There will probably be a large amount of existing information for your team to draw on. Also, key stakeholders will often have valuable insights and experience to offer.

It is important to identify what knowledge there is on the issue and the audience, and what is current practice, before you collect new information through primary research with target audiences.

The tasks here involve accessing secondary or desk research material and capturing stakeholder views into the behaviour of the audience that you are interested in.

This task area links to NSMC Benchmark Criteria No. 1 Customer Orientation. This emphasises developing a robust understanding of the audience, based on good market and consumer research, combining data from different sources.