Market research is any organised effort to gather information about a target market. It is one field that has been an essential cog in the business machine, with researchers like you often helping create a business strategy. It is a lucrative profession to practice, one that pays as well as it does to developers, even in freelance opportunities.
You can chose to freelance for many reasons. You can earn money working from home and lead a comfortable life, without having to sit at a desk in an office. However, you may have a different reason for opting to freelance, either on the side or full time. Extra income, the ability to work from home, and even the extra time you will have to spend with family, are all valid reasons. With the kind of growth in the field, you can rest assured that it is well-paid option.
Freelance Market Researcher Jobs
As a market researcher there are many duties that you will have to undertake. Sometimes your work responsibilities can be more complex than simply setting a business strategy to conduct a survey, or define a marketing research method. Some of the important responsibilities you will undertake during the course of your life as a freelance market researcher, include:
- Liaising with clients to negotiate and agree research projects;
- Preparing briefs and commissioning research;
- Formulating a plan/proposal and presenting it to the client or senior management;
- Writing and managing the distribution of surveys and questionnaires;
- Liaising With researchers;
- Liaising with and managing survey staff;
- Organising Qualitative or quantitative surveys, which may involve field, interview or focus group assessments;
- Using statistical software to manage and organise information;
- Monitoring the progress of research projects;
- Analysing and interpreting data to identify patterns and solutions, including surveys and focus group transcripts;
- Writing detailed reports and presenting results;
- Advising clients/senior management on how to best use research findings;
- Managing budgets
Finding Work:
Finding work as a freelance market researcher can be a bit taxing initially. However, with the use of the all-knowing Google there aren’t many freelance opportunities you won’t be able to locate. Thus, to find freelance work you must register with and logon to websites like Elance, Odesk, Peopleperhour and Guru.
These are but some of your obligations that you will have to fulfil as a freelance market researcher.
Skills:
As a freelance market researcher, you will need to develop the requisite skills to survive and thrive in any working capacity in research. Market researchers must be analytical and research oriented. However, what other skills should you develop to be an adept Market researcher? Some of the skills you should consider developing and honing include:
- Strong analytical skills
- People skills
- Methodological and organized
- Inquisitive
- Oral and written communication skills
- Client focused
- An ability to handle data to work in quantitative research
- The ability to take responsibility and handle pressure
- Commercial awareness for work with corporate clients
MRS, theUniversity of Georgia, eCornell and Researchrockstar offer many online training courses, certifications and e-Summer camps for you to learn all about Market research online.
Being Successful As A Freelance Market Researcher:
As a market researcher you can garner success and ensure that you stay among the top freelancers among your network, by taking certain steps and being open to learning new techniques and incorporate newer ways of conducting, setting up and executing research. Some of the things you can do to further your career in the field, include:
- Being able to market your services and creating a Social Media presence
- Creating a responsive network, one which you can leverage to find projects and extra work
- Ability to work under pressure, and to strict deadlines
- An understanding of the industry
- Be able to look past stereotypes and clichés
- Have an interest in psychology and behavioural science for qualitative research
Market Researcher Salary :
Usually freelance portals offer various kinds of payment models. In the fixed-price model, the price is usually pre-determined. The hourly model is the most popular and employers usually pay a predetermined sum per hour. Finally, in the project-budget based model, you often need to auction for such projects. Usually a fixed price model may range from $20- $200 and upwards, while you have to pitch for hourly projects, and budget payments, which usually range from $5- $35 an hour. Freelance Market researchers like you usually earn $21 an hour.
Resources:
As a market researcher, you will have many resources at your disposal. You can learn the skills needed online and learn about market research techniques and best practices online. MRS, the University of Georgia, eCornell and Researchrockstar offer many online training courses, certifications and e-Summer camps for you to learn all about Market research online and help you build the knowledge you need.
For more information on Freelance Resource please visit www.careerlancer.net
