Good resource for marketing research?

This will probably start with some research based on summer sessions meant to verify that the methods as implemented really do work as advertised, and to hammer out the kinks that will inevitably appear. So yes, I agree, this seems like a good idea. I'd just like to get some research-based info on whether what seems to me like a good idea really is a good idea!

What state do you live in / want to set up the school in?

I'm currently in California. I doubt this is where I'll set up the first school, though, since my wife and I aren't really comfortable here. (We're here only because I'm finishing my Ph.D. down here.)

It seems like emailing someone at a charter school association for your state might get you partially where you need to go.

Yep, that's on my to-do list. Thanks for the suggestion!

My concern is that I could totally see existing charter schools thinking they're doing well (or at least surviving) because of their "focus on excellence" or their "guaranteed method of college preparation" or this or that, but have it turn out that their marvelous common sense missed the fact that, say, the people geographically near the school with money happen to like blue and the school's logo has a lot of blue in it. And stupidly, the blue probably matters more than the college preparation.

Gerber's suggestion for getting at this kind of info (what he calls "psychographics") is to put out a poll to the people in one's intended demographic and ask things like, "What brand of computer do you prefer?" and "What brand of toothpaste do you use?" Then backtrack by looking at the advertising methods of the things they indicated that they actually buy in order to get a hint about what kind of subconscious influence actually "generate a 'buy' response". (Unsurprisingly, it's useless to ask people what color most encourages them to try a product. They tend to claim no color does that to them despite statistical evidence to the contrary.)

Because I'm interested in doing something quite a bit different than what many charter schools do, I could easily get skewered by listening to their advice but have it turn out that they had absolutely no clue why they were actually successful. If it's something they take for granted but I end up changing, that could be a problem.

So while I agree that talking to charter schools is a really great starting point, I can see where I'll need to do at least a little bit of my own research. I'm just hoping I won't have to reinvent the research methods on top of actually conducting it.

I had never heard of this fellow before. Doing a quick skim of his website, it looks to me like his main claim of expertise is that he has successfully started a number of businesses despite the odds seemingly being stacked against him.

While I agree that it's probably a good idea to talk to people like that, I'm concerned that they might think they know why they succeeded but not actually know. Is there a reason to believe that this fellow knows his real reasons for his success rather than just what the experience of being successful is like?

Great! Thanks!

I think you might start by deciding first what kind of students you want to attract.

That's a good point. I've put some thought into this, but not a huge amount - probably because of a flinch. To me, the real point of what I'm doing is to produce competent, mentally healthy individuals. Ideally that would include everyone, but pragmatically that just isn't going to happen. So, whom shall I omit early on? It's an uncomfortable question, but you're quite right that it needs asking.

Yours is an exciting project and I wish you the best - I can't wait to see what comes out of it.

Thanks!

Your major hurdle probably isn't going to be marketing-in-general, but specifically finding an answer to the why of the above observation.

I have a pretty good idea as to why at this point. Some of it is because it's pretty difficult to sort out the touted-and-good stuff from the touted-and-overhyped stuff in education research. The popularity of a theory and the status of a researcher making a given comment both have vastly more weight in this field than they should, possibly more even than empirical evidence. It's unpopular to overthrow widely cited theories with findings from neuroscience, for instance. There's virtually no control for cognitive biases from what I've been able to tell.

That said, you're right in that it's possible that I've just missed something critical and that the stuff I'm thinking of applying flat-out doesn't work like I expect it will. That's why I'm going to spend a few years doing some rational research verifying the methods and working out the pragmatics before I actually start the business.

Still, you might be interested in this fellow's writings, as they have been quite influential among a crowd which substantially overlaps the readership of LW: he writes about "entrepreneurship as a practice that can be managed rather than purely an art form to be experienced".

I think this is the same fellow EvelynM suggested, yes? I'll certainly take a look, although I'm skeptical for reasons I mentioned in my reply to EvelynM.

Thanks, Luke!

Is there any reason to preference this particular text over any given other one in marketing?

This has got to be the most ignorant quote I have even seen from Graham. If it is "no great mystery" and doesn't require study, then why do so many fail at it?

Hah! That's pretty clever!

The thing is, most businesses fail. I keep hearing slightly different statistics on this, but roughly speaking, any given random American business has somewhere around a 98% chance of failing in the first five years. This means that if you are trying to start a business and you listen to others who are trying to start a business and you hear the same kinds of thoughts and business strategies from them as you are using, the chances are extremely good your business will fail.

In other words, common sense is utter trash for starting a business that works. Pragmatic sense is important, I'm pretty sure, but common sense is entrepreneurial poison. So if we "try to get people to pay [us] for stuff" using our naive intuition, we will probably just lose the business game.

So, what to use instead of naive intuition?

I really don't know!