Bill Dubovsky - Adjunct Lecturer, Business Department, College of Staten Island Lisa Conlon - Synergy Student Researcher (front) Sallyann Bartels - Membership Director, SI Chamber (behind) Ryan Gleason - Communications Coordinator, SI Chamber Victoria Sakkal - Synergy Student Researcher Tony Mulholland - Classified Manager, SI Advance, Marketing Committee Stephanie Rizzo - Synergy Student Researcher Kevin Ng - Synergy Student Researcher Thomas Tellefsen - Chairperson, Business Department, College of Staten Island
Synergy Marketing Research, a team of upper class marketing research students from the College of Staten Island, presented the results of their semester’s research project to the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, May 22, at the Chamber’s St. George office.
Synergy Marketing Research members Lisa Conlon, Kevin Ng, Stephanie Rizzo, and Victoria Sakkal gave a half-hour presentation and discussion of their findings to Linda Baran, President and CEO of the Chamber, Sallyann Bartels, Membership Director, Ryan Gleason, Communications Coordinator, Tony Mulhulland, Classified Manager – SI Advance, and Chamber marketing committee member and Professor Thomas Tellefsen, Chairperson of the Business Department of the College of Staten Island.
The marketing research was conducted upon request from the Chamber’s marketing committee. The student team met with the committee to define the research objectives, constructs and measurements, and questionnaire development. The students provided secondary research into competitors and primary research including questionnaires that were completed electronically to a convenience sample of mostly Staten Island consumers. The data were analyzed via SPSS, an industry-standard statistical software application, and then refined and crafted into a final report and PowerPoint presentation providing insight into consumers’ perception of the Chamber, as well as other popular consumer-based organizations and websites, and provided fresh ideas for development of that market.
Professor Tellefsen outlined some potential next steps that could be implemented by the Chamber to take advantage of of the information gleaned from the study, including attracting opinion leaders to give reviews of their experiences with local businesses. Other ideas included more web-based consumer information, a mobile app and an expanded consumer complaint resolution mechanism.
Bill Dubovsky, adjunct lecturer in business, welcomed the group and videoed the presentation for members who were not able to attend and for future marketing research classes. “Our community client-sponsors always come away with useful, and often surprising, quantitative information. It’s gratifying to see our students excited about doing real research that matters,” stated Dubovsky, and thanked the Chamber folks for their time and support of the students.
At the close of the presentation-discussion, the Chamber received a copy of the research report detail, the PowerPoint presentation, and a CD containing the raw data for additional analysis or to use as a starting point for future research.
Past research projects from CSI marketing research students have included: a study for a St. John’s University continuing education program, for SCORE – Staten Island branch, the American Cancer Society – Staten Island Division, COAHSI – Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island, Historic Richmondtown, the Staten Island Children’s Museum, the Staten Island Mental Health Association’s resale stores, and NYCID – New York Center for Interpersonal Development.
