The Better Marketing Blog

Two things I am thinking about (and you should be too)

2011-12-20T20:59:00.001-05:00

If you're like me at all you probably have a lot more popping in and out of your mind than you can ever act on in a given work day or week or year. But a few things keep sticking with me- probably for good reason. Here are two of the things I am spending too much time mulling over.

1) Where does my job begin and end?

I ask this a lot, but does it really matter? The truth is that if you see something that needs fixing and have the ability to fix it, there is rarely a good reason not to just get it done. And if that means you've skipped some steps or forgotten to get permission... I am yet to meet a good boss who would care.

2) Is being blunt bad?

I can definitely be direct in my feedback and I wonder if it's too much sometimes. But I want things to be as good as they can be so who am I helping if I tread lightly and things move slower or less effectively or both? You don't need to be rude in your feedback but sugar coating it seems to be a contributor to failure, not a driver of success.

What do you think, am I all wrong? Insensitive? Productive? You tell me.

The Way Online Reviews Really Work

2011-10-29T15:26:00.001-04:00

As an early snowstorm approaches I have been catching up on some long lost emails and articles from the past few months in hopes of reaching the holy grail of inbox zero (down to 35 right now!)

One of the articles that jumped out from the pile talked about a recent study from Cone, a marketing agency out of Boston. The article talks about recently released survey data that says 80% of people have changed a purchase decision due to a bad review they saw, especially on social media. And I believe it.

The skeptics will say that not many people ask for recommendations on social media sites, so how big can the impact be? But those people misunderstand how social word of mouth works.

Those of us who spend a lot of time (probably too much) on social networking sites are constantly being influenced by others and their experiences in an informal way. We know when our friends have an amazing meal or an amazingly bad one. Or which airlines are keeping us stranded at every turn. Or which retailer went above and beyond to provide top notch customer service. And when we go to choose a product or service those messages from our friends are the ones that narrow our personal consideration sets.

The point is, it's not the formal reviews that are influencing decisions - which they also do - but the every day talk about our lives and experience that make it so essential to provide a great customer experience. As my friend Mark Schmulen is so fond of saying, "there is no marketing cure for sucking." And in the digital age if you suck, there is no hiding from it.

When did we lose our marketing mind?

2011-09-10T11:59:00.001-04:00

I was happy to be part of a great panel discussion earlier this week at the small business breakfast in Boston (#smb24) and came away with one big question? When did we lose our marketing mind (and why)?

Often times on these panels I end up playing the role of "wet blanket" - which the contrarian in me loves but the marketing geek in me hates. But the truth is that most of the cool, exciting technologies are not yet ready for prime time, mostly because most businesses' customers and prospects aren't ready for them either. And shouldn't that be the answer to most questions?

Unless you have unlimited budget or are serving the cutting edge you need to think really hard about investing in programs that are beyond the adoption curve. Do they meet my business goals? Do I have the content to support it? Will the people I care about know how to access it?

These are all marketing 101 questions but too often they don't get asked when people are developing it showing off their mobile and social strategies.

Are you losing your marketing mind?

Three things you need to know about your Facebook Fans

2011-08-22T20:44:00.004-04:00

There is a lot you can learn about your Facebook Fans by keeping a close eye on what content they engage with and tracking Facebook insights, but some things you just need to ask. While you don't want to over survey your fans, here are three things you should know as you build out your strategy.

1. Are your fans already customers? To best serve your audience, you need to know if you fans are already on board, considering a purchase, or just enjoying your content with no intention of buying (not necessarily a bad thing by the way!)

2. Why did they become your fans? Did people click the "like" button for a specific offer? On a whim? Or because they really want to engage with you? Knowing what got them to act in the first place can help you grow your network and provide the right content.

3. What do they expect? While you can learn a lot from Facebook insights about what works, it never hurts to ask. How often do they want you to post and about what? If you give your fans what they want they'll be more likely to share!

So, what do you really know about your fans? It's time to find out.

The secret to interviewing good candidates

2011-08-19T19:03:00.001-04:00

We've been interviewing lots of people at my job lately and I often wonder if we all over think the process.

We look for specific skills. We scour resumes for companies we admire. We ask thoughtful questions and hope for great responses. But are we really using the right measuring sticks?

I'm not so sure. We all spend so much time with our co-workers - more than with our families - and yet we often use impersonal methods for evaluating job candidates.

The truth is that you know pretty quickly if someone is close to right. If the conversation is easy, enthusiastic, and enjoyable and they have a background close to what you need the details can always be taught. I mean, how many skills truly transfer directly from one company to another?

So, my advice is to not think so hard. You know when a candidate is right. And that may mean placing more value on the personal connection than the resume.

An open letter to companies planning to start a new social network

2011-08-09T20:53:00.003-04:00

Dear Mr. or Mrs. Social Network Starter,

I understand that you and your company have been working on building a social network for months, maybe even years, but most of the people you want to join and use it are not going to be interested. It's not that the functionality isn't great, I am sure it is. And we may even sign up to check it out. But we just can't divide our attention any further and we certainly can't convince our friends and colleagues and parents and children to move from one place to another.

We appreciate your intentions but ask you to refocus your efforts. If Facebook is the new tv, you can be the AMC to our NBC. We are interested and eager to see how you can take Facebook or Twitter or Linkedin to a new level. But we ask you please... Do not make us sign up for a new network. Our dust covered Quora, Plaxo, and G+ (too soon?) accounts send their regards.

Best,

Internet users everywhere

Content Marketing and Dog Training

2011-07-30T13:49:00.003-04:00

I read and write a lot about content marketing. In my opinion the beauty of content marketing is that you are empowering your customers and prospects to be successful before they even realize it. One tip after another you dish out small pieces of information that people can act on and before they know it they are already having success and bought into your philosophy (and often your products and services.)

This process reminds me of when we were training our puppy (now a happy middle aged dog) to go up the stairs at our condo. He obviously had the ability to go up on his own but lacked the confidence to do it on his own. So we started by placing a piece of ham (he's a pug so food rules the day) on the second step, which he forced himself to go get. Next time out we put ham on the second and fourth steps. Based on his prior success he was willing to go a bit further and grabbed the second piece. Two more training sessions and he was at the top of the steps happily eating ham and trotting into our condo, not even realizing he now had all the tools he needed to successfully climb the stairs on his own.

The key takeaway: If you teach in bite size chunks, people (and dogs) will get further than they expected, faster than you could have hoped.

Google+ for Small Businesses? Don't Bother (Yet)

2011-07-20T09:10:00.000-04:00

Over the last week or so, there has been a ton of chatter in the online marketing world about Google+, a new social network from Google. The user experience is similar to that of Facebook (a news feed based on status updates and shared content, recommended friends, etc.), but the idea here is to make it easier to share content with specific sets of people (called Circles) instead of just publishing content on your wall for everyone to see. It's definitely a cool concept, even if it doesn't gain real traction (like some of Google's previous attempts to be social).

Right now Google+ does not allow businesses to sign up for a page, although they have said they will be bringing a business-friendly version to market later this year. While many business pages have actually been shut down, Ford was one of the first corporations to have a page launch legally earlier this week.
So ... as a small business, should you care about Google+? In short, not right now. Google has been amassing users very successfully in the first few weeks (close to 20 million, according to reports) but it is way too early to tell if people will really care beyond the initial flurry of activity and adopt it enough to make marketing there a worthwhile investment of time and energy. The challenge for Google is that Facebook has captured not only early adopters, but the entire market to get to their 750 million user base. Certainly, a portion of that group is interested in using a different (or additional) network, but for most consumers, we are likely reaching a saturation point where we're comfortable with Facebook and how it works as a social network, and don't need another.

Google+ does have some interesting features — many that are inspired by Facebook and many others that Facebook will likely incorporate into its own product — so as an interested consumer, feel free to check it out and let us know what you think. As a business, you should keep an eye out for Google+ business pages, but I wouldn't spend much time worrying about it until we see real traction.
Want to learn more about the networks that do matter? Check out the Social Media Quickstarter!

3 easy marketing tactics realtors could use to differentiate themselves

2011-06-20T13:15:00.001-04:00

Right now I am in the process of wrapping up both buying and selling a house. As most people who have gone through this process can attest, it’s not easy and you often feel pretty helpless. For me, it was even harder as a new age marketer who can’t stop thinking about things like inbound strategies, calls to action, and real-time insights. Here are three relatively simple things that realtors could do to make the process easier and more effective for themselves and their clients.

Narrow the Calls to Action. As marketers, we know that too many choices are a bad thing. As are calls to action that don’t have a reason to act attached. Yet every day I walked outside of my front door to a “For Sale” sign with five calls to action and no reason to choose one or the other. A phone number for my realtor. A phone number and a web site for my realtor’s office. A phone number for my realtor’s partner. And finally the URL for a dedicated website for my property. Five calls to action for someone driving or walking by to try to decipher. Pick one call to action and make it readable from far away.
Build Your Online Credibility. When you get a listing is not the time to start attracting potential buyers to you online in that locale. The truth is that almost every buying process starts with a Google search these days and while MLS listings are important, they are not the only way to tell home shoppers about yourself as a buyer’s agent or about the property you are listing. Start a blog about local real estate today that covers what you like about the homes you have visited or listed. That way you have both real-life and search engine credibility in the areas you serve.

3. Give Real-Time(ish) Updates: Throughout this process we held numerous open houses and each time would come home to an absence of information. Other than attempting to count the change in the amount of collateral left on our coffee table, we had no way of easing our nerves by knowing if the event had been a smashing success or a colossal failure. As 21^st century marketers, we live in a real time world... And while I don't need my realtor to post the information on twitter, it couldn't hurt to leave a note about how a showing or open house went. In today's world, no information is not an okay option. Take the two minutes to be customer focused and provide news, even if it's bad, and before we have to ask for it.

The Trouble with "Respondents"

2011-06-16T21:21:00.002-04:00

One of my big pet peeves is when men and women who work within a company insist on using terms that de-humanize the people on the other end of the product or service they offer. I'm not saying that they use demeaning terms, but they choose words that make it okay to treat your best customers as abstract numbers or demographics.

In the world of market research, the term most often applied to people like you and I who take surveys is "respondents."

It's okay to give respondents a 30 minute questionnaire to complete. It's okay to ask respondents to go though numerous and repetitive choice sets. It's okay to speak to respondents in formal, stilted language.

But would you do any of that to your college roommate? Your grandmother? Your child? Your neighbor? Probably not.

In fact, most researchers cringe at the idea of even testing their own questionnaires.

So before you put a new research study or product implementation or marketing campaign into the world, think about the specific people on the other end. We are all in the customer service business in one way or another, and none of us should be in the respondent business.

A Memorial Day Lesson for Marketers

2011-05-30T07:44:00.000-04:00

One quick memorial day thought about marketing...

Throughout my career I have been eager, aggressive, creative and excited to push companies to do things the "new" way. In many cases I have been right. But as I have gotten more experienced I have learned not to dismiss the people who did the hard work before me and instead to take their experience and build on it.

Whatever you do professionally, people before you -even if you've never met them- helped to pave the way. Whether it is challenges in launching a new product, reaching a new audience, dealing with a tough employee or a challenging vendor.. To truly be smart about your job and make the "new way" and new tools successful you need to learn from and respect the work that has been done ahead of you.

As we reflect on the sacrifices of others this Memorial Day, think about how you can do it every day, whatever you do.

SXSW Summary: It’s all about the people

2011-03-24T16:10:00.003-04:00

This year was my first visit to SXSW Interactive, the annual tech and social media geek convention (wait, is it marketed differently than this?) in Austin, Texas that overlaps with an amazing film and equally amazing festival. I have been to a lot of conferences in the past ten years, but this one was definitely less about the presentation content (although some of that was good too) and more about the people you meet and the conversations you have.

Part of team’s mission at “South By,” as it’s known among the SXSW veterans, was to interview interesting people on the state of social media marketing and email marketing for small businesses. We got lots of great interviews, but here are 4 of my favorites. Enjoy!
(I have more content related summaries on social media marketing and monitoring for small businesses that you can check out on the Constant Contact Blog here, here, and here.)

3 Pieces of Market Research Advice from the Client Side

2011-03-19T08:52:00.000-04:00

After spending over 10 years working primarily on the supplier side of the client/supplier relationship it is a very different view I am experiencing now. Especially as it pertains to working with market research firms, I have three Observations that I feel the need to share and offer as advice to my supplier side friends.

1) Ask questions when you get an RFP, even if you know the business.
The fact is that RFPs while well intentioned, can not possibly explain the entire situation that has led to a market research project. Amd even more importantly, they are not always as fully thought out as suppliers might assume. By asking a few questions before you write a proposal you are investing in you chance to win, building rapport, making it possible to have creative ideas, and confirming your assumptions. All important pieces to winning and successfully executing a project.

2) Don't show mostly numbers in a qualitative presentation.
Honestly, I can't believe this even needs to be in here but giving percentages with small sample sizes of largely qualitative data (or even more importantly sub sets of that sample) is extremely dangerous. First of all it presents directional data as representative. Second, it distorts the value of the qualitative findings. And third, to those in the know it makes you seem like you don't understand market research. Suppliers need to understand that slides and charts get passed around out of context and people latch on to the numbers. In short, protect internal clients from themselves and their colleagues by making sure what people think they are reading is actually what is being shown.

3) If you have to explain how to read a chart, don't use it.
Building on the last point, suppliers need to present slides that can stand alone I need be and anything requiring instruction is dangerous and begging for misinterpretation. If a point I'd worth making, it's worth making simply.

There is No “Wrong Way” to Do Social

2011-01-17T08:06:00.001-05:00

I often hear people who are into social media talk about how their friends or colleagues or competitors are “doing social wrong.” But unless you are running scams or spamming, is there really a “wrong way” to do social? Certainly there are more and less effective ways to achieve your business goals using social media and there are lots of great tools and resources out there to help you get on your way, but saying someone is doing it wrong implies that everyone has the same goals and that there is only one way to be successful in attaining them.
For example, here are three completely valid business objectives that require very different social techniques to achieve them. (Note: I haven’t included “building a large following” as a business goal. In my opinion it’s not, it is merely a means to an end.”)

Drive increased foot traffic from existing customers [Activate your Network]: For many businesses, especially small businesses, driving increased foot traffic from the people who already know and like you is the difference between failure, modest success, and overwhelming success. In this case, encouraging people who already visit you in person or online to become fans or followers and then providing them with timely, frequent, and valuable messages or promotions that they can capitalize on by coming in will keep you top of mind and bring people back to you sooner than they might normally do otherwise.
Drive increased web traffic [Grow your Influence]: For many businesses, social media is a great way to help increase search engine rankings and capture new leads. A strategy of this type is all about content generation, creating interesting articles or blog posts or videos that will draw people you don’t know to your web site rather than having to go out and find them yourself. And because search engines love new content, posting often on the same topics relevant to your business will help you achieve your “inbound marketing” goals.
Better understand the competition [Inform Yourself]: For many businesses, social media offers a way to keep a close eye on what other people are doing. Whether it is keeping up with industry news, tracking your competitors, or listening to thought leaders in the areas that matter to you social media (Twitter in my case) can help you follow the all stars in your field and filter the information most relevant to you and your business from the sea of material posted online.

The truth is that you know your business better than anyone else does and it’s up to you to decide what your objectives are and the right or wrong way to do social for your business. Don’t worry about what everyone else is saying.

Three obligatory and quick marketing predictions for 2011

2010-12-31T14:02:00.000-05:00

As a blogger, I feel like I have no choice but to write a predictions post for 2011. Or at least what I hope will happen in 2011! So here are three things I see sitting right here, waiting to happen.

1) Data integration reaches a tipping point: whether it's the combination of internal and external behavioral data, social media and primary research data, or even just sales and marketing data, it is time for departments to break down the walls and share what they know and work together to make smart decisions based on that data.

2) Real time will become more real. As with the DVR and the touch screen before it, much of the talk about real time data access was years ahead of the reality. Pushed in part by the real time nature of social media and it's explosion, but also by the true integration between marketing, sales, and support systems, real time is becoming a reality at more and more companies. And your internal and external customers are beginning to expect more in terms if timeliness and access. Act accordingly and make sure you can deliver!

3) Social media reaches it's toddler stage. While there are certainly lots of people who have gotten a strong sense of what works and does not work for their brands in social media, companies of all sizes will continue to get smarter. With more case studies documented, a growing number of people will start from an informed place and evolve their strategies to support their business goals instead of acting with the goal of building a large (and often irrelevant) following.

A warning to my readers, the subject of this blog has shifted a bit towards marketing and social media and away from market research. I'll still touch on research but in a less direct way. I hope you will still come along!

Six Take-Aways From This Year’s Market Research Event

2010-12-06T10:59:00.000-05:00

Last month I attended The Market Research Event, my favorite market research conference of the year. It lived up to expectations once again and six things keep bouncing around my head as I reflect back on it.

1. The innovation conversation is focused on qualitative and distribution: Judging by session attendance and the nominations for the EXPLOR and NGMR Disruptive Innovator awards, the vast majority of innovation is coming in the form of qualitative research methodologies and information distribution. This is being driven by the continuing emergence of technology first companies into the market research space, as opposed to new entries using traditional ideas and techniques. This new life in the industry is a good thing for sure, but getting from cool technology to useful insights is easier said than done and those who don’t understand the end goal of what researchers are trying to accomplish will likely fail.

2. Quantitative topics aren’t sexy: There was not much talk of advancements in quantitative research, and most quantitative topics focused on the simplification of surveys and necessary analytical trade-offs associated with them. Particularly jarring for any quant. researchers in attendance was a keynote session that centered around the fact that stated importance is no longer a good metric and that MaxDiff was a better choice. This was jarring simply because many firms have long since adopted this methodology and, at least at CMB, moved on to things like Anchored MaxDiff and Adaptive Discrete Choice to increase the reliability of results.

3. Selling insights internally and empowering employees is key to success: There was a lot of interesting talk of broader use of technology to share insights within and beyond the corporate office. Smart companies are using insights to enable a wide array of decisions at the corporate level and empower employees at all levels. CMB’s client from Avis Budget Group, Becky Alseth, showed how they are using the Voice of the Customer program to empower local managers to make improvements and Bill Hoffman from Best Buy showed how they gather insights from employees on the front lines and drive better one to one service at retail.

4. Facebook is changing the game, and they aren’t even the ones doing lots of the changing. The Facebook platform allows companies to interact with their customer and prospects in different ways and smart companies are figuring out the best way to leverage it for insights and engagement. For example, Linda Ashbrook from Taco Bell shared how they have been creating private pages to essentially build temporary research panels that last 2-3 months and focus on a particular part of their target market. This allows them to run what I would call an online bulletin board on steroids that provides daily insight and when they are done with the topic, close it down instead of keeping an MROC alive indefinitely. And as long as the experience is good, Facebook is all for it. Smart, innovative, cost effective. I love it.

5. Media measurement is evolving beyond only Nielsen. Jim Multari from Sprout, PBS’ network focused on providing great content via multiple platforms for kids ages 2-4, shared how they used a variety of methods to prove their value to advertisers prior to signing on as Nielsen tracked entity. Combing Omniture, set-top box data, TiVo data, their own community, and more allowed them to paint a picture that focused on the extent to which they were engaging kids and parents and sell based on value not volume as they grew. Even now, as a Nielsen tracked company, they rely on this mix of data sources to sell against competitors with broader reach in the market. Again, very smart way prove value beyond the traditional industry currency.

6. Engaging the internal organization is still the key to research success. CMB client, Bob Biancamano from Ameriprise Financial focused his strategic segmentation story on the internal challenges he faced and how to attack them in a way that builds buy in, not dismissal. From embracing past segmentations to making the results obviously valuable to different areas of the organization, Bob showed how they overcame key challenges with some thoughtful planning to provide both a practical and holistic view that enabled Ameriprise to change their focus from their agents to their customers. Not revolutionary, but effective. Even with all of the evolutionary approaches, it is more important than ever to understand and engage the users of market research insights.

All in all, The Market Research Event was a hit and it is clear that an evolution is happening in our industry. And as clients and providers get younger and more nimble (and less reliant on traditional methods) we are sure to see more changes by this time next year and into the future.

What was that iTunes social network again? Three problems with Apple’s Ping

2010-10-25T15:44:00.000-04:00

When something called "Ping" showed up in my iTunes a few weeks ago, I have to say I was intrigued. As someone very willing to engage in social media and a full fledged music junkie, it seemed like something perfect for me. But as the weekend and subsequent weeks rolled on I could not think of any reason to get involved. Much like Facebook Places or the Microsoft Zune, sometimes being late to market can make a potentially superior offering completely undesirable. Here are three reasons that I think Ping will go the way of Google Wave... A good idea with a short, modest shelf life.

1) I am already up to date on the bands that I love. Between email lists, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter I already have access to the bands that I love. I know of advanced tickets from Martin Sexton. I see live recordings from the Derek Trucks Band. I see where Guns n Roses is currently playing. I know when my cousin’s band The Yes Way has new tracks coming out. In short, Ping tries to solve a problem I don’t have.

2) It feels too iTunes centric. Ping feels like its goal is to get me to buy more music… through iTunes. It doesn’t feel like an engagement platform and is only about following big name bands. Sure, Ping makes it easy to buy more Soundgarden tracks, but it make me feel any closer to the band or its fans at all.

3) Simple saturation. As more and more social networks pop up, even a social media junkie like me can only do so much. There has to be a really good reason for me add something new to the mix and there needs to be value that I am not getting anywhere else. And even if I did find Ping useful for myself, my current social graph is unlikely to get on board. I like to talk music with friends and suggest new bands, but I can already do that without Ping.

Am I missing something here? Is the power of Apple enough to keep it alive and kicking? Time will tell. But if I am hard pressed to find a reason to get engaged, I can’t imagine many people are jumping into the world of Ping.

3 Takeaways from the Inbound Marketing Summit for Market Researchers

2010-10-08T15:58:00.001-04:00

I spent two days this week at the Inbound Marketing Summit and have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. As an avid podcast/webcast viewer, I am not sure how much new I learned (except the brilliance of unmarketing’s Scott Stratten), but as someone who works in the market research, and more broadly professional services industry, I had three big takeaways.

1. As an industry, most marketers in the professional services world are behind the times. Marketing today needs to not only support sales, but bring in leads and play an active role in engaging buyers, partners, and potential employees. It is no longer enough to simply put out an e-newsletter, stand in your booth at some conferences, and make up some pretty collateral. Smart marketers are producing regular sharable content, participating in discussions, and using their position as a company learning post.

2. Corporate marketers are talking about measurement, but not market research. Granted this was a conference about Inbound Marketing, but there was lots of talk about marketing data and algorithms but virtually no talk about market research. There are so many trackable data points available to marketers that market research data is only one input. Smart market research firms are integrating multiple data sources to tell a complete story.

3. Content is king – and market research results are a great way to build it. As consumers get more and more savvy, corporate marketers are using market research data as proof points for their value propositions. As market researchers, there is a need to balance telling the “right story” with the “story the client wants to tell.” In most cases, these are one in the same but before engaging in any project for marketing/PR use it is really important to set the right expectations with the client so there are no misunderstandings once the data comes in.

5 Facts from a new report on Social Sharing

2010-10-01T08:37:00.002-04:00

Earlier this week, my friend Jeff McKenna and I released a new Chadwick Martin Bailey Consumer Pulse report about why, how, and what people share content online. As a social media junkie, this was research close to my heart. And I love being able to add a “voice of the people” to the results from the chats iModerate conducted as part of the research.

Below are five of my favorite findings from this research.

75% of people are somewhat / highly likely to share content they like online
For 18-34, email & Facebook are used similarly for social sharing, for 35+ email is dominant
31% of people who share do it to generate thoughtful ideas or discussion
32% of people have shared coupons and discounts in the past 3 months
Only 10% of people who share online content are less likely to share branded content

Doing it Right: Three Great Marketing Moves From GEICO

2010-09-03T14:51:00.000-04:00

In the past few weeks I have found myself very impressed with GEICO’s marketing group, seeing excellent ads in a variety of places I didn’t expect. It’s a great example of using multiple channels in different, appropriate ways.

1. The Fantasy Focus Podcast: While many brands lament the slow demise of radio, GEICO has inserted itself into the podcasting world and changed the way advertising has been done (at least that I have seen.) I am a fantasy sports guy and listen daily to ESPN’s Fantasy Focus Podcast. In addition to sponsoring the podcasts’ listener only league (usually called the Man’s League, now called the GEICO Cave Man’s League) they have developed an interruption strategy that is short, but effective.

Part way through the podcast a car horn sounds three times with a short sponsor message. The horn grabs my attention and the message is short and sweet (at the 14:30 minute mark). “You’ve been listening to the Fantasy Focus Podcast, visit Geico.com today see how much you can save on your car insurance” followed be a triple horn to close the segment. Good work. Noticeable interruption without painful intrusion.

2. NHL 2K11 Lite Version: Earlier this week I downloaded the free version of 2K Sports’ NHL game for my iPhone to see if I liked it before plopping down the 6.99 for the entire game. In any free version there are banner ads at the bottom of the screen but this one was different. Before heading into the game itself there was a short, appropriate GEICO ad. The Geico Gecko appears on a blank sheet of ice with the logo in the background, fires two slapshots, stickhandles a bit and the ad ends. No words, very short, impactful.

3. The Little Piggy Commercial: This one just makes me laugh. But it’s also been passed around Facebook widely and is getting the brand mentioned in places it never would otherwise. Proving the point that people don’t care if content is branded, they’ll share anything funny on Facebook and turn an Insurance ad into a conversation piece.

Making Market Research Data More Accessible

2010-08-05T11:51:00.000-04:00

We (Chadwick Martin Bailey, with help from Steven P. Dennis and iModerate Research Technologies) just released a new report on how to engage consumers in today’s economy (download for free here) and one of the cool features is that we have used Tableau Public to share much of the data from the study with anyone who wants it. Using this tool, it is really easy to look at specific sub-groups or product categories on their own.
Obviously you couldn’t do this with a custom project (although I believe the paid version can make the data private), but this is another case of using technology to make market research data more accessible (and thus more useful) to non-researchers than ever before. Check it out, its Better Research Blog approved!

You may know me, but I don’t know you

2010-07-28T08:55:00.000-04:00

In my last blog post about sellers and buyers making the process easier, I really wanted to include a story about a recent sales call – or series of calls rather that I received as a case in what not to do if you want to successfully cold call a business prospect (name and company changed to protect the guilty). I am paraphrasing, but it went a little like this.

Voicemail 1: “Hi Josh, my name is George and I am calling from awesomeweb, a local design firm specializing in thought leadership based websites and I would like to talk to you about your website and how we might be able to help you increase your search engine power.”

One week later:

Voicemail 2: “Hi Josh, this is George calling from awesomeweb again. I left you a message last week and was hoping to talk to you about how we might be able to help with your web design needs.”

One week later:

Voicemail 3: “Hey Josh. George from awesomeweb. Give me a call.”

George started off well enough, but made a criminal mistake as he moved along. He was becoming more and more familiar in his tone without ever speaking to me. So, let’s assume I quickly deleted his first voice mail because I was in a bad mood (sorry, it happens), thus making no impression on me. The second one I might have half heard while collecting voice mails from my mobile device, but again it didn’t really register because I wasn’t in the market and get quite a few messages every day. So, for all intents and purposes the third message is still making that all important first impression and all that I heard was: “Hey Josh. George from awesomeweb. Give me a call.”

Certainly I would prefer if the Georges of the world did not call me over and over again, but having sold in the past I understand that it can be necessary and beneficial to keep calling in hopes of at least qualifying or disqualifying me as a prospect. Would it have been so hard to give the full pitch each time? Would it have been a challenge to try three different messages in hopes of one resonating?

The big takeaway: Sales and marketing professionals need to remember that every impression may be a first impression and act accordingly. Put your best foot forward until you have concluded that no opportunity exists and then walk away gracefully.

You Like Food? Wait Tables. Buy for a Living? Try Selling

2010-07-26T16:42:00.000-04:00

As a regular buyer of business technology and services I am continually shocked at some of the mistakes made by people trying to sell to me. And while I understand how many of the mistakes happen having done the job and read numerous selling books and white papers on the topic, many of those people I encounter would be far more successful if they made a few minor changes by thinking from the buyer perspective.

The truth is that anyone who sells any product or service should spend some time on the buying side and anyone who buys should take a turn selling. Or as I always say to anyone who likes to eat out at restaurants, spend some time waiting tables and you'll quickly learn how to get better service and appreciate the value of the slight over tip.

Sticking with the dining out metaphor, here are three tips to make buying and selling easier for everyone:

1. Create a comfortable environment: Remember that your job is not to “sell me something,” it is to help the buyer buy. The odds are pretty good that I know my business better than you do and I certainly know what I like. Your role is to make it easy for me to get what I want or need and make the experience as enjoyable as possible.

2. State your allergies up front: I’ll never understand why so many buyers of goods and services refuse to give away details that can help someone provide you with better service. Allergic to fish? Hate Cilantro? Have a small budget? Bidding against the incumbent? All of this critical information helps a seller’s ability to provide you with appropriate recommendations and avoid confusion. If you want someone to be open with you, you need to start by being open with them.

3. Don’t blame the kitchen: Sometimes thing go wrong on both sides, most reasonable people understand this fact and are willing to accept it. If sellers stand up and take responsibility for getting it fixed, you’ll begin building a trusting relationship and create a happy buyer instead of passing blame to some faceless entity. Deflecting blame only makes buyers wonder if they are dealing with the right person or if there is someone more equipped to handle the purchase.

Au Contraire eMarketer: Social Media Does Impact the B2B Sales Process

2010-06-15T17:11:00.006-04:00

In today’s edition of eMarketer there is an article stating that most business to business referrals from social sites are uninterested in products and services. The article, however, goes on to state that visitors from Facebook were most likely to check out a company’s “about” page or blog posts.

As a B2B services marketer those are exactly the desired effects of social media that feed our sales process. While it would be great if potential clients saw something we posted on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook and rushed to buy a project from my firm, the reality is that our sales process is not short or direct. Our value proposition is made up of the smarts, personalities, and creativity of our people and our sales cycle can take months (and occasionally years.)

Barring the rare immediate project opportunity, our goal is to drive prospects to the elements of our site that let us different ourselves – the blog, the about us, the leadership team, etc. and encourage prospects to contact us or at a minimum provide us with their information. For B2B services providers like CMB, there are five main components to the sales process, 3 of which are supported by social media.

Raise awareness of the fact that we exist and the types of work that we do (social media, conferences, new business development, etc.)
Make the fact that we are real and worth talking to self evident through “thought leadership” and introductory conversations (articles, blog posts, in-depth conversations, case studies, presentations)

Identify and propose on an opportunity to conduct a project (often a marketing exercise unto itself)
If we win, execute beautifully on a given project
Find reasons to thoughtfully stay in touch with clients and prospects other than “hey, you got any work for us?” (articles, case studies, presentations, self-funded research, blog posts, social media.)

So, while the report eMarketer is citing may not be great news for b2b marketers focused on quick transactions, it tells the story of why people in my position love using social media to drive our business.

Read more of my posts on the CMB blog at: http://blog.cmbinfo.com/?Tag=josh+mendelsohn

Praising A Panel Company (It Pains Me)

2010-05-21T09:18:00.007-04:00

I spend a lot of time in this blog taking panel companies to task, but I really liked and appreciated what I saw in this new video from Toluna. They are thinking from a panelist perspective (at least in this video) and what makes it worthwhile to be part of the Toluna community. Nice work.

How Geo-Targeting is Affecting Customer Loyalty Programs

2010-05-20T09:22:00.002-04:00

Originally posted at the CMB Research Blog

Recently I have been playing around with Foursquare, the geo-targeting based social media application that allows me to "check in" at certain locations, share my "check in" with friends via Twitter and Facebook, and earn "badges" based on how much I use it. I'll be honest, as a consumer I don't fully get it (yet). But as a marketer in 2010 I want to understand where things are going and be able to speak to them as they relate to our clients. And with this week's eMarketer report that 53% of mobile app users are willing to share their locations, there is no question that there is a huge opportunity for brands to utilize this technology.

Certainly geo-targeting is not for everyone, but some major brands are going beyond mobile ads and jumping in to help increase the impact of their loyalty programs and reward their best customers in real-time. And as many companies seek to evolve their loyalty programs in the "new economy," it's key to understand if your target customers are interested in being marketed to and rewarded in this way and where there is an opportunity to serve them.
Here are three examples of companies who have made significant steps to engage via mobile, geo-based applications and go beyond just geo-based ads.

1. Pepsi's Pepsi Loot program
PepsiCo is in the process of launching Pepsi Loot, an iPhone app that utilizes geo-targeting for consumers to find nearby restaurants that serve their beverages. The app and Pepsi Loot program is designed to engage customers at key partners like national chains including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Arby's and Panda Express as well as at individual restaurants with Pepsi contracts, Schelling says.

"It's all about how you engage with consumers, and it's all about how consumers are living their lives," Margery Schelling, chief marketing officer for PepsiCo Foodservice, told Marketing Daily. "I don't know any consumers who aren't traveling around with their phones." "It's a big equalizer," she says. "It's bringing a lot of awareness to some of our smaller partners." (Read more at MediaPost)

2. Starbucks discounts for Foursquare Mayors
Earlier this week Starbucks announced that they will be giving discounts to Foursquare "mayors" at their locations. (For the uninitiated, Every time you check-in to a location, foursquare keeps track of your activity if you are the most frequent visitor to a location, you will become the mayor of that location. As mayor, you may be entitled to a variety of freebies.)

While Starbucks was already giving away "badges" to their mayors, this new promotion takes the testing of foursquare as a marketing tool to another level with real rewards by identifying and rewarding their most loyal customers with a discount. In turn, it could spark increased visits by those seeking the discount and the "mayor" status. (Read more at Mashable.)

3. Tasti-Lite's TastiRewards
A few months ago, Tasti D-Lite, the frozen dessert chain popular in New York, took a huge step forward with its social media rewards program, TastiRewards. The program is pretty simple and incentivizes customers to associate their Twitter and Foursquare accounts with their Tasti D-Lite membership cards.

Customers could already use their TreatCards to earn rewards points based on their purchases, but those that opt in to the social media bonuses earn additional points automatically. And as a promotional vehicle, Tasti D-Lite updates the customers' Twitter and Foursquare accounts each time their card is swiped and points are earned or redeemed. (Read more at Mashable)

More than ever brands need to understand how to take advantage of social media, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, customer forums, and newer geo-based options like Foursquare and Gowalla. The opportunities to enhance traditional marketing/customer engagement strategies are growing by the day but the landscape for each brand and segment is different. This requires constant learning and testing, but market research is a key component as well.

So while most "social media research" is focused on counting and sentiment analysis, conducting primary research about social media is also becoming a must. Whether it's the sole purpose of the project or you are just building modules about social media into future segmentation, brand, and customer experience research, you need to understand how your customers are engaging and to what extent they are willing to engage with you and what they want or expect in return.

The Life of a Research Panelist: Invitations Count

2010-05-14T16:20:00.005-04:00

One of my first posts on this blog was about the way online research panels bombard panelists with requests to participate in research. It seemed like I was being invited to take part in surveys that were not relevant and getting these invitations at an alarming rate.

How companies treat panelists came to my mind again last week as I listed to speakers at the Social Media and Community Strategies 2.0 Conference. It seemed like as a research panelist I was only treated as product, not as a part of a community where I had any real control over my own experience.

After tweeting out the question “do panel companies think of their panelists as customers?” (I received a nice reply from iTracks saying that they do and I have no reason to dispute it.) There is no doubt an opportunity to get more engagement and insight from people who have agreed to be a part of your panel. Or at least to better understand my preferences as a panelist, but instead I just get requests to take a survey… and requests… and requests… 120 in all from one company in a week. 120!

As an industry, the market research community often talks about panelist and data quality. Every company has rules for how many responses they will take from a panelist, but clearly the rules do not apply with invitations. The ramifications for market research as a brand are huge. By inviting me to irrelevant surveys I am less likely to respond that those are relevant. I am less likely to feel good about my involvement in research on the whole. And I am less likely (as a business person) to trust the data I am getting. It’s a simple issue that needs to be addressed.

And until then I have 120 surveys to complete so I can get some points I’ll never redeem.

(The conference was great by the way, read a summary here)

The internal questionnaire

2010-05-06T17:02:00.003-04:00

My last post was about how we conducted internally feedback and a few people asked if they could see the actual questionnaire. As I said, it is far from perfect, but it got us moving in the right direction!

What is your role in the company?
- Executive
- Project manager
-Research associate
-Admin/Finance/IT
-Senior consultant/director
-Business development
-Other
0-10 agree/disagree scale: On the whole, the marketing team is doing its part to help its CMB internal customers to meet/exceed their goals
Why do you rate the marketing team that way? (open end)
0-10 agree/disagree scale: The marketing team follows through on requests quickly and thoroughly
Why do you rate the marketing team that way? (open end)
0-10 agree/disagree scale: The marketing team delivers work of the highest quality
Why do you rate the marketing team that way? (open end)
Overall, has the marketing team improved from 2008 to 2009? Yes/No/don’t know
Where do you see room for improvement? (open end)
What do you think the marketing team should be doing that it is not currently? (open end)
What element of the marketing team’s role do you think is most valuable to the company? (open end)

Taking the Medicine: Setting an Internal Benchmark for Effectiveness

2010-04-26T17:06:00.005-04:00

It recently occurred to me that since starting my current role over a year ago I have revamped the entire marketing infrastructure in my organization – from technology, to strategy, to staff, to measurement. Over the next few months I’ll be posting on a lot of those changes – both in terms of why and how we did it – and offer tips for people looking to put the same principles to work in their companies.

Today’s topic is a simple one – establishing an internal benchmark for effectiveness/ performance.

Background
The marketing function in a small-medium sized company like mine can be very different than what people thinking of as “marketing” in a large organization. Traditionally marketers play a sales support role and defer to content experts on the substance of all communications. This makes it very hard to truly measure the success of a group.

So while many of the changes we have made are designed to make it easier to measure success, I knew that there was a lot to learn from our internal clients as well. After all, I see our role in two ways: 1) to help our internal business units meet their goals; and 2) to continually produce and leverage content that builds credibility and awareness among key audiences.

Execution
Doing research among researchers is always a dicey proposition. They score lower, they critique questions instead of just answering them, and they prefer closed ended questions to open-ended ones. (And I probably would have been run out of the building if I used something as user friendly as Survey Monkey.)

Using this criteria, I designed a short questionnaire (see below) to deploy internally using a mix of closed and ended questions that were important to me. And what I got back was extremely useful.

With a response rate of over 60% I was able to look at perceptions of our work by company role and get suggestions for how we could do better. And as we continue to review the data and comments, we can put more pieces into place to help meet the needs of our internal clients. Equally important, we have another valuable way to measure our progress at this point next year.

From a research standpoint this was far from a perfect methodology. But that doesn’t make it any less valid or useful in helping me do my job. There are changes we will make in the 2011 version, but I now know how my team is perceived what to do about it.

Action
Armed with this information we made three immediate changes. 1) We met with the team leaders to understand how we could better support their sales efforts and make sure they knew about all of the resources that currently exist. 2) We upped our internal communication of the activities we were undertaking. Using a mix of both electronic and printed we made our activities hard to miss rather than hard to know about. 3) Finally, we are building a plan to engage more people in our content generation initiatives.

The Big Takeaway: Take the initiative to measure your progress in a way that will be useful to you today and build for the future.

A For Honesty, F for Marketing

2010-03-24T09:13:00.001-04:00

“WE WILL NOW BE CLOSED ON SUNDAYS DUE TO LACK OF CUSTOMERS”

That is what the sign said in the window of a new barber shop around the corner from my house when I walked by with my dog last week. It’s a sign that has stuck with me since seeing it, even though it was gone by the time I came back the next morning.

The message is clear – they feel like they aren’t making any money on Sundays because they have no one coming in, which may be true. I have no problem with the concept, but as a marketer it pains me when I see a better solution to a situation than this. Here is the situation…

The barber shop opened less than three months ago

There was no banner or otherwise attention grabbing sign outside to announce its opening (just one door down from a hair salon I might add).

They were open 7 days a week.

I never received an announcement about their opening or why I should go there and only knew about it because it is on my morning walk.

Nothing stated above is that out of the ordinary, so maybe it is unfair to pick on this new local business. But at the same time, there is no magic to getting customers to try your business or understanding whether it is good or bad for you to be open on a Sunday. In fact, it seems that being open on a Sunday would be a competitive advantage.

Three simple tips for local businesses:

Take the time to put flyers in the mailboxes of the neighborhoods you expect to draw from. They should announce your opening, your location, and the products/services you provide.

If you have a competitive advantage, make sure people know. In this case, make a big deal about being open on Sundays or specializing in child haircuts. Perhaps offer a discount for the second child.

Before you act rashly, give it time. Once people know you exist they may need to wait for the opportunity to use your services.

Or even simpler, model yourself after the new pizza delivery place that just opened near us. The shop offered a free large pizza promotion (pick up only), has a good product, and is now on the short list of places we’ll considering ordering from. It really is that simple some times.

The continued rise of visualization in market research

2010-03-23T08:19:00.003-04:00

Much to the chagrin of my number loving colleagues, one of the things that always perks up prospective clients is the fact that my firm, Chadwick Martin Bailey, has a graphic designer on staff to help make reports easier on the eyes. (Chagrin is too strong a word, they just wish that advanced analytics perked prospects up more!) Clients love this because it means less work for them after a report is delivered and shows a commitment to making sure deliverables are easy to share internally.

As we move more and more towards increased visualization – and interactivity of research data, I have been having fun playing with some of the interactive tools available online for free. Fast company had a great write-up recently of some of the new offerings from Google, Tableau and others.

Play around and let me know what you think has the most potential. As a Fantasy Football junkie, I particularly enjoyed this one in Tableau Public. (or see it more clearly here.)

Why Brand Tracking Should Include Experiences (incl. Social Media)

2010-03-11T09:28:00.003-05:00

Brand tracking research usually focuses on how customers and prospects get brand impressions through market communications. However, research shows that once a person begins interacting with a brand, their actual experiences have a far greater impact on their perceptions and likelihood to shop, buy, or recommend.

Too often companies' brand tracking research doesn't account for this dynamic in any significant way, thus missing the opportunity to tell a more complete story. That's why I believe that the most effective brand tracking research incorporates both:

Impact of the Brand: The extent to which market communications are delivering the most compelling brand promises; and

Impact of Experience: The extent to which people's experiences at every touch point (e.g., the product, the store/purchase, personnel, problem resolution) match up with what the brand led them to expect

So where does social media fall into the equation? Obviously social media has both a brand element and an experience element. To keep things simple, I look at social media as another very important touch point. One that can impact people's perceptions and behaviors that is not under the "controlled" communications umbrella.

While it isn't possible (or advisable) to dive into great detail about experiences in your brand tracking, measuring both communications and experiences within the same research enables the findings to be very specific about the changes you can make to acquire and retain more customers. And it enables marketing resources to be spent more efficiently by detecting and diagnosing areas of the customers' experiences that could undermine even the most effective branding work.

Below is a great example of how bad experiences can undermine your best branding efforts. Enjoy!

Originally posted on the CMB Research Blog

Data, Processes Pose Challenges for Marketers: 3 Steps Towards Improvement

2010-03-08T09:09:00.003-05:00

If you missed the recent CMB webinar on The Marketing Performance Advantage conducted with our friends at CMG Partners, one of the top challenges facing marketers we discussed was a perceived lack of the right data or processes to make informed key decisions.

In fact, 40% of the 400+ businesses we interviewed saw getting the right data as a challenge that needed addressing:

"We don't really have a formal insight gathering process"
"We're not sure what the right data is and the data gathered is not trusted"

Furthermore, many marketers struggle to connect the data they do have from market research and internal systems to their current decision making process or to the rest of the organization:

"We don't often tie the results of surveys to action plans"
"We don't have senior level buy-in due to the lack of hard data results against programs"
"It is difficult to find talent who can think strategically and manipulate data"
"Each department works independently and does not team together"

"The process takes too long to implement any findings"

So, what can these companies do? For starters:

1) Get on the same page. For change to take place you need to understand the perceptions and needs of your internal stakeholders. Whether that is through a formal internal questionnaire, running workshops, or one on one discussions, it is essential that those stakeholders understand what information is available and how to use it. They also need to know what improvements you plan to make to better meet their or your needs.

2) Run a measurement audit. To address any concerns about data quality or timing you need to have a handle on everything that is being measured and why. There may be cost efficiencies you are missing, or areas that are unintentionally uncovered. There also may be more useful ways to gather and share your data.

3) Create a champion. Even if you don't have a formal research/insights position, it is essential to have someone who is a resource in terms of knowing what is available and how the pieces fit together. This champion can help you bridge the interdepartmental gaps and prioritize initiatives aimed at improvement.

Want to learn more? Read the Advertising Age CMO Strategy Article: Why Measurement Alone Will Not Improve Marketing .

Originally posted at the CMB Research Blog

Olympic Research: Sponsors and Non-Sponsors Seeing Success

2010-02-19T08:40:00.009-05:00

I love the Winter Olympics - from curling to hockey to freestyle skiing to the biathlon. And of course, I am always fascinated by the sponsors and the fees those sponsors pay to be involved.

When we looked at the impact of Super Bowl ads on people's propensity to go online and learn more, big ticket sports advertising didn't seem worth it. But this week's research on the Olympics told a different story as not only were people aware of the sponsorships, they saw significant brand benefits (read more in the article at MediaPost).

The other interesting note was that many competing brands were also getting lifted by sponsorships. Maybe its a side effect of the fact that Verizon and AT&T (for example) are so embedded in one another's commercials but certainly everyone is benefiting from perceived Olympic affiliation.

How Twitter Can Save You Customers

2010-02-18T08:48:00.003-05:00

Today on the Research Brief Blog, Genesys, with Greenfield Online and Datamonitor/Ovum analysts, estimated that U.S. companies lose an estimated $83 billion each year due to defections and abandoned purchases as a direct result of a poor experience.

More and more often customer experiences are not a face to face or even face to phone interaction. Often times it is web-based or through social media. Making sure these interactions are in alignment with your brand has never been more important. And it has never more important to measure social media within your customer satisfaction and loyalty research programs.

When conducting customer satisfaction research we have always spent a lot of time putting the customer experience in context of the brand and making sure the two are aligned. More and more this involves understanding alignment and use of social media from both a marketing perspective (what most companies are doing) and a customer service perspective (what smart service organizations are doing.)

I’ll give you a first hand example of the power of Twitter customer service.

Last week my home wireless network stopped working. After the tears, the violent shaking, and deep depression subsided I called my provider to see what the problem was. They sent a “refresh signal” to my cable modem and said to wait 15 minutes to see if it worked. Well, it didn’t. But I was watching something on TV and concluded that because I could still connect with a hard wire, the router was the problem. When Saturday rolled around I bought a new router and expected the set up process to take about 15 minutes, 3 hours later I was still trying to get everything working.

The last hour and a half plus was spent on hold with my provider, Comcast. I have always defended Comcast in the face of bashing, having never personally had a bad experience. But this was maddening. In truth, I didn’t know if they could help me at all. It could have been the router, but I wasn’t sure. I just figured I would start there and move on.

But starting there ended up meaning 90 minutes on hold. Possibly longer, as I never actually spoke to anyone except a billing contact I wound up with 10 minutes in when I was quickly put back on hold. At the 100 minute mark I tweeted a complaint and was well on my way to joining the legions of Comcast bashers.

“Just made the 100 minute mark holding for Comcast customer support. Awesome.”

I was just venting, but very quickly I received a direct message from someone named @ComcastBill asking if he could help. With nothing to lose I responded and after a few messages back and forth he was looking into the problem. His second suggestion (try taking the battery out of the modem) did the trick and within minutes I was on my way.

I quickly thanked him, both directly and publicly for saving my day – and here I am writing about him now. By proactively seeing my complaint and acting on it, Comcast was able to make a fan and advocate of me when I was ready to become a loud, obnoxious brand detractor.

Twitter saved me as a customer. So for those companies wondering if investing in social media is worth it? In this case it most definitely was.

1 Topic, 5 Blogs: Why Market Research Professionals Should Embrace DIY Tools

2010-02-16T08:57:00.006-05:00

Welcome to this month's issue of 1 topic, 5 blogs. Todays topic is DIY surveys. Links to my fellow bloggers Bernie Malinoff, Joel Rubinson, Annie Petit and Brandon Bertelsen can be found below.

Since the day I joined the market research industry a decade ago (and much longer I assume), researchers have been yearning for wider use of market research within organizations and the proverbial "seat at the table." And while I fully understand and recognize the concerns that MR professionals have about Do IT Yourself surveys like Survey Monkey and Zoomerang, these tools present the much sought after opportunity for research to be more widely adopted and valued in large companies and more widely used in smaller organizations.

Why are these tools attractive to clients?

One of the driving forces I have seen behind the use of DIY surveys are frustrations with internal and external research organizations. So before shuddering at the thought of someone who has not been trained as a researcher conducting a survey, ask yourself why they would want to do it themselves. Because it is faster? Cheaper? Less of a hassle? Is it a simple question? Are they hands on and want to learn new skills?

Then ask how you can help alleviate their concerns and speak to their needs in a way that makes you a more valuable partner. People like to work with "experts," but not when they make everything more complicated.

Offer bests practices and support, not guidelines

Since the arrival of effective, low cost (or free) survey tools I have read numerous articles, forums, and blog posts dedicated to setting guidelines around their use. Of course, the notion of guidelines tells the user of DIY tools that you think they are an idiot and can't be trusted. Whether intended or not, no professional likes to be told that they can't handle something seemingly simple.

Instead, seek out opportunities to insert yourself in the process by proactively offering support and guidance that essentially says "let me help you help yourself."

Whether you are a supplier or an internal research department, taking a few minutes from your busy day to review a questionnaire or help someone understand the data can go a long way towards building trust and engagement. From basic tips like giving questionnaires the "grandmother test" of understanding and including options beyond what you yourself might consider to offering to be an additional pair of eyes to review (not redo) the questionnaire makes you a partner, not a hindrance.

Embrace change

As with our first two 5 blogs, 1 topic posts on Interactive Surveys and Mobile Research, we as an industry have to embrace change, even if that means allowing others to have greater input or setting aside the tools and techniques we grew up on. As the business world evolves there is more of an opportunity to measure and to use measurement as a change agent within organizations. Acting as experts and facilitators (instead of naysayers) will keep the value of researchers high and the viability of our profession growing, even if it means non-researchers may write a questionnaire once in a while.

To quote Sting: If you love someone (or a particular style of questionnaire design), set them free."

Read the other blogs:

Annie Petit of LoveStats: http://lovestats.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/1-topic-5-blogs-diy-surveys/
Brandon Bertelsen: http://www.bertelsen.ca/market-research/1-topic-5-blogs-diy-surveys

Bernie Malinoff of Element 54: post coming shortly at http://element-54.com/2010/02/1-topic-5-blogs-doing-the-monkey/

Joel Rubinson of the ARF: post coming shortly at http://blog.joelrubinson.net/

Originally posted at http://blog.cmbinfo.com

What the Twitterverse is saying about the Super Bowl

2010-02-05T14:34:00.003-05:00

Here in Boston it has become tough to digest a Super Bowl week without our beloved Patriots involved. Given my love for the food and music of New Orleans and the fact that CMB's President, Anne Bailey Berman is from Louisiana, I'll be wearing black and gold when big event arrives. But what are other people thinking and tweeting about as the "big event" approaches?

Using Voxtrot Opinion (a cool way to monitor and analyze online conversations from our friends at Crimson Hexagon) I looked at what people in the Twitterverse (Twitter users) are talking about this week. The first finding, "the big event" isn't necessarily the game itself. In fact, just 38% of tweets related to the game and the two teams involved (24% in favor of the Saints, 14% in favor of the Colts).

So what else is on the table? From discussions of who is (Focus on the Family featuring Tim Tebow) and who isn't (Pepsi) advertising this year to planning and attending parties to questions about the point spread and halftime performance, there is a wide range of discussion going on as shown below. We'll take a look again on Monday and see if the conversation has changed.

Given the significant interest in super bowl ads, we'll also be releasing research next week not just about what people remembered or liked most (lots of firms do that), but what viewers actually did about it. Did they go online and watch again? Did they visit a website? Post on Facebook? Post on Twitter? Talk about it with friends? Actually buy something? After all, buzz is nice but temporary. Buying and building customer relationships is much more valuable.

And if you're rooting for the Saints like me, here are some great New Orleans musicians to get you in the mood. Anders Osborne, The Meters, Galactic, Stanton Moore Trio, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Shamarr Allen, Paul Sanchez, and Glen David Andrews.

Originally posted at the CMB Blog: blog.cmbinfo.com

Why Domino’s new ads are good for the market research industry

2010-01-25T08:50:00.002-05:00

I love Domino's new ads as both a consumer and someone who works in the market research industry. And before research purists jump down my throat, I know that Domino's new Focus group centric ads seem to show a single focus group, that the information used is merely directional and we'd like to assume that this research is probably part of a bigger study or perhaps even faked for the purposes of the advertising. I also don't know what other techniques were used, nor do I really care that much. What I do care about is the impact of the ads on the "brand" of the industry.

In recent years the industry has come under fire and mocked continuously on televisions (see the office's brilliant customer satisfaction scores episode), so I am excited to see a positive portrayal of what we do and how company's use information to better serve their customers.

In addition to the fact that Domino's has done an excellent job being self-deprecating and recognizing consumer perceptions about their quality, I believe the ads break down three basic negative conceptions of the research industry.

Corporate beliefs that market research isn't actionable

Consumer beliefs that they aren't being listened to (and this people don't want to participate)

Traditional techniques don't work as well as listening to social media and using interactive questions

The video below shows how they have adopted the findings at the highest levels.

What it means for Domino's

Coming off of last year's social media disaster, that painted them as unknowing and unhealthy, Domino's ads are sending a message that says "We hear what people have been saying and we've dealt with it. Now give us a try, you might like us more than you think." I know that they have at least re-entered my consideration set, the first step to becoming a customer and potentially (with some free bread sticks, perhaps) an advocate. As was often muttered in Bill Murray's great 1991 movie "What About Bob?" Domino's is taking baby steps.

Originally posted at blog.cmbinfo.com

1 Topic, 5 Blogs: Mobile Surveys in Market Research

2010-01-15T12:35:00.004-05:00

Originally posted at: blog.cmbinfo.com

The question posed to the group of 5 Bloggers this month was: "Mobile surveys - For/Against, Pros/Cons, Right Situations/Wrong Situations?" Links to my fellow bloggers Annie Pettit, Joel Rubinson, Bernie Malinoff and Brandon Bertelsen can be found below.

Mobile devices are changing the way people interact with brands, each other, and market research. From the reduction of land lines among younger consumers to the prevalence of internet usage via smart phones and the proliferation of text messaging as an option. Below I have laid out some of the factors contributing to the research industry understanding and adopting mobile research as a concept.

1. "Guys, where are we?" - Charlie on ABC's Lost
Three or four years ago there were a plethora of SMS (text-message) based survey tools developed and launched in the market. Many were self serve but simple, others tried to simulate the full traditional survey experience with skip patterns and longer questionnaires. Some were connected to panels (e.g., Greenfield and Market Tools) and others were simply opt-in (e.g., Invoke Solutions).

While all of them gathered great initial interest, none really took off for three primary reasons. 1) The market and use cases were not fully conceived. 2) Client side researchers weren't ready to limit the amount of information they could acquire from respondents and 3) Most of the systems weren't built to connect well with other feedback mechanisms.

In the end, while SMS based surveys received a small amount of adoption (primarily for event feedback), we learned that what was a seemingly simple landscape, one where people were paying to text to vote on American Idol, wasn't exactly what it seemed.

2. "Right now, hey, it's your tomorrow" - Van Halen

While it pains me to quote the Sammy Hagar version of Van Halen, the truth is that the use mobile technology is changing so rapidly that consumer adoption makes today and tomorrow the same, depending on who you ask. For iPhone and other smart phone users, the mobile web is about getting the same functionality as a computer with simpler formatting. For traditional cell phone users, texting is still optimal as mobile browsers are often slow and frustrating. So, what does that mean for researchers?

Be patient. As with all technology adoption, the industry talk is well beyond the average consumers. Most people still do not own the most functional mobile devices and building gen pop. surveys around this functionality would be foolish.

Don't try too hard. One of the upshots of great web browsers on mobile devices is that if people choose, they can complete traditional surveys wherever they are. In fact, many of the progressive interactive research techniques discussed last month can be problematic because flash applications are not available in mobile formats.

3. "The customer is always right" - Stew Leonard's and every other respectable store

Researchers need to let people participate in the way they desire, not the way we desire. For example, when I was at Invoke Solutions we ran a test of a mobile survey asking grocery shoppers to opt-in and answer a few simple questions while shopping. This seemed like a simple, valid idea on paper, however people shopping with kids or carrying groceries had no interest in filling out a survey, even for a small incentive. It was too much hassle. Yet, when we ran a program embedded in a promotional event that had on site fulfillment and a number of people prompting people to participate, we saw success.

4. "We're at the crossroad my dear, where do we go from here?" - Alicia Keys

With all of the potential downsides of mobile research, there are some great opportunities to grow.

Qualitative research via "self-ethnography" or "diaries." Having a device on your person at all times mean you can always record what you are thinking and doing via text, photos, or recordings. A few years ago I saw my friend Rebecca from Dunkin' Brands speak about a program where they had teens record what they were thinking and doing every time they wanted coffee. The information was incredibly deep and useful. At the time they shipped each participant a digital recorder. In today's world they could have simply given them a number to call or text to.
On-site feedback. Promotional events are by their nature participatory experiences and people are willing to give their feedback. In addition, event staff are on site to encourage people to opt-in and handle incentive fulfillment.
Everything else. Consider making every questionnaire as mobile friendly as possible. Consumers treat their devices the same as their computers and you don't want to unintentionally block people from participating. That may mean shorter, less interactive questionnaires that include more open ends.

In all cases, we need to continually put ourselves in respondents' shoes and think "would I fill out this survey?" Just because you can utilize mobile technology doesn't mean that you should. And just because you haven't in the past doesn't mean you can't. It is all about asking yourself what the best solution is for the problem you are facing.

Read the other blogs:

Joel Rubinson of the ARF: post coming shortly at http://blog.joelrubinson.net/

Annie Petit of LoveStats: http://lovestats.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/1topic5blogs-the-only-thing-cell-phone-surveys-are-good-fer/

Bernie Malinoff of Element 54: http://element-54.com/2010/01/1-topic-5-blogs-mobile-surveys/

Brandon Bertelsen: post coming shortly at http://bertelsen.ca/

The Lighter Side of Research: Drambuie Market Test

2010-01-05T15:54:00.005-05:00

As we all know, product testing doesn't always go well. When searching on youtube for videos about market research I stumbled across this wonderful clip testing Drambuie, an herb-flavoured golden scotch whisky, in Australia.

Enjoy!

Research Shows Video Games Are Good For Me

2010-01-04T15:44:00.007-05:00

When I was younger I used to make the case to my mother that playing video games was good for me. Turns out people are starting to agree!

My firm, Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB), recently conducted research and found that 59% of Americans were contemplating making a resolution to lose weight. The difference this year is their approach.

While the majority (41%) still plan to lace up their running shoes and pound the pavement, there is a growing trend of consumers turning to interactive fitness products to shed those extra pounds, all without leaving the comfort of their home. In fact, more Americans said they plan to use an interactive fitness solution like EA SPORTS Active™ or Wii Fit™ (13%) rather than purchasing traditional fitness equipment (6%) or joining a traditional diet program like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or NutriSystem (5%). Read more here...

To me this isn't shocking at all. As time crunches increase and the complexity of the fitness games increases, this is becoming a ver viable option. Wii Fit was fun, but EA Sports Active is a workout I have to admit makes me sore. It may have taken years, but I can finally tell my mom that video games are good for me!

CMB Research: Most Don't Return Unwanted Gifts

2009-12-31T14:24:00.007-05:00

As reported on Boston's CBS News, we did some recent research on what people do with unwanted gifts and found that 59% of people simply kept them around instead of returning them for credit, selling them through online sites like eBay's Kijiji or Craigslist. Watch the clip for more on the story!

Secret Santa or Secret Motivations?

2009-12-23T09:36:00.002-05:00

As holiday parties kick into full gear, many of us are scrambling to find an appropriate “grab bag,” “Yankee Swap, ” or “Secret Santa” gift. Of the 29% of people planning to participate, we found that motivations varied. According to recent research conducted by Chadwick Martin Bailey of 1000 consumers:

71% want their gift to be something they would like to get and maybe will end up with it

25% want their gift to be in high demand and the one that is stolen most often

Only 4% want their gift to be the least desired and look forward to someone getting stuck with it

Just getting started on your holiday shopping? Recent research shows you’re not alone

2009-12-22T08:15:00.005-05:00

My wife and I are seemingly crazy. We still care about buying thoughtful gifts and spend all year building up our pile so that we’re not wed to craziness at the local mall. But we’re clearly not normal. According to recent research conducted by Chadwick Martin Bailey of 1000 consumers 19% of people (25% of males) don’t get started until December rolls around. In fact, when we asked people in October, 12% already knew they would wait until the last minute to buy all of their gifts (17% male, 6% female.)

So, as you finish shopping take comfort in knowing you’re not alone. And think of me sitting by the fire with a nice glass of wine. Happy Holidays!

1 Topic, 5 Blogs – “Interactive Questions in Market Research”

2009-12-15T08:49:00.015-05:00

I am privileged to be one of 5 bloggers who, each 15th of the month – will produce a POV on an issue facing the Marketing Research industry. You’ll also be hearing from Annie Pettit (organizer), Bernie Malinoff, Joel Rubinson and Brandon Bertelsen. Links to their posts will follow.

I am also particularly excited about this first topic: interactive questioning and its impact on the research industry. A little background… I work at Chadwick Martin Bailey, a high end, mostly quantitative research firm with a focus on segmentation, brand, product development, and customer loyalty work. I have been here for most of the last decade, with a two year stint at Invoke Solutions in the middle. So I see the traditional angle and the non-traditional angle from an inside perspective.

Question: Is technology helping or hurting the research industry?

Answer: Yes.

That is to say that it is not a matter of helping or hurting, it’s about accepting and embracing the reality of technological advances and the evolving requirements of respondents and clients.

“We’re not in the entertainment industry.” – Anonymous market researcher

Recently, my friend Jen Drolet from iModerate presented findings to my firm from a research study conducted with eRewards and M/A/R/C that was presented at CASRO largely about interactive questions and their impact. After some questions about validity and cost a researcher in the audience stated, “That’s great, but we’re not in the entertainment industry.” I wasn’t shocked at all by this response. I have found researchers to be among the slowest to adopt new tools and techniques, especially ones that increase cost to the client or require extra work or training. But I disagree with her premise.

We are constantly asking people to fill out questionnaires or participate in a focus group for minimal incentives. Which is fine in a vacuum, but people don’t live a vacuum. They are choosing to give you their time over watching television, playing with their kids, listening to music, watching youtube videos, updating their Facebook profiles, or reading a good book. If research is too boring or feels too dated, they will simply stop participating.

“If it’s not fun, why do it?” –Ben and Jerry’s

The good news for advocates of interactive surveys is that most people agree with this Ben and Jerry’s motto. No one is suggesting we completely overhaul the way we conduct surveys, but as long as it doesn’t affect validity researchers need to look for opportunities to include interactive questions, open-ended questions, and images. It also means we need to get away from the academic, passive language that researchers are trained to use and make the research experience more conversational and reflective of the brands and target audiences involved. If all else is equal, make the experience more fun and engaging for respondents.

“There is a right time and place for everything.” – Josh Mendelsohn

This has always been my philosophy on beer and music, but it applies to research methods as well. Every audience and question has its own set of requirements. For example, older audiences need bigger font sizes, not gaming style imagery and younger audiences need to be able to interact with the survey and feel listened to. Insurance companies may need to be more professional in tone while “cool” consumer brands may want to adapt a casual language and visual style. Our job is to pick the best solution for the situation at hand and not blindly insist on using or not using the latest, greatest interactive question types.

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.” – Andy Dufresne

My favorite quote from “The Shawshank Redemption” applies to the state of the industry as a whole. There is no question that clients’ demands for speed, interactivity, and hybrid solutions will continue to grow, especially as the age of clients comes down. As research providers we have two options. Spend time adapting our methods to today’s business and cultural environment or find ourselves slowing being phased out. Without adapting, we’ll have a hard time differentiating ourselves from one another and from self service tools. It’s time to get busy living.

Read the other 4 blogs:

Joel Rubinson of the ARF: http://blog.joelrubinson.net/2009/12/getting-the-most-out-of-online-research/

Annie Petit of Lovestats: http://lovestats.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/1-topic-5-blogs-rich-media-in-surveys/

Bernie Malinoff of Element54: http://element-54.com/2009/12/1-topic-5-blogs-impact-of-rich-media-question-types-in-mr/

Brandon Bertelsen: http://bertelsen.ca/journal/1-topic-5-blogs-new-media-survey-questions

Why Market Researchers Struggle with Web Listening

2009-12-09T08:40:00.003-05:00

In a recent blog post, Forrester's Brad Bortner lists three ways that researchers might want to consider utilizing social media:

Create a private Market Research Online Community.
Mine open communities for discussions of interest.
Harvest quantitative sample from social networks.

These are all completely valid ways of using available resources that live within the comfort zone for researchers - or at most, slightly outside it. But it misses a big opportunity to (in the words of Crimson Hexagon's Candace Fleming ) "listen to consumers in the wild."

With constantly improving tools that are tunable to answer specific questions it is now possible to really "hear" the online conversation and make sense of it all. By determining tone and level of influence you can glean tremendously valuable information that feeds other explorations and informs potential online strategies.

So why do researchers scratch their heads? We don't know who these people are, what they bought, or what panel they belong to... or any of the other screening criteria normally included in a research study.

But we do know that they are real or at least as real as people in the research panels we so vehemntly trust. Should essential decisions be mare this way? Probably not.
Should it be a key input to understanding brand health and customer experiences? Absolutely.

And as researchers we need to understand how to use it instead of how to discredit other people's use of it if we are going to thrive in this new world.

Holiday Travel in 2009: Leave the Lights On, Grab The Tylenol

2009-11-24T10:57:00.001-05:00

We recently conducted some research on holiday travel plans for the 2009, finding that 39% of holiday travelers will stay with friends or family and43% of those traveling will drive instead of fly .

The study also found that over half of all Americans will still travel this holiday season, 85% are traveling to visit friends and family.

"We see this news as very positive for travel companies," comments Judy Melanson leader of Chadwick Martin Bailey’s Travel and Hospitality practice. "At least for the holiday season we are not seeing big drop-offs in actual travel or spending. People may be shifting their dollars but they are not simply staying home."

There’s also good news on the spending front. Most are spending the same or more on holiday travel this year than last. Many (43%) are choosing to drive instead of fly this holiday season, while 39% are staying with friends and family instead of staying in a hotel. All of these measures are helping consumers to still travel to see family and friends this holiday season despite the economy.

The outlook for 2010 looks equally positive with 85% expecting their personal financial situation to remain the same or get better over the next year.

Defending Market Research

2009-11-19T17:05:00.003-05:00

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.

Thinking About Customer Service Strategies and Brand Detractors

2009-11-17T11:38:00.003-05:00

Just last week I was reading a recent article by CMB's John Martin and Rob Davis, one of the CMB Advisory team members about how call centers and their corporate owners need to focus on fixing relationships, not just "resolving problems." (Read the article here)

It made intuitive sense to me, and even more so after having a first hand experience with a call center that was less than... brand complimentary. In the company's defense, I had already switched to another provider based on something they could offer that my previous provider could not (my beloved iPhone.) But the way I was treated and the fact that they summarily dismissed what another call center rep had told me as "mis-information" took me from brand neutral to brand detractor. And then the call ended with the always popular "is there anything else I can resolve for you today?" from the manager.

If the company's service strategies had been relationship focused they would have acted in a different way and tone. Their goal would have been on creating a non-customer advocate, not creating an angry lost customer.

Why People Bother With Black Friday

2009-11-12T11:02:00.000-05:00

We just finished up some research about holiday shopping, trying to understand what people are doing and why and trying to better grasp the Black Friday phenomenon.

Personally, I think its crazy, but my wife loves it and aparently the 84 million adults planning to hit the stores on Black Friday, 18 million before 6AM, agree.

It’s no surprise that the majority (85%) of Black Friday shoppers hit the stores to take advantage of the sales, while others (18%) want to get the hot gifts before their gone, but Black Friday is becoming much more for some holiday shoppers. We found that it’s also the element of competition and a sense of camaraderie that drives many of these early morning shoppers to engage in the thrill of the hunt.

"For many Americans shopping on Black Friday has become an annual tradition and a fun way for friends and family to spend time together," comments Jeff McKenna senior consultant at Chadwick Martin Bailey. "Still, while many consumers will be out on Black Friday many others are planning to wait until closer to Christmas when they feel the discounts will be the deepest."

The news was also good for online retailers as consumers plan to do 30% of their holiday shopping online. Shopping by mail and phone seem to becoming a thing of the past with consumers reporting they plan to do only 4% over the phone and less than 1% via mail.

"Our research shows consumers are more likely to turn to eCommerce sites like Amazon.com, eBay and Zappos.com compared to a big box retail sites like Walmart.com and Bestbuy.com for their online holiday shopping," continues McKenna "However, I think the jury is still out on who will win the consumers online wallet."

B2B and Mid-sized Firms Struggling Most At Improving Marketing

2009-11-04T09:45:00.002-05:00

Some interesting insights from our recent research....

Marketing Performance Advantage Study of 400 companies links performance
to specific marketing management best practices

Boston, MA (11/3/2009) – Mid-sized firms and B2B companies are struggling the most at improving the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, according to the results of a landmark survey of more than 400 companies by strategic marketing consultancy CMG Partners and market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey. The recently released study -- entitled The Marketing Performance Advantage -- found that while 75% of all participants expressed interest in measuring the performance of their marketing initiatives, mid-sized firms and B2B companies were also more likely to report having no measurement in place or only limited measurement.

For example:

B2B companies and mid-sized firms were both three times as likely as other companies to have no measurement system in place
44% of B2B firms report limited or no marketing measurement, twice as many as their B2C counterparts
Around half of all mid-sized companies reported that they were finding improving the performance of marketing initiatives a "huge challenge" – twice as many as their larger brethren
One of the biggest challenges? "lack of data" according to 40%

"The story behind these numbers is slightly different for each of these segments but the barriers to improvement they face are remarkably similar," said Mark Carr, a partner at CMG Partners.

"For example, both B2B firms and mid-sized companies were much more likely to report struggling in key areas such as lack of senior management buy-in, lack of alignment with other function areas, and a lack of established processes to utilize measurement data to generate insights and to make better decisions."

The study surveyed more than 400 companies across a variety of industries and company sizes to determine the key attributes of successful marketing organizations and to understand what marketing practices they employ. In addition to identifying challenges, the study identified five best practices of those companies who were seeing the most success in improving their marketing performance. Each of these best practices are described in detail in The Marketing Performance Advantage report which can be downloaded free of charge from www.marketingperformanceadvantage.com.

"The study clearly shows that those companies that embrace marketing performance management -- the practice of measuring, learning from, and improving upon marketing strategies and tactics over time – are reaping the rewards in terms of market share and bottom line results," said Rich Schreuer, senior vice president of Chadwick Martin Bailey.

"For mid-sized firms and B2B companies that are struggling in this area, the key first steps are to secure senior level buy-in and to obtain the necessary expertise that is so critical to setting up and implementing a successful initiative."

Summing up The Market Research Event

2009-10-23T13:05:00.003-04:00

Great week at The Market Research Event in Las Vegas. The mood was generally positive although some companies are still struggling to meet their goals. Lots of great conversations, great people, and great presentations. Looking forward to San Diego next year!

In case you missed it, here is the lowdown on our presentation with Facebook's Meg Sloan.
http://themarketresearchevent.blogspot.com/2009/10/skinny-on-marketing-research-at.html

And read here for more great on-site blogging from April Bell, summing up the event:

http://themarketresearchevent.blogspot.com/

The Redemption of Microsoft?

2009-10-14T08:33:00.003-04:00

With the upcoming launch of Windows 7 - and the hope that people will soon forget the Microsoft Vista debacle, we reecently conducted some research to see what IT professionals thought about the new release and their plans to adopt or not adopt Microsoft's latest operating system.

One of the things we found was that for Netbooks specifically, Windows 7 is likely to make huge inroads and continue Microsoft's stronghold over Netbook OS's. Read more in Computerworld...

The Best Loyalty Program?

2009-10-09T15:05:00.003-04:00

Interesting post over at Colloquoy commenting on an Ad Age article touting Harrah's loyalty program as the gold standard. While the science behind it and the organizational commitment behind it are hard to question, there are many now competing on its level.

Neiman Marcus, Starbucks, Borders and more have made huge strides in the loyalty program space by delivering real value to members and ensuring that the program is a positive brand experience, not just an initiative that lives in its own silo.

What do you think?

Read the article here.

Only ¼ of Companies Are Managing Marketing Effectively

2009-10-07T08:38:00.002-04:00

A snipit from CMB and CMG Partners' upcoming white paper, the Marketing Performance Advantage.

Boston, MA (10/7/2009) – Only one-fourth of companies believe they are managing their marketing efforts effectively, according to the results of a landmark survey of more than 400 companies by strategic marketing consultancy CMG Partners and market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey. But the study also found that those companies that actively use marketing effectiveness best practices are reaping positive results in areas such as share gains or revenue growth.

The study, entitled The Marketing Performance Advantage, surveyed more than 400 companies across a variety of industries and company sizes to determine the key attributes of successful marketing organizations and to understand what marketing practices they employ.
“We found a high degree of interest in marketing measurement, but surprisingly very few executives reported success with translating that interest into improved marketing effectiveness or bottom line results,” observed Rich Schreuer, senior vice president of Chadwick Martin Bailey.

For example, the study found 75% of participants expressed interest in measuring the performance of their marketing initiatives yet....

only 27% of companies are fully integrating their marketing measurement insights into marketing planning,
only 20% believe they excel at measuring the performance of marketing initiatives, and
only 24% believe they are improving business results based on this information

“Marketing leaders and their organizations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the value they deliver to their businesses, especially in today’s tough economic environment,” said Mark Carr, a partner at CMG Partners. “The study clearly shows that if done right, marketing performance management -- the practice of measuring, learning from, and improving upon marketing strategies and tactics over time -- can deliver bottom line results and prove a key differentiator in highly competitive markets. For example, of those companies that excel at marketing performance management practices, 98% are gaining or maintaining market share.”

The study found that many of the companies surveyed appear to be stuck in the basic tracking and measuring stage of improving marketing effectiveness. An almost equal number are working at breaking down barriers to improved performance in areas such as correlation of data and measurements with results or incorporating insights into decision-making. Those organizations that are reaping the rewards of marketing improvements are doing so at least in part by taking a more holistic view of how to continually improve the marketing enterprise.

In addition to providing an in-depth look at the state of marketing performance management, the study highlights the best practices of those companies who reported the greatest impact from marketing improvement efforts.

Learn more at marketingperformanceadvantage.com

CMB and Facebook at The Market Research Event

2009-10-06T13:04:00.004-04:00

We're looking forward to co-presenting with our client from Facebook at The Market Research Event in a few weeks. The conference is fast approaching and we hope you can check out our presentation at 8:30 AM on the 19th!

Topic: The New School of Market Research – Creating An Insights Practice in the World of Social Media

Learn how Facebook, along with help from Chadwick Martin Bailey, is building an insights practice specifically designed to support decisions in the world of social media that include information from and for employees, users, and advertisers.

Get a peek inside the world’s preeminent social networking company

Learn how to create a research department that meets the needs of a constantly evolving business

Get tips on how to best partner with research firms to enhance your position within a client organization

Speakers:

Brant Cruz, Vice PresidentChadwick Martin Bailey

Meg Sloan, Facebook

Visit www.themarketresearchevent.com for more information.

EXPLOR Awards Join The Market Research Event

2009-09-25T10:59:00.004-04:00

Very interesting development in the research conference series with the EXPLOR Awards moving from the AMA Research Conference over to The Market Research Event. This takes what in my opinion was already the best research conference on the market and makes it even better.

I had always assumed that EXPLOR was an AMA offering, but this is just another signal that the AMA needs to step up their game if they want the conference to remain viable. Speaking for myself, I would have had a hard time justifying two west coast conferences in two weeks, especially when I found last year's Boston based event to be very disappointing.

As a former local AMA President and AMA member, I wish them the best of luck and hope it rebounds.

Read more at:

http://www.iirusa.com/research/track-six.xml

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS161794+11-Mar-2009+BW20090311

Researching the IT Services Industry, Branding the Biggest Challenge

2009-09-24T09:56:00.000-04:00

In case you missed it, here is the wrap up from our recent Technology Pulse Series on IT Services.

Series Summary: IT Services
This week marks the final installment of our Pulse series on IT Services. Before moving on to our next series on Operating Systems and Web Browsers, we've pulled together some of our key findings from the IT Services series research. You can also get a full rundown of the results by watching last week's webinar on the topic. Click here to watch a playback.

What We Learned:
IT Services provisions are increasingly becoming the standard across organizations and verticals to enhance internally deployed IT services. Although these services can be extremely varied within companies we chose to focus on 3 generic types: professional-consulting, annual subscription (most often maintenance and monitoring) and outsourcing services. Overall, we found that these IT services have become essential to the enterprise. This is illustrated by the fact that few IT professionals indicated that they intend to cut back on these services despite current economic conditions.

In terms of preferred vendors, IT professionals tend to be most interested in vendor companies for their services – with IBM, Cisco, Dell and HP all ranking highly. Still, branding for services presents a challenge to these and other IT service providers, as little differentiation is apparent across companies. Instead, most providers are seen as doing a satisfactory job of assisting clients, with few standouts in terms of service differentiators.

1. One third of organizations plan on increasing their spending on IT-related services over the next 1-2 years

Typically during a recession we expect to see cutbacks across the board in IT, but IT-related services have become so essential to organizational IT provisioning that spending activity is largely projected to increase over the next few years, not decline. This is likely because often these services are cost saving and time saving measures in and of themselves, enabling the shifting of internal resources to external partners.

2. Organizations might say they prefer vendor neutral and local vendors in theory, but in practice they tend to choose quite the opposite

When asked about their general preferences for IT Services, IT professionals tell us that they want vendors that are local, large in scale, and are vendor neutral (not experts in a preferred brand that they sell). In reality, however, when asked about which companies are their preferred vendors, their answers are extremely different.

When asked to describe their preferences when selecting an IT-related services provider, 30% of IT professionals indicated they preferred a local vendor (as opposed to regional/national) that was vendor neutral (31%) and not vendor specific. They also preferred working with a large organization (26%) as opposed to a small shop.
When we followed up and asked who are their favorite vendors across the three categories of IT services, they story was quite different. Instead those companies who often were their current vendors were seen as highly preferable vendors for services – many of whom were not vendor neutral.
IBM, Cisco, Dell Oracle and HP again were chosen as preferable vendors over more vendor neutral companies such as Accenture, EDS or EMC. IBM was the top choice across the categories, followed by Cisco.

3. Branding is a Challenge for IT-Related Services

Branding is currently, and will remain a challenge for IT service companies in the future due to the lack of perceived differentiation among IT Professionals. Asked about uniqueness of 16 brands (based on a variety of brand attributes), the option “None” among these brands was actually ranked highest by IT professionals with 37% of respondents.

The brand attributes that are the most elusive among current IT service providers are “understands my business” (20%) and “helps me run my business more efficiently and lowers costs” (20%). On the opposite end of the scale, attributes related to customer service and care are more common-place in the market.
Few brands stand out among their peers for service, partnership and the ease of doing business. Among the most distinctive brands are Accenture for listening to its customers, Dell for the ease of doing business and EDS for understanding customer businesses.

Key Takeaway:

Enterprise IT departments, although tied to IT service provisions and intending to invest in these in the future, have to choose from among a very indistinctive sets of brands for services. To differentiate themselves IT service providers must look to where there is the largest gaps in the market for distinctiveness: the most elusive of attributes in the market are “understands my business” and “helps me run my business more efficiently and lower my costs.”

Market movers will create sales teams unique to business verticals and industry: having expertise in the problems with companies in particular industries allows sales forces to more efficiently and effectively meet the needs of clients rather than deploying a cookie-cutter approach across businesses and industries.

GE Healthcare at The Market Research Event

2009-09-23T10:17:00.002-04:00

We're looking forward to supporting our client, Andrew Vranesic from GE Healthcare as he presents on B2B Segmentation at The Market Research Event coming up soon in Las Vegas. If you're attending, make sure you check it out and swing by the CMB Booth to say hi!

B2B Segmentation: Helpful Hints to Address Challenges in Segmenting Organizations

While its true that even in a B2B setting people buy from people, research conducted to understand the decision making process needs to incorporate a different set of parameters to make sure the insights are actually useful.B2B purchases often involve multiple and sometimes competing belief systems, have longer decision and product life cycles, and unit purchase amounts that, as a consumer, can be hard to comprehend.

This session will share some of the valuable lessons we have learned over the years that you can use to craft a successful B2B segmentation model.

Know what type of segmentation is appropriate to use

Using pattern recognition to produce segments

How to include channel demands and service outputs to maximize your B2B segmentation.

The importance of qualitative data and consumer insight to create segment stories

Speaker:

Andrew Vranesic, Global Product Marketing Manager, General Electric (Healthcare-IT)

Marketing and Researching Beyond Your Core

2009-09-10T10:33:00.003-04:00

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.

The Online Shopping Cart

2009-09-04T09:39:00.004-04:00

Nothing huge today, but did want to share a nice write-up by Charles Nicholls, Founder of SeeWhy on a new study by the University of Glasgow and agency Amaze.

The study found that 87% of online shoppers had abandoned an exommerce shopping cart in the last 3 months, but that 74% planned to return later to complete the transaction. This behavior reflects a trend to use shopping carts as wish lists, where items can be stored for later purchase.

Not shockingly, there is huge dropoff between planned and actual. Read more...

How Not to Send a Follow Up Email

2009-09-04T09:28:00.000-04:00

A couple of months back a friend of mine was looking for someone to help on a telemarketing project. In the end, the project never happened but she did receive a follow up email this week to see how things were going.

There are lots of ways to follow up effectively, but this one goes a bit over the top. Enjoy, its good stuff!

Subject: Happy Labor Day

Dear XXXX,

Labor Day lies ahead of us and there are many things that are going on with all of us, both professionally and personally. This time of the year represents the "harvest period" and I wish that all will benefit the from the Fruits of your Labor.

Please let me know how I can assist you as you begin harvesting those seeds you have planted. I wish you a wonderful Holiday weekend and look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,

XXXX

Conference Season

2009-09-01T09:21:00.004-04:00

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 pays dividends (at the right events.)

Will you be hitting the fall conference circuit?

UK Research Industry Report

2009-08-18T09:08:00.005-04:00

Just reading an interesting report on the state of the research industry in the UK from RSM. Seems similar to what we're facing in the US, although at least here at CMB we're seeing fits and starts more than continued recovery. Still, people are spending and while cost is important, it is not the only factor we're seeing in decisions. (Which is good for us!)

Here are the key summary points from the report:

Recession bites

Six out of ten research professionals have seen their budgets decline in the past six months and only one in twenty have experienced an increase.
This decline is expected to slow down over the next six months but a third still expect budgets to drop. The proportion expecting an increase is static at one in twenty.
Even with this slightly more optimistic outlook budgets are expected to shrink by 3.5% over the next six months (indicating a year on year decline of at least 7%.
Research activity in most sectors is expected to experience a net decline - most significantly in the automotive and media sectors.
Most research methods will feel the impact of recession, with face to face hit hardest (48% expect to spend less on face to face research and only 6% expect to spend more).
Half of research professionals think the impact of the economic turndown will continue to be felt over the next two to three years.

The impact of technology

Research professionals see technology as key to the way the industry will do business in the future, particularly driving down costs and increasing efficiency at all stages of the research
process. However:

Poor implementation of online surveys is seen as one of the key reasons for a decline in the image of market research
Web 2.0 technologies are seen as being important for the industry’s future, but there is a distinct lack of detail about how these technologies will be used and what specific impact they may have.

The competitive edge

There remains room for improving the quality of pitches to clients. 36% of clients state the overall standard of pitches they received was good or very good (compared to 60% in 2008).
Dissatisfaction with pitches is mostly due to agencies failing to provide innovative research solutions that are tailored to the client.
Against a back drop of continued budget restrictions and reduced volume the industry needs to provide value, innovation and a streamlined and focused approach to client needs.
Reassuringly for the best practitioners, the intrinsic value of market research to business is not in doubt - a quarter of clients state that research will maintain or increase its importance for informing business decisions.

Thinking Social Media: AMD's CMO Speaks Out

2009-08-11T10:28:00.004-04:00

As we do more and more work around understanding and strategizing for comanies deciding whether or not to get involved with social media, the bigest misnomer seems to those who only think about Facebook or Twitter. That's why I loved this quote from AMD's CMO, Nigel Dessau, from an interview on B2B online.

"To use social media effectively, you have to have a very strong sense of what is and is not social media. At a minimum, social media is a two-way conversation that emphasizes relationship-building with your audience and customers. It's a means of spreading messages and influence, and something that should be equally applied across all corners of your brand. On the flip side, social media is not just a new way of push marketing. For us, it's not just a Facebook or blog strategy alone. And it's not just for business-to-consumer marketing.

We have a thriving online community with our partners and enterprise customers who appreciate the value of having AMD employees openly addressing issues and listening to customer feedback. I use my blog not as a place to just push out content but as a platform to discuss and engage with AMD's partners, customers and enthusiasts."

Measuring Marketing Effectiveness

2009-07-31T08:34:00.001-04:00

Short post today, but check out my interview with Cathy Harrison from AMA Boston on measuring marketing effectiveness at: http://www.connect.amaboston.org/profiles/blogs/measuring-marketing

Shopper Insights Take Away 1: Shopper Emotions

2009-07-30T08:41:00.005-04:00

Here is the first of the takeaways from presentations at the Shopper Insights in Action Conference earlier this month in Chicago.

This presentation was from Chris Gray, Vice President of Shopper Psychology (cool title!) at Saatchi & Saatchi.

Winning Her Wallet By Meeting Her Mind.

33 percent of brand loyal customers in 2007 abandoned those brands in
2008

Shopper marketing has 3 secomds to make an impression, which is long enough for people to decide

Shoppers are consumers on a mission... they become task oriented, make choices beyond their normal considersation set (when not shopping), are pressured and bombarded while choosing, and are decision makers.

Deselection (being automatically ruled out) is the worst case scenario for brands

Ratonal claims work because they speak to consumers' emotonal goals.
Make your teeth 30% whiter = i want to feel more confident and attractive

Positive emotions drive positive behaviors and the converse is true.

Narrowed focus, smaller budget, faster trips, less impulse purchases

Attention, Attraction, affinity, action, create opportunities to have experiences with customers

The following 8 emotions drive shopping (with some successful examples)

1. Self creation- where you shop is part of who you are... (Whole Foods, Dos Equis most interesting man, Healthy Choice fresh mixers, Head and Shoulders end cap camera)

2. Mastery- learn and test skills... (Apple stores, Whole Foods value tours, Diageo virtual bartender)

3. Dreaming- imagine what could be... (Ikea rooms, Visa debit cards "tuesday afternoon" spots, Walmart pre prom event)

4. Security-being prepared... (Walmart "prepare now", Hyundai assurance program, Iams premium protection)

5. Sanctuary-reduce stress... (Airwick, Dole parfait)

6. Connection- start and deepen relationships... (Costco samples, Aleve buy one get one promo)

7. Sport- competition... (Black friday, eBay shop victoriously, Filene's basement "i just got a bargain" bags, running of the brides)

8. Playtime- (Target halloween party, Carnival cruise lines play time (beach ball) ad, Sharpie project center

How to make graphs that work

2009-07-22T09:04:00.004-04:00

Seth Godin had a great post on the use of graphs in the business world that I thought was particularly useful after being at the Shopper Insights in Action conference last week.

It is fascinating, but not shocking watching people perk up for images and stories and videos and slump into their chairs at the sight of charts on a screen.

It's not that the data isn't important, it is just that the data should be used to support a story, not to tell the story.

Over the next week or so I'll be posting notes from select sessions at what was an excellent conference. Stay tuned!

The Big Challenge: Getting Insights Used

2009-07-14T11:40:00.004-04:00

As anyone who does research for a living knows, the two biggest challenges are getting funding and getting insights used. And in design and engineering driven cutures this is even more of a challenge.

BusinessWeek ran a great case study earlier this month on how the team at Steelcase "turned research into innovation gold."

One key to their success? Bringing the entire team together for a a two-day event that included marketers, engineers, industrial designers, and other stakeholders. This event was used to combine all of the data collected over months with their own knowledge and experiences to come up with actual insights.

Read the entire article here.

4 Tips for Brand Launches

2009-07-14T09:12:00.002-04:00

Earlier this week, we re-launched the Chadwick Martin Bailey brand and web site internally and I thought I'd offer four tips for a successful re-launch beyond just throwing a party.

1) Tell people why you made the changes and how it supports the business

2) Arm people with all of the tools they need (spend a lot of time thinking this through!) and be responsive to those needs you hadn't anticipated

3) Dont get bogged down in the details at the launch, those can be worked through in smaller groups at another time.

4) Give people hard copies that they can refer back to and show off to others.

Chicago Bound for Shopper Insights

2009-07-10T10:16:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the lack of recent posts, but next week is a big week. The new CMB website launches Tuesday and Wednesday we'll be in Chicago for the Shopper Insights in Action Conference - always an excellent event!

My friend Brant Cruz will be presenting alongside EA Sports' (It's in the game) Stephen Day about work we did together to help develop a strategy for the new 'gamer' market. The first tangible result being the very cool EA Sports Active.

Drop a line if you're going or swing by our booth to say hi!

A Taste of Our Own Medicine: Researchers Using Research

2009-06-26T08:57:00.003-04:00

In professional services firms you always hear the "cobbler's kids have no shoes" mentality about their look and feel, use of research, etc. Well, we may not (and you may not) have huge budgets but that doesn't mean we can't follow our own advice and find out what our market is looking for and move in that direction.

For years we have been conducting client feedback but like many of our clients it has been used largely for score keeping. Right now, we're wrapping up a broader A&U project about what companies are looking for from value-added research firms and now we have the opportunity to take a fact based approach to addressing it.

The takeaway - even if its a simple methodology find out what your customers are looking for and find a way to provide it to them.

My favorite comment from the research about why they would choose a small/medium provider over a large one:

"Smaller providers are more like a Partnership. They are easier to meet with the entire or most of the organization to understand there process and build a relationship where they understand my business intimately."

Was this worth the time?

2009-06-16T12:01:00.005-04:00

I love the USA Today. I do. It has been a staple since my college days for quick hit news and charts with pretty colors. But as I got into the research industry a decade ago I started to wonder if anyone thinks about finding something interesting before they conduct these surveys or if they just want something to fit in a pie chart.

Primary exhibit is today's breaking news that frequent fliers don't like US airlines' food and service. Really? I am shocked.

Well thought out custom research reports struggle to get read in corporate America yet this survey is leading news in an international setting. Clearly we all are working way too hard!

The World's Worst Survey? Or Think Before You Act

2009-06-16T08:43:00.002-04:00

Up front, I admit that I am "borrowing" this right from the Fresh Minds Research Blog but this is too good to ignore.

The BBC is conducting an online poll asking people if they are one of the 30% of UK citizens without internet access. Read that again. Or read it at the site of the Register.

Just one of those classic cases where people didn't think about the audience before launching a poll or survey. I love online research, especially with interactive functionality, but its not for everyone. Much like music and beer, there is a time and place for everything. And sometimes that means a mail survey, an in person interview or the dreaded telephone interview.

Should Panel Companies Lower Costs for Engaging Questionnaires?

2009-06-12T13:01:00.003-04:00

Most people agree that including interactive elements in questionnaires is a good idea and produces similar data to traditional formats. From a research analyst perspective, i understand the "who cares then?" sentiment because good data is good data. But from a brand or panel company perspective its imperative to make participating in research a positive experience. After all, like any interaction, its a brand interaction that need to support your positioning in one way or another.

Thanks to Jen from iModerate for re purposing her CASRO presentation on this topic for the group at CMB earlier this week. It was interesting and sparked a great discussion about cost vs. benefit for research providers and panel companies in programming interactive elements. Seems to me that panel companies should actually discount data collection for more enjoyable surveys. It keeps panelists engaged and eager to participate more.

Perhaps that is too much common sense. What do you think?

Studying Social Media

2009-06-08T14:40:00.002-04:00

With all the talk about social media and specifically social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, it is amazing that most of the research associated with social media revolves around counting numbers and presenting them in pretty pictures (everyone loves a word cloud).

Well, we love word clouds too but have found that just getting a count of what is going on is not enough. And not paying attention to message boards, blogs, etc. can lead to some wild misrepresentations of the truth. Especially when you consider, according to our neighbors at Harvard University, that only a tiny fraction of the world is actually posting on twitter.

Both in stand alone projects and in conjunction with trackers, we use a multi-faceted approach to understanding what is going on, what best practices exist, the rules of engagement and what you can do about them. Counting is important, but these mediums are about information exchange and emotion.

Want to learn more?

Still not sure what social media is all about? Check out this intro to social media.

Studying Social Media

2009-06-08T14:29:00.000-04:00

With all the talk about social media and specifically social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, it is amazing that most of the research associated with social media revolves around counting numbers and presenting them in pretty pictures (everyone loves a word cloud).

Well, we love word clouds too but have found that just getting a count of what is going on is not enough. And not paying attention to message boards, blogs, etc. can lead to some wild misrepresentations of the truth. Especially when you consider, according to our neighbors at Harvard University, that only a tiny fraction of the world is actually posting on twitter.

Both in stand alone projects and in conjunction with trackers, we use a multi-faceted approach to understanding what is going on, what best practices exist, the rules of engagement and what you can do about them. Counting is important, but these mediums are about information exchange and emotion. Want to learn more?

Still not sure what social media is all about? Check out this intro to social media.

Shop Til You Drop?

2009-06-05T14:31:00.000-04:00

I have long thought that while the recession has slowed spending, people still have their needs and desires. Or on the business side, things that need to get done and cost money.

USA Today agrees (at least on the consumer side).

"There are positive signs. Shoppers are less willing to "limit their spending, seek deals or trade down to lower-priced brands and retailers" because of the recession, finds a survey by market research firm Retail Forward."

The Five Stages of the Purchase Cycle?

2009-05-22T10:06:00.004-04:00

I was just reading an article over on Searchengine land (courtesy of Marketing Profs' email) about tailoring your ad copy to people at different stages of the purchase process. These five stages (Stage 1: Awareness. Stage 2: Information Search. Stage 3: Alternative Evaluation. 4: Purchase Decision. Stage 5: Post-Purchase Behavior.) are fairly common in marketing publications and in research studies designed to measure the impact of of communications and other initiatives. Unfortunately, they don't apply universally in today's world.

As consumers have taken more control of the buying cycle the traditional buying process has been thrown out the window in many cases. What used to be linear now could take on any sort of shape. For that reason its important to map out the decision process of today for your products and services before any campaign or research project is launched and confirm it with your findings. People may be buying differently than you expect and your strategies need to adjust accordingly!

Some Quick Social Media Thoughts

2009-05-22T09:50:00.000-04:00

We've been doing a lot of digging around on social media recently. 3 quick tips from the NExpo on tuesday coutesy of an excellent panel of speakers.

Social media should be measured in years not days. Need the human piece.
Need to be a publisher and utilize people as the voice who engage with consumers.
Not measured in numbers... Measured in engagement. It is about 2 way conversations and you need more than authenticity, you need ruthless honesty.
Make sure your content is relevant. Relevance and benefits are better than strictly promotion.

Very funny viral video from VistaPrint today as well. I learned about it from their twitter site. As always, integration is the key to success! Enjoy!

Don't Miss our Loyalty Program Webinar This Friday

2009-05-20T09:00:00.002-04:00

Shameless promotion today of this Friday's webinar on loyalty programs...

You're invited to the next session of CMB's free webinar series on May 22 at Noon ET. Hilton's Vice President of Customer LoyaltyBusiness Optimization and Guest Intelligence, Joe Rhodes, will join Judy Melanson to discuss "The power of loyalty programs" and what companies are doing with their programs in light of the current economic situation.

The state of loyalty programs: Cut-backs and increased investments in today's business landscape
Does loyalty still matter?
Program changes: Best practices and issues to consider

We hope you can make it!

Time and Date:
May 22, 2009, Noon ET

Registration:
Register via webex here.

Wifi in the Air

2009-05-13T09:01:00.000-04:00

I am very excited that AirTran announced they will have wifi available on every flight starting in July. For the short period that they have the competetive advantage, they need to be promoting the heck out of it. I recently flew a Delta flight with WiFi and was shocked that it was an option. And because the airline industry is so full of parity, AirTran can win just by being first.

Good work AirTran!

Read the article here.

(Everyone else, get on the ball!)

Google Apps Pave the Way to Success

2009-05-13T08:45:00.003-04:00

Mirroring the comments of Chadwick Martin Bailey's Chris Neal pointed from a recent webcast on Cloud Computing (watch for yourself here), The Metro has an interesting article on Google's free business apps and their impact on emerging businesses, specifically startups.

“Today you can start your own company from your living room at almost no expense,” says Louis Rosas-Guyon, author of the new book “Nearly Free IT.” “That’s why the recession has led to an explosion in entrepreneurship.”

Google apps and other free or inexpensive business applications are a boon to all of us trying to do more with less. And it is not just for documents and email. We recently discovered this when figuring out how to make sense of Twitter posts and found numerous free downloads that could help identify trends instead of spending money on paid solutions before we needed them. Now as researchers we are able to take advantage of these free solutions that present data simply and make them useful for ourselves and our clients.

Read the article for yourself here.

New Research Shows Boomers Not All They Were Supposed to Be

2009-04-28T13:21:00.003-04:00

For years we have all been reading studies about the power of Boomers, including our own, however recent research from PhocusWright shows that, at least in the travel sector, Boomer power may be dwindling. Now finally Boomers can see the power of younger generations correctly (take that Mom and Dad!)

Certainly this group has more reason to be concerned about dwindling 401Ks than the Gen X and Y crowd who won't be touching theirs for decades and its showing in travel bookings. According to the study, "trailing-edge baby boomers (45-54 years old) actually spent the least of any age group per household on travel. They are also the most likely to reduce their travel spending in 2009, with 27% planning reductions in travel frequency and spending. "

Read the entire article here.

More In House Research?

2009-04-24T16:13:00.003-04:00

We seem to be seeing lots and lots of client-side researchers being laid off lately, so a story in yesterday's Daily Research News caught my attention stating that many companies are bringing more research in house. This conflicts with other reports I have seen, so it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out through the rest of 2009. Certainly activity is picking up, but summer is coming so stay tuned.

Excerpt: Research suppliers may see declines in 2009 revenue as more clients prepare to take a proportion of their online research in-house, predicts an industry survey conducted earlier in the year.

The survey, conducted online in February among senior research practitioners and co-sponsored by online-oriented companies Cambiar, MRops and Peanut Labs, suggests that the decline in research industry revenues in 2009 may be higher than suppliers are expecting. While clients are anticipating that budgets may be flat to falling, the fact that they intend to do more in-house suggests that there will be less work for suppliers of research.

In 2009, the overall survey respondent base projects a market increase of 1.1%. However, results from clients give a less positive picture: project expenditures on research range from flat (MR functions in marketing companies) through to a decline of 3%+ (other research buyers), to one of 9% (ad agencies). Data collection companies project a decline of just over 2%.

Read the rest here.

Thinking Ahead: It was Just a Matter of Time

2009-04-24T16:07:00.000-04:00

For a few weeks I have been wondering which companies were going to take advantage of the reduced number of advertisers and lowering rated by expanding their own spend. Its been obvious on the local level, where local businesses have gotten increasingly better placements. Or they have been sending the right bribes to media traffic staff.

On the national level, it looks as they Dr Pepper and Snapple are among the first to raise their spend. A good move in my mind, we'll see if it works the way it has in the past.

From Flex News via Reuters:

Company executives said they decided on the strategy after research firm Nielsen produced a study for them that detailed ad spending patterns during the early 1980s, the last prolonged advertising downturn."We wanted to find out what were the brands that were successful in '83 and '84, coming out of the recession?" said Trebilcock. "What did they do differently than others during the middle of the recession? Uniformly, the thing that came back is they didn't retrench. They reinvested."

The Down Side of Social Media

2009-04-22T10:31:00.000-04:00

In marketing pubs and blogs you often see people raving about the power of social media and web 2.0, but our friends at Domino's had quite a different experience last week. In case you missed it, two uniformed employees posted a video of them making a mess of someone's order, boogers and all. Not surprisingly this made its way around the web in record fashion. Watch the video here.

The lesson: Not all buzz is good buzz.

It will be interesting to see if there is a real impact, but at least for a few weeks many consumers will think twice about what toppings they are really getting with their Domino's pie.

Here is a great article on how one YouTube Video can ruin a brand, including some research on the video's impact.

...And the pretty well thought out response from Domino's

Thinking about Net Promoter Score: Apple Wins

2009-04-22T08:52:00.003-04:00

Brandweek recently published an article proclaiming that (based on NPS scores) Apple is the most recommended company by consumers, just in front of Amazon.com and Costco. I happen to be a huge fan of all three, so I can't question Satmetrix's methodology. In fact, I love the concept of Net Promoter Score as a key metric and when attached to other useful data it can be a great predictor of brand strength and customer loyalty.

Here at CMB, we run one of the world's biggest custom NPS-style programs and have found that for the right audience it can be incredibly useful and powerful. Stay tuned for a webinar and booklet on the topic. In the meantime, we'd be happy to share some slides from a co-presentation on the topic we did with eBay last year. Just let me know!

More importantly, would you recommend this blog to a friend our colleague?

Conferences and Trade Shows

2009-04-16T09:12:00.000-04:00

One area of the marketing world particularly hard hit in this economy is trade shows and conferences. And for companies like mine it is hard to know how to plan. Conferences have always been a great source of leads at a relatively affordable price, but given travel restrictions and budget cuts, who is going to be willing or able to go? Definitely a challenge worth monitoring.

In this article, USA Today explores what the economy is doing to the trade show business and the great cities who host them.

"A double whammy has come down," says Geoff Freeman of the U.S. Travel Association, a trade group. "There's no doubt that all types of business travel are paying a heavy price, but meetings and events are paying the heaviest price."

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2009-04-12-canceled-conventions-virtual-meetings_N.htm?csp=usat.me

Retail Projections and Rumors Can Be Damaging (From USA Today)

2009-04-13T08:33:00.004-04:00

A little different than the custom primary research we normally talk about in this space, but an interesting article in today's USA Today about the impact of the media's negative reports about retailers and the negative impact on their brands. Three excerpts from the article...

Retail implosion forecasts typically come from the same handful of retail consulting gadflies — at least one of whom says he makes money when retailers' stock prices fall — and the forecasts are often based on subjective criteria that do not jibe with widely accepted methods of assessing corporate health.

"People are really paying attention to these articles, and the effects are extremely damaging," says Tracy Mullin, CEO of the National Retail Federation, which represents most major retailers.

The complications of analyzing retailers' financials go beyond just a sound bite. "It is very dangerous to speculate who may or may not be surviving without being inside the circle of knowledge," says Janet Hoffman, global retail managing partner at the consulting firm Accenture. "There could be alternatives (the retailer) may be pursuing without going out of business."

Read the rest of the article here.

Wisdom from the Sawtooth Software Conference

2009-04-10T09:05:00.007-04:00

My friend Jon Godin, CMB's Director of Analytic Services, is a brilliant guy but clearly never feels quite smart enough. So he recently attended the Sawtooth Software Conference to lean more about the latest and greatest trade off tools and techniques. We'll be posting some of what he learned over the coming weeks. First up is a presentation from our friend Chris Goglia at Critical Mix.... Here is the abstract from his presentation.

“To Drag-n-Drop or Not? Do Interactive Survey Elements Improve the Respondent Experience and Data Quality?” by Chris Goglia and Alison Strandberg Turner:

Abstract: Chris Goglia presented a paper on the increasing demand for interactive survey elements in questionnaires (like sliders instead of rating scales and drag-and-drop functionality instead of numeric rankings). What they found is that these interactive elements increase time-to-complete but there were not significant differences in the resulting data. Furthermore, other studies on slider bars suggest that the use of sliders will result in a higher dropout rate, longer response times, more missing data, and no improvement in the resulting distributions of data. Interactive elements may be more appropriate for certain (i.e., younger) audiences who are more used to experiencing and using these types of activities online, however, older audiences may actually experience a lot of trouble using them.

So the upshot is that you should be very careful in using these interactive elements in studies, as they may increase engagement for some, but may actually hinder others, and they provide little to no improvement over traditional questions otherwise.

As always, think about who you are researching and adjust your plans accordingly.

The Case Not to Cut

2009-04-02T09:23:00.003-04:00

We obviously have a bit of bias on the topic, but over at eMarketer, their CEO Geoff Ramsey makes a nice case for why now is not the time to be cutting research budgets and that they should be evaluated indpendantly from advertising budgets.

He cites three reasons why you might want to put yourself in the “increase” (or at least “maintain”) market research camp:

With the economy clouding the future, why throw away your flashlight when it could shine on intriguing consumer insights, hot technology trends and market opportunities?

Market research can help you preserve budgets, projects and even people.

Prepare for better times ahead.

Take a read by following the link below and feel free to post your thoughts.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1007001

AMA CT Has Good Taste: Response LLC and CMB Honored Last Week

2009-03-31T10:23:00.004-04:00

Response, LLC and Chadwick Martin Bailey were recently the recipients of an award from the CT Chapter of the American Marketing Association for their work with Stanley-Bostich in 2008. Working in partnership, the team was able to proviode strategic direction across multiple channels that was immediatley put into action by the client.

"Every single page of that final research report went to our key business leaders, and was used in the goal deployment process," said Todd Langston, Director of Brand Management at Stanley-Bostitch. “It has been extremely impactful in all areas of the company, from product management and sales to engineering, operations, and even finance.”

For CMB, working with Carolyn Walker and her team was an excellent experience and we look forward to working with Response again soon to deliver great client results. In addition to the Stanley-Bostitch research, Response also won awards for their trade show, web/interactive and print work. Congratulations, Carolyn!!!

Free Webinar Next Week: Inside Out Branding

2009-03-26T09:41:00.002-04:00

We're excited to invite you to join us for the first session in our free 2009 webinar series. In this session Rich Schreuer, an SVP here at Chadwick Martin Bailey, will be delivering an encore of his presentation from IIR's 2008 Market Research Event.

Topic:

Inside Out Branding: How to Avoid the Brand Death Spiral featuring a Toyota Financial Services Case Study

You'll learn:

What the brand death spiral is and how to avoid it
Tips for measuring brand delivery at each customer touch point and its impact on the bottom line
How Toyota Financial translated the research findings into tactical action plans

Time and Date:

April 3, 2009
Noon ET

Registration:

Developing the Right Loyalty Program

2009-03-17T08:58:00.004-04:00

We've been doing a lot of work helping companies like Neiman Marcus and Hilton HHonors get the most out of their loyalty programs and spent a good part of last week debating the merits of meritocracies (you give more, you get more) vs. democracies (everyone gets the same benefits) and the correct use of hard (physical rewards/cost savings) and soft (special treatment) benefits.

So I was intrigued by my waiter at TGI Friday's this weekend when she introduced me to their new "Stripes" program by explaining both the hard - a free appetizer for every $30 spent - and soft -an introductory of a one-time "cut the line" pass.

Needless to say, I am now a member and looking forward to jumping the line to get my free appetizer. I just hope I have the chance to earn more VIP benefits with my wings and fingers!

Especially in this economy, its really important to build programs that actually drive incremental dollars. I have to assume Friday's spent the time and money to really understand what would work and be realistic to put in place. Good work!

McCafe? Its Not Possible

2009-03-17T08:49:00.000-04:00

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.

Exploring the Mature Market

2009-03-13T08:46:00.003-04:00

Here at Chadwick Martin Bailey, we recently conducted some really interesting research in partnership with MetLife to really explore the mindset and behaviors of the Mature Market. We conducted the research using a “Build Your Own” trade-off exercise along with a MaxDiff methodology that we’re really excited about. And unlike most of the work we do, the information is actually public and you can access it here:

http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/mmi-discovering-what-matters-study.pdf

Here are a couple of myths that the study data breaks down:

1. Myth: The Good Life = material wealth. When asked what contributes to living a purposeful life, respondents were selected spending time with friends/family (86%) and taking care of their physical self (63%). These purpose-driven activities are increasingly important as people age.

2. Myth: Happiness = the absence of misfortune. 59% of the respondents experienced at least one such negative trigger event over the past 12 months. Most trigger events are not under a person’s control, but Americans who live the good life are able to regain happiness through the meaning in their lives.

3. Myth: The Good Life = more (more friends, more money, more health, more activity). The highest percentage of those who say they are living the good life are the Meaning-Minded. The good life comes from balance and alignment of financial security, health and meaningful activity.

According to the findings, there are five basic types of people defined by the value they place on the core components in their lives - money, medicine, meaning and place:
1) The Balanced Givers, 2) The Meaning- Minded, 3) The Balanced Individualists, 4) The Financially Focused, and 5) The Hyper-Individualists.

The Financially Focused may have a strong vision for the future and engagement in meaningful “work” that provides purpose and fulfillment, but are least likely to say they are living the “good life” level. The study used a gap analysis technique to characterize individuals in the study.

The Celebrity Apprentice: Butchering Focus Groups Since 2009

2009-03-10T08:57:00.015-04:00

Not that I watch the Celebrity Apprentice (cough, cough), or really expected more, but its scary how much this week's episode butchered the concept of focus groups as they prepared to pitch their ideas for a new graphic novel style mascot for Zappos.com.

Not to go all research snob on you, but at a minimum:

1) They should have had a moderator or at least a discussion guide

2) They should have been talking Zappos customers and prospects, not comic book fans

3) They should have had something to show participants or they should have conducted ideation exercises

Seriously, I shouldn't have expected more. But it irks me when research is so poorly displayed in popular culture. At least they have a better writeup on the value of focus groups on the web site.

Watch for yourself at:

http://www.nbc.com/the-celebrity-apprentice/video/clips/week-2-athenas-focus-group/1053921/

Stolen Tips for Better Online Surveys

2009-03-09T10:55:00.005-04:00

Courtesy of Seth Godin's blog... I think the first point is the most important. Asking questions qith precision and with the respondent in mind will make the insights you get back more valuable and keep your customers and prospects willing to participate in research.

Five tips for better online surveys (read the whole post here)

Every question you ask is expensive. (Expensive in terms of loyalty and goodwill). Don't ask a question unless you truly care about the answer. This means that a vague question with vague answers (extremely satisfied...acceptable...extremely dissatisfied and no scale to compare them to) is a total waste of time. What action will you take based on that? It's smarter to ask, "how much would you say lunch was worth?"
Every question you ask changes the way your users think. If you ask, "which did you hate more..." then you've planted a seed.
Make it easy for the user to bail. If you have 20 questions (that's a lot!) make it easy to quit after five and have those answers still count. If you waste my time and then don't count my answers, see #2.
Make the questions entertaining and not so serious, at least some of them. Boring surveys deserve the boring results they generate.
Don't be afraid to shake up the format. Instead of saying, "Here are ten things, rank them all on a scale of one to five..." why not let people compare things? "We had two speakers, Bob and Ray. Who was better?"

Circuit City - You Only Have Yourself to Blame

2009-03-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

They may have gotten the names mixed up, but the good looking genteleman in the Red Sox hat made some great points!

http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/business/030809_Circuit_City_closes_its_doors