Via Scoop.it – Product research to drive brand success

When movie-rental company Netflix raised its prices last July,  customers set the Internet aflame with their ire. It’s time to reflect:  Here are six lessons for business…
Via www.entrepreneur.com

Via Scoop.it – Product research to drive brand success
New blog post useful for marketing execs, business owners, CEOs….
“Ten tips for executives & CMOs to get real value from marketing research.” Marketing management consultants describe approach.
Via blog.powerdecisions.com

There’s been discussion in the media lately about brand loyalty .   This blog post pin-points a precise definition of brand loyalty, guideposts for measurement, and its critical value to CMO’s and marketing directors.
about Power Decisions Group 

Via blog.powerdecisions.com

Here’s a worthwhile article on the fundamentals and reasons why brand tracking and brand equity research should be done on a consistent schedule.   Without it, we can begin to rely on an ‘old story’ about our brand position and that of our competitors.

The author, Kristy Gulsvig leads by saying, “ I am a big proponent of brand research. Research teaches you things about your company that you could not possibly figure out on your own, helps to answer questions you didn’t realize needed to be asked.”      Via www.brandingbusiness.com

  For more about brand research, see http://www.powerdecisions.com/brand-research.cfm

I thought I’d pass on to you the trend following article by MarketingProfs blogger Ann Handley as she reviews David Meerman Scott’s latest book, Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage. Via www.mpdailyfix.com

This brings up for me the critical importance of understanding the nuances of  your brand positioning; and knowing how your brand sits in the minds of your market.

Plain and simple, “Newsjacking” is a marcom tactic.   To have tactics, like this one, make sense; a solid strategy must be in place.

For more about understanding your brand position, see http://www.powerdecisions.com/positioning-research.cfm

Brief overview  Via www.cambridgecap.com of ‘going green’ strategy in the senior living #marketing space.   Anticipating the future.  How can your business anticipate the future?

See for more thoughts on strategy and tactics…
http://www.powerdecisions.com/product-research.cfm

The report analyzes how the most recent U.S. recession has impacted consumer purchasing behavior within various product categories, leading to increased ‘buy down’ behavior among consumers, or purchasing less expensive brands in order to …
Via indiacurrentaffairs.org

Social media as one of many product research and concept testing… Worth a read… not a quantitative method… more qualitative… yet valuable for a fast surface sounding …
Via www.socialmediaexaminer.com

In this paper, the writer accessed to a large number of domestic and foreign research resources, studied on the theories of the brand, culture, business culture, brand culture etc. Meanwhile, she also analyzed and studied the related resources …
Via www.economics-papers.com

You have probably heard business owners complaining that their Internet marketing strategy is just not working. When you ask them what exactly their Internet marketing strategies are, they all tell you a similar story.
Via www.amirkhanvszabjudah.com

Brand name Watch additionally questioned participants their ideas and awareness relating to around 17 diverse qualities associated especially using SUVs. Additionally, SUV shoppers had been asked to not just position …
Via www.sapocean.com

Amazon.com: Plunkett’s Advertising & Branding Industry Trends and Statistics Brief 2010 (Business Brief & Market Research Series) eBook: Jack W.
Via www.amazon.com

Qualitative Marketing Research: Time-Extended Online Depth Interview Forums Keep Pace with Real-World

Focus group research is a useful strategy-building tool for harvesting information from customers, competitor customers, suppliers, and employees. Focus groups are often an excellent starting point when scanning and uncovering opportunities for new products, branding, naming, positioning, and generating strategic options. A well designed focus group study can help decision makers understand the range of beliefs, opinions and buying behavior among key segments.

Management people like focus groups because it literally puts them in the same room as 8 to 10 segment members talk about their brand and the competitors’ brands; about what they’d really like to have if they could; and the sometimes unusual ways they use the product or service. (Remember the ads about putting a box Arm and Hammer baking soda in refrigerator as a deodorant? That extended, years-long campaign to expand product use came from a comment by one person in one focus group.)

This face-to-face qualitative research experience with prospects and customers is a way to get the strategy team “next to the customer.” Expressions and attitudes are seen on faces and in body language, and heard from their voices. Often heard is the VP or CEO in the group observation room after two or three groups, “Now I know what they really want. I heard it several times tonight. We’ve got to explore this opportunity.” This first hand involvement is good: it provokes creative thinking about how to attack the future.

While focus groups are one of the most popular qualitative techniques, it’s important to understand the “do’s and don’ts” and situations where they should be used, and where they should be avoided. Because of the popularity and familiarity of the focus group method, it’s easy to call out, “Let’s do some groups.” It’s a technique that’s easy to misuse and abuse. Here are some basic rules for any executive thinking about including focus groups on the menu of strategy-building tools. I hope to give you enough information to guide use and management without unnecessary detail.

Basic Focus Group Rules

Rule 1. Use a focus group study only for an appropriate purpose.

Here’s what’s appropriate:To learn about the range of beliefs, attitudes, and usage habits of the target segment. The goal is to hear and understand the range: if it’s said once in a focus group, it’s important.

• To become acquainted with unfamiliar territory . Group research is achieves some fast track knowledge about new market, new segment or new product categories. If you’ve found an interesting opportunity, but know little about the market, it’s an excellent use of groups.
• To screen concepts. Concept screening is valuable in the opportunity scanning stage. The focus group setting is suitable for screening a range of concepts: product ideas, advertising themes, store design, web experience, and brand names. Remember, however, that this is for screening, gathering ideas, and harvesting attitudes and perceptions about the concepts, not measuring the magnitude of their appeal.
• When observing group interaction is important to the research:  This is the single most important criteria for moving ahead with focus group instead of other good qualitative techniques such as depth interviews, online forums, or online research communities.

Rule 2. Carefully manage the group recruitment and setting. Get the right people in the right setting.

• Insist on ‘fresh respondents’ if conducting a study among consumers. This means they haven’t participated in a group in over a year. Avoid using lists of pre-recruiting willing participants offered by research field services.
• Think through the exact profile of people desired for each group. If your objective is to reposition your brand, for example, it might be smart to have group participants be aware of or have bought two different brands in the category. A recruitment questionnaire should be tailored to screen for exactly the people appropriate for the group.
• For hard-to-recruit people consider remote techniques. These include phone conference call groups, web-based groups; or as a substitute use telephone depth interviews. (You don’t get the group interaction, but the results can be better than group settings.)

Rule 3. Talk to the moderator about moderation style; suggest giving weight to a non-directive approach.

I’ve observed some groups where the moderators guide is merely a list of direct, structured questions that are better suited for a survey.

• A non-directive approach is one that constructs questions that suggest a topic and then encourage participants to talk freely. The conversation is extended by using non-directive probes such as, “Tell me more about that…” or “What came to mind about using that product?”
• Projective techniques are often useful in easing participants out of an analytical mode. One projective technique, asks, “If this company were an animal what animal would it be? What would the competitors be?” In this way, they talk about brand image without being peppered with a series of brand questions.
• Use advance written questionnaires. This primes respondents on key issues to be discussed, and it gives them a reference for the group discussion, thus making it easier for the unpopular viewpoint to be mentioned. (“Well, no one else has said this, but…”)

Rule 4. Don’t count heads!

It’s tempting, but this is not a projectable quantitative method, no matter how many groups are done. (“Let’s see we did eight groups of ten, what percent liked our strategy scenario A.”) A positive thing about groups is that the group interaction can stimulate thoughts and discussion which is valuable. (I always know the group has been good, if participant start asking questions of the group.) The negative to this is the interaction nag “group effects” that can easily affect reported views.

Do you want to increase sales, refine pricing, or boost your brand name awareness or branding position in a target audience? Can you quickly use marketing research tools to achieve that singular goal? You sure can, and here’s how.

1. Clarify the marketing strategy decisions you must make. Before you start, make sure you are clear about the marketing strategy and tactical decisions you face. Market research for decision-making won’t pay unless you take this important first step.

2. Think first about your marketing decisions.

 Think creatively; key decisions are at play. List the possible decisions, problems, and opportunities. These could involve pricing, product development, advertising, branding, brand image, or channels. Work with each. Hold off on the filters and judgments. In the beginning, put all ideas on the table. Allow incubation time.

3. Target the right problem or opportunity.
 
Take time to explode the marketing problem or opportunity. Reframe. Take a fresh view. Rarely is the surface problem the real marketing strategy issue or opportunity. For example, if you’re losing market share, it might be only a symptom. It could mean creeping product lag, a weak sales engine, undifferentiated branding or positioning, uncompetitive advertising copy or ad reach, or something even worse.

4. Begin now with a simple process that moves toward enhanced decisions, and eventually to market share growth.


 Opportunity scanning is the first of four classical decision stages. Start there.

5. Ask four key questions.


 Start with what you know right now. Use these simple questions:
• What do we know now about our markets, our market opportunities, and our own strategic and marketing goals?


• What are the best marketing and operational opportunities as we understand them now?
• How can we frame our marketing and strategic options based on what we know now?
• What do we need to know that we do not know now — about strengths, weaknesses, our products, our markets, and our customers?

6. Adopt a broad view of Marketing Intelligence.
 At Power Decisions Group, we use the Intelligence Platform with three components: data, ideas, and management drivers. Harvest each.




7. Pinpoint your decision-making stage to drive market research objectives and design.

 At each stage, ask, “Do we have solid marketing information, or is more market research needed?” Use the Decision-Research Matrix. This matrix links likely research tools to each of the four stages in the Decision Pathway.


8. Don’t fall in love with any one marketing research tool or technique, e.g. focus groups, online surveys.

 A strong method for one decision stage may be wrong for another. 



9. Build deep knowledge about your customer. Know the attitudes, behaviors, and product or service use system of your target market. 


The key to building loyalty is deep knowledge of your audience and their drivers of brand choice.

10. Use a Decision Agenda that is updated weekly: this will force you to surface, address, and clarify problems and opportunities as part of your regular management routine.