So, we’ve got a conundrum here. Marketing budgets keep getting cut, yet expectations of marketers and the impact of marketing are steadily rising. What are ya gonna do about that, oh savvy marketer? Let’s take a look at how you might find new ways of conducting business that minimize the constraints of fewer dollars.
I am a poorly designed human, resulting in an injury that put me in a boot. I am a stubborn human and was hell bent on making it to a family wedding many states away. I am a privileged human so was able to fly, using wheelchair service through the terminals. I am an extroverted human, leading to this blog.
Whether we like the results or not, sometimes our audience comes from a place of skepticism. When presenting to a disbelieving audience, employ these tactics to ensure data is accepted and acted upon.
As I reach my third year as an insights analyst with the Fountainhead team, I can’t help but think back to my last year of undergrad. I knew the basics of market research. I knew that I was interested in people and their motivations. I knew that there was so much I didn’t know. The funny thing about learning on the job is you don’t notice how much you’ve learned until you take a second to reflect and think how little you knew before. Looking back now, here are five key awakenings I’ve had from my time with Fountainhead.
We’re hearing a lot about blockchain these days, including a fair amount of buzz that it’s going to disrupt the market research industry as we know it. While it seems to us that blockchain technology has the potential to bring revolutionary change to our lives in the coming decade — similar to the magnitude of change that smartphones have brought over the past decade — the potential for disruptive impact on the research industry itself is much less clear.
When is a “yes” a certain response and when is it a maybe? Hesitation can be the key to unlocking the difference. As marketers and researchers, it’s critical that we get to the heart of consumers’ true attitudes.
We’ve been working with clients to assess the implicit level of certainty consumers have when associating attributes with various stimuli.
Razor blades: Just the thought makes you leap for joy, doesn’t it? Okay, me neither. But Dollar Shave Club had the wisdom to find a way to overcome two consumer pain points while jumping on a burgeoning consumer trend.
Pain 1: The increasing difficulty of buying razor blades in-store. Many c-stores have them locked down tighter than Beyoncé’s security. One either has to grab the paper voucher and take that to the counter so the employee can access the vault of blades, or the blades are encased in a plastic box that can only be opened via a magic wand. Note: We understand this has to do with theft protection but for consumers is a big hassle!
Pain 2: Money, money, money. Four cartridges for $25. That’s a lot of cash.
If you, like me, are of a “certain age,” you probably remember going car shopping, narrowing down the brand of car you wanted, then trying to choose between the basic or premium options because those were the only options available.
Trash talking “brainstorming” seems to be quite the thing these days. And we get it. We’ve suffered through endless brainstorm sessions where the moderator didn’t adhere to best practices, so all that resulted was a list of mediocre thoughts and demoralized participants.
That’s why we practice what we preach. If you want a productive brainstorming session, please follow these principles.
Let’s look at one scary fact: 64 percent of American households have Amazon Prime*
And one scary quote: “I think that effectively you have a company that has conspired with about a million consumers and technology to destroy brands.” -Scott Gallaway, NYU Stern School of Business speaking at L2’s Amazon Clinic