A sales team has to do an incredible amount of work before they unleash a new product on the consumer market. They'll want to make sure the product will have a function or design that's attractive overall. They'll also need to target what part of the market will buy it and what's the best way to reach it. This involves a very special team of experts called market research analysts.
Market research analysts are a little different from those in the sales force. They are hired to constantly monitor public opinion and figure out how their client or employer's product, service or concept fits in with the public. They then work to make sure whatever is being sold meets a potential customer's needs or simple desires.
Where most marketing personnel are much more generalized, research analysts are more focused in mass psychology and mathematics. While their on-campus or, increasingly, their online college course load starts similarly to others in their specialty, by the time they are in their junior year they are concentrating more on such courses as human behavior, advanced statistics and computer techniques.
Also, more often than not, a research analyst's academic career doesn't end with the Bachelor of Science degree. While they can find assistant's jobs with a four year degree, they truly need a Master's education to move onto more senior level positions. They also usually attend a number of seminar and late-night online classes to stay on top of the latest trends, techniques and breakthroughs in their field.
The good news is that once the student has graduated there is a wide array of companies and non-profit organizations that will employ them. A market research analyst usually starts out by surveying the public for opinions on various products, services and concepts or crunching the numbers to derive the results. From there, they can move on to actually designing and supervising studies before advancing to management, setting up their own firms or moving on to academia.
While finding that first position may take some effort, once inside the field the rewards can be considerable. At present, there are slightly over a quarter million (273,000) research analysts in the U.S. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there will be a need for an additional 28-30% by 2020, making it one of the fastest growing professions in the country.
Salary is dependent on the industry one ends up working in, as well as what kind of research the analyst ends up doing. Entry level jobs usually start around $33,000, while over time the average wage can range anywhere from around $45,000 to as much as $85,000. The job also generally comes with full benefits, including health and life insurance, expense account and continuing education refunds.
When you crunch all the numbers, while becoming an analyst takes some time and effort, it also comes with enough perks to make it all worth while. If you are a person who is fascinated by consumer behavior and its ramifications, market research certainly is a profession well worth considering for a career.
It's a very computer-intensive field, however, those who earn their bachelor business degree online will find it practically second nature. For those who are just beginning, wondering if learning over the Internet is for them, the free courses online are a great way to realize just how convenient and flexible online education can be.
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