Marketing in Real Life

This month's Quirk's Magazine enewsletter has a nice little piece on whteher or not people should go to trade shows. Its a tricky question that really depends on your goals and your execution plan. In my mind there are four main benefits to attending. 1) Spending quality time with the clients we are co-presenting with (this year includes Facebook and GE Healthcare). 2) Connecting with potential clients who are both interested in high quality research and work for organizations willing to invest in finding good partners. 3) Acquiring a lead source we can utilize throughout the year. 4) Listening to the "industry conversation" and getting involved. In my last job, co-workers often lamented about the lack of booth traffic but I believe that quality outpaces quantity at conferences. We also build a strategy around setting up meetings in advance, gathering key learnings, and making every opportunity count. Without those pieces in place it may be a waste, but for us it pay...

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...

In this month's Quirk's magazine there is a blurb about a partnership between EMI Music and Lightspeed Research that will offer UK and Western Europe respondents free music and video downloads as incentives via the http://www.songs4surveys.com/ website. I say brilliant! I don't care much for points and never seem to receive any cash incentives, but free music, now you're speaking my language! Even better, I admire the creativity that Lightspeed is showing and that they recognize the changing landscape of consumers' online behavior. Good for Lightspeed and I hope more sample providers follow suit. Speaking of music, I'll be out for the next few days at the world's greatest music and food experience (in my opinion): The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival . If you love music, food, and people its a must do at some point... and don't forget that New Orleans still needs your help! Until next time, keep being creative and thinking about how you can condu...