The Good and Bad of Buzz Words

In the marketing and research industries there are more buzzwords than you can "shake a stick at." If you were to "boil the ocean" you might come up with some "breakthrough thinking" that provides true "business transformation" and gets you a seat at the table.

You get my point.

Many of the consultants that I have encountered of the past ten years think that speaking in marketing tongues or "research-ese" is what helps get them in the door at big companies. These same consultants wonder why research isn't consumed more at the top levels of organizations. The truth is that senior level (especially at the C-level) don't have the time or inclination to translate findings and recommendations into plain English.

It really isn't so hard, it just takes the discipline to say what you mean as concisely as possible. There is a great article today over on the 1 to 1 Blog about this topic today. Take a read here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is market research recession proof?

Bob Skolnick , North American CEO of Synovate seems to think so in this month's Marketing News... This heightened need to understand competitors and consumers may well prove a boon to the market research industry, despite the struggles of the economy at large. Bob Skolnick , North American CEO of Chicago-based market research firm Synovate , predicts "was abobe average growth" in the overall demand for data. Because of the demand for data, Skolnick notes, Synovate has been under greater pressure to yield applicable results. "Client companies need to see smart research done to make sure they are satisfying their best customers and developing new business where they can," he says. "The market research business, while not recession-proof, is much less susceptible to budgets being cut."
Keep reading

2009 Market Research Predictions, Forrester Style

Forrester's 2009 Market Research Predictions are out and if you're not a subscriber, you can at least read the executive summary here... One prediction of note: "Traditional qualitative research will see erosion as market research online communities (MROCs) and fusions of quantitative and qualitative research from firms such as Invoke Solutions gain steam. In short, everyone will be looking for ways to gain insights to succeed in a troubling market in as cost-effective a manner as possible. This means that newer research modes will gain traction and grab more share of stable or declining market research budgets — even among research buyers who have been more traditional in the past."
Keep reading

McCafe? Its Not Possible

Image
Over the weekend I noticed and more and more McCafe's popping up within my local McDonald's and am curious (cough, skeptical, cough) whether or not this can possibly work. Starbucks has done such a good job over the last few years of teaching the public that a latte requires the love and care that only Starbucks' Baristas or local coffee houses can provide in making a high end coffee that I barely trust Dunkin Donuts to make a latte correctly (and I love Dunkin in a not so healthy way!). What I certainly don't trust is that the 14 year olds who currently make a breakfast sandwich an iffy proposition care enough to even attempt to make my drink correctly. Maybe I have become a coffee snob, but I see the McCafe winding up in a room somewhere with salad McShakers and McPizzas.
Keep reading