Novel Success Stories
This is something that most people don’t include but it can transform your presentation from good to great. In this section you should include new companies that have found success in the market and anything specific that they have done that has worked. For example, if you are researching the fashion industry you would include the success of brands focused on athleisure or size inclusivity, which are two subsets that have proven to be very profitable.
Apart from mentioning specific brands, you could also mention broader marketing stories that have shown success. For example, a focus on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, or partnerships with influencers.
While your consulting presentation might change depending on the type of market you are researching and the amount of time you are given to complete it, following these general guidelines will help you create a great presentation.
Consulting presentations should be about delivering key information to your clients in a clean format that is easily understandable and where key trends can be seen.
Take your time when conducting a market research consulting project. Start by understanding the industry, and then work on your presentation by including an overview of the market, consumer information, SWOT analysis, and ending with novel success stories.
Tringa Krasniqi holds an MBA degree from The George Washington University. She is the founder and consultant at Ivy Journey, an educational consulting firm for gaining admission to universities and winning scholarships.
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