Marketing in Real Life

An interesting post today over at Nigel Hollis' blog about academics at the 7th Annual Marketing Directors Conference in Athens, Greece minimizing the value of research in their speeches. When probed further they stated that it was the literal interpretation and simple surveys they were referring to. I think the big difference between quality research and simple data collection is the value proposition that all good custom research firms provide. We may write better questionnaires or more tightly manage projects, but the special sauce is generally in the interpretation of data, not the collection of it. And just as much in the evangelization of it (or at least facilitating evangelization). As Andy Vranesic of GE Healthcare said in our joint webinar today ( watch here ) - 10% of it is the research, 90% is putting the research to work in a business context.

Seth Godin's blog post today is about marketing (or the lack thereof) to the second circle - beyond the people who already know you, the ones who the people you know talk to about your products and services. In research we see this issue every day, clients who only want to research the people who know them well - those who have considered, purchased, repurchased, etc. This is, of course, necessary, but its only telling one part of the story. The people who are not currently considering you (or your category) may be just as viable a target. You need to understand their goals, needs, and hot buttons so you can either add them to your target set or rule them out altogether. But wihtout understanding where they stand, you'll never be able to significantly grow beyond your core market.

Chadwick Martin Bailey's Brant Cruz has a great article in this month's Quirk's Magazine. “Don’t Give Up on That Segmentation Study, Do It Smarter” A quick excerpt: "Stock market volatility. Consumer pessimism. Economic instability. Even though the U.S. presidential election is behind us, these are still very uncertain times. When it comes to custom research, the easiest thing to do is nothing. Wait it out. But for how long? And what will the opportunity cost be if you don’t begin the process now? Obviously, we all need to be cognizant of economic factors when deciding when to launch any project. Any information can help, whether it’s external data or indications from your customers that their sentiments have stabilized - even if that stabilization is on the pessimistic side. For segmentations in particular, which can be especially challenging during periods of extreme uncertainty, it’s important to at least begin the process for conducting the study. I have highlighte...