By John Armitage *
Local Governments have never fully embraced market research as a tool that can reap huge rewards for their communities. Doing research is second nature for State and Federal Governments as they are constantly measuring community attitudes on a range of issues. So why is there such reluctance among Local Governments to embrace market research?
Part of the reasoning is quite sound, Local Government is closest to the community and it is in constant contact through its Councillors and officers. Some Councillors, often correctly, believe they have a better idea of what is going on rather than a survey. However, having served a seven year term as a local Councillor I know that we can all misinterpret the views of a noisy minority and miss the concerns of the majority from time to time.
Also when a Local Government wants to advocate or campaign for Federal or State funding it is essential to be able to show the facts and figures of community opinion. If you can show, through independent methodologically sound research that 90 per cent of the community is behind you on a certain issue, it will start to ring bells in Canberra or State capitals.
Sometimes the only way you can prove that the community is behind you is to show the politicians the facts in a language they understand – polling. It may not win the case, but it will certainly make them listen.
Too many Local Governments rely solely on impassioned pleas based on logic and good sense when fact based research will have much more impact.
Canberra is full of very hard nosed people who need to be convinced that your argument is sensible and well based. But at the end of the day, Federal and State Governments need the same voters to vote for them as you do. Show them strong public support and it will help.
The second area where research can help Council’s in developing effective messages.
When the Prime Minister John Howard announced at the beginning of the election, “Who do you trust with interest rates?”, it was no accident that this became a telling factor in the election. This type of election statement is normally researched with a large range of focus groups across the country to hone the message to a fine point. From broad concepts right down to the specific phrases or words, market research is used to maximise public support.
Local Governments need to switch to this type of thinking to make sure the messages they are sending out are targeted.
A Local Government in Victoria recently wanted to put out rates information – arguing for higher rates – and before doing so, they tested the material with several focus groups. After hearing what people said about the leaflet, they decided to rewrite almost all the material.
Using market research doesn’t mean selling out to bad populist policies. In this case the research did not change the program at all. It did change the way it was presented. The end result was a brochure that really met the information needs of the community. The rate rise, while not popular, was implemented far more smoothly.
Local Government can benefit greatly from market research in many different ways.
* John Armitage, a former Mayor, is the Director of Auspoll’s Centre for Local Government Research. He can be contacted on (03) 9776 9900.
