It is indispensable fact that marketing play a crucial factor for an organization or a company. It is also true, that it is only natural to face many questions and obstacles from the beginning to an end of marketing activities. For example, these questions might arise:

·  ‘Where is our potential target market?’ or

·  ‘How to make these people buy more?’ or

·  ‘Why sales is declining?’ or

·  ‘What do our target customers think about our new product? Will they crave and buy it?’

In attempts to identify and solve marketing problems, marketers can engage in several activities, including marketing research. The research collects information needed to support decision making process in systematic,analytics, and true to the objective identification. Hence, the outcome is much more reliable and accountable since it is base on scientific and measurable approach.

Since marketing research have various techniques and applications, understanding the best approach of which techniques to answer specific needs will help marketers to gain the answer they need to execute their strategies.

Marketing research can be done through secondary research,and primary research. In secondary research, the data collected from available resources. Hence the cost of doing secondary research would be lower than doing primary, but the data might be outdated or not answering the specific needs.

While in primary research, the data is collected with the issue objective placed as the main agenda, and is the ground to build the study. Right after that, analysis will aim to answer the issue and suggest solutions for it. Primary research can be done through quantitative and qualitative approach. In short, quantitative method basically quantify the data and generalize the result from the samples to the population of interest. Hence the outcome can recommend a final course of action ,while qualitative method is to gain a qualitative understanding of the underlying motivations and reasons. Qualitative results usually develop an initial understanding.      

One of the most popular qualitative research methodology is FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION (FGD).

A focus group is a small group discussion including 8-12 members, guided by a skilled moderator in a non structural and natural manner. The main purpose of focus group is to gain insights from the discussion amongst target respondents about the issue of interest. It is expected to yield unexpected findings and information from the free-flow discussion in a relatively short time.

This is the case examples when Focus group can be a useful approach:

·  When marketer is looking for depth of opinion or the ‘why’ factor, or

·  To get deeper understanding of the needs, thoughts, and feelings of target customers

·  Explore opportunity of usage for new products or services.

Focus group can yield opinions and in-depth information in a relatively short time which would be helpful to address some of your marketing needs.

Once marketers have determined the issue and find that FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION is the right tool to accommodate their needs, there are some important steps for planning and conducting a focus group:

1.  Understand the research objective, and define the real problems.

2.  Specify the objectives of conducting qualitative research, ensuring that this is the best method you can apply to answer the  issues.

3.  Break down the objectives to smaller objectives or questions to be asked to focus group.

4.  Write a screening questionnaire as a guideline for the recruitment.

5.  Recruit participants. They must have adequate experience with the topics discussed and profile matching the target requirements.

6. Choose a qualified moderator. As moderator plays a significant role in the success of focus group, the person should have high skilled to lead the group discussion, probe participants to elicit information, create analysis and helps in interpreting the data.

7.  Develop a moderator’s outline. This is to ensure all listed questions to be discussed, though not following it too strictly.

8.  Conduct the FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Light refreshment to be served before and throughout the session. Focus group offer nuance, variety and depth to the discussion.

9.   Focus group can be recorded in many ways, often in videotape. Review the tapes and analyze the data.

10. Once the findings are summarized, plan the follow up research or action.  

A small group of individuals, brought together as a discussion or resource group, is more valuable many times over than any representative sample. Such a group, discussing collectively their sphere of life and probing into it as they meet one another’s disagreements, will do more to lift the veils covering the sphere of life than any other device I know (Blumer 1969, 41)

When generating the qualitative insight from focus group, the researcher need to hear all the responses and qualitatively analyze them, not only based on explicit ones but also from implicit and body-language form. For example, if we conduct the focus group in 1940 to groups of people about their expected dream vehicle, people may answer that they would want faster horses. In this case, instead reporting as per what participants said, a good focus group discussion will be able to break down that their real desire of this people is a faster vehicle. And this insight can help the innovators to create a car, or other types of automotives with the main feature of multiple horse power speed which correspond with this needs.

Of course, focus groups is not a one-for-all solution to answer all marketing issues. But, the correct usage of the result from focus group can be used for great effect within a business, supporting practical and guiding profitable decision.