Read the passage and write a paragraph that answers ONE of the questions below.
If you’ve ever been stopped in a mall and asked to answer some questions, the person who stopped you was probably a market researcher. Many companies use market research to discover the needs and preferences of the target market. The term target market is the people who might buy a particular product or service. Target markets can be very general (widespread) or specific (narrow). For example, the target market for dog food is very specific; dog owners. On the other hand, the target market for items like milk, or soap, includes almost everybody. The goal of market researchers is to learn as much as they can about the target market for a particular product or service.
Radio stations use market research to make sure they are playing the music that their target market wants to hear. The traditional way of doing this was to fill a room with a group of volunteers, giving them a list of songs, and playing an excerpt of each song. Volunteers were asked to put the songs in categories according to how much they liked them. Participants were typically paid $75 to $100 for 2-3 hours. Nowadays many surveys are done online via a link on the company’s website or facebook page.
Questions:
(1) Have you ever participated in a market research survey, either in person or on-line? If so, describe this experience.
(2) Imagine you are a market researcher working for a company that makes dog food. Where would you go to find your target market? What kind of questions would you ask them?
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