How the Like Button Changes Everything

November 30, 2010 By 3 Comments

You can’t go 5 minutes without hearing another story about the impact of social media on… well… everything. How it changes the way we communicate. How it changes the way we shop, engage customers, learn about partners and competition. The list goes on, and on, and on.

At the center of most (if not all) of these stories is Facebook. Certainly the most popular and broadly recognized social network, Facebook now boasts hundreds of millions of users, over $1 billion in revenue, and over $50 billion in value for its owners. But one could argue that its greatest impact lies in one simple feature.
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Filed Under: Market Research, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

So What?

November 29, 2010 By 2 Comments

Excited Market Researcher: I have some really amazing information on the correlation between propensity to buy our product and the level of technical certification of the buyer. When can I present my findings to you?

Sales Leader: Uh cool. We’ll see if my team has some cycles and will get back to you but not sure we can fit it in.

Excited Market Researcher: The fact is that this stuff is really good. We’ve been able to uncover some very strong associations and I think anyone at the company can benefit from these insights.

Sales Leader: Thanks bud. As I said, we’ll look into it. You know, my guys are slammed.

Excited Market Researcher: But…..

Sales Leader: Look man, great to hear you are doing cool research, but, really, so what?

Ever been in this position? Who do you think is missing the boat here?

I think both parties are committing the same crime, that of narrowness and lack of empathy.

If you can’t bridge your work to that of others, then you, by definition, will fail. If you don’t embed the “so what?” in your pitch then don’t even open your mouth.

And if you are too “busy” to get the gift of insights from someone passionate enough to share, then go flip burgers somewhere.

Seriously.

Filed Under: Career, Market Research Tagged With: , ,

What Will Consumer Behavior Teach us on Cyber Monday?

November 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

As we experience “Cyber Monday” (the online edition of Black Friday, considered one of the busiest online shopping days of the year), we consider the recent release of a compilation and analysis of current studies by Mintel implies that businesses should remain cautious as the economy continues to recover from this most recent recession. Top among the observations, Mintel notes that consumers are more vigilant about their spending and less likely to carelessly consume after they have felt the constraints of a strained budget over the course of the recession. It also suggests that the retail industry may have to re-invent itself in order to keep brick-and-mortar stores afloat. But there are other significant, positive trends as well, like consumers’ desire to go green, the continuing rise of the iPhone app (“in the US, sales of smartphones grew 82%”), and the gradual shift of gender roles as “women are earning and learning more than men.”
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Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

…A Three Hour Tour

November 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Ever had a project at work that you thought would just take a little time and effort and turned out to engulf your life? One of those onions with infinite peels? A simple left turn that led you to an alternate universe?

I’ve had a few such instances and in each case the journey, while seemingly endless, was on balance really rewarding. You can bet that anytime there any problem so hairy that every time you find some success, a new vista to explore opens is one that is highly applicable to other situations. If you get closer to the solution (and if you actually find a solution) you will have undoubtedly moved the world forward just a little bit.

In a very real sense, the lack of desire to identify these problems and follow them to their wonderful conclusion is the problem with corporate America. It’s easier to pull up short, to get tired, to retreat to the quotidian tasks of everyday-work.

My suggestion to every professional is to identify that White Whale and to go after it. But instead of slaying it, catch its song.

Filed Under: Career, Innovation Tagged With: , , ,

Room Service and Market Research: SAME FAIL

November 21, 2010 By 1 Comment

A bagel and one poached egg spurred my desire to turn Market Research on its head.

Not kidding.

Waking up in a hotel room the other day to find myself with only 30 minutes to spare before an important conference call, I was ravenous.  I wanted to get some breakfast, prep for the call, and “eat on mute” as the conference progressed.  So I dutifully glanced through the room service menu and despite being accosted at every turn by ridiculous prices, I found my way close to the end when I saw that I’d be lucky enough to have to pay an extra $7.50 for the right to be granted service in my room.  6 bucks for a bagel, 6.50 for an egg, and a service charge on top of it, plus of course a little something-something for the forlorn soul who has to serve annoying traveling businessman like me.  25 greenbacks for white dough and cholesterol- nah not worth it.

So I ran down in my workout clothes, bought a delicious wheat bagel and cream cheese along with one egg at a local deli, handed over 4 bucks and made my way back in time for the call which, incidentally, went very well and not just because I was on a high for sticking it to the Man.

In this transaction, both the local deli and I benefitted.  The hotel, however, lost and lost big.  I was ready to pay 3X for the convenience but not 8x.  And when it comes to room service, there is no “medium position,” no compromise, no sense of economic thresholds, after which one is essentially destroying one’s own market.

Sounds a bit like what I call BIG Market Research.  Sure, there are scrappy companies out there but the big firms brandish room-service like price lists and justify it in the same way hoteliers justify their larceny:  the notion of sole access.

When you are in a hotel room, the only real way to get hot food delivered to your room is through room-service.  When you work in a big company, the only real way to get anointed research is from fat, dumb, and happy big research companies that have market reach and scale (so they mythology goes.)

In both cases, I’d opt for the 4 buck deli version- the same stuff but without all the fanfare.

If you are in the MR business, think hard about this.  If you buy MR from others, walk outside and find the corner shop.

Filed Under: Budgets, Market Research, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Stuff I Want to Know

November 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I wish had the answers to a few burning questions I have about technology and the state of the economy. I hope RA readers can help me answer them, though I suspect one would have to correlate a ton of data sets that aren’t available to do so.

(Gee, wouldn’t it be cool if we could actually FREE THE DATA!)

Question 1: How many folks buying Apple Products buy them on credit cards and then don’t pay the credit card in full at the end of the month?

Question 2: How many folks buying Apple Products have negative networth?

Question 3: How many folks who own iPhones refuse to buy health insurance because of cost?

I am really curious because of an article I am researching on the consumer technology bubble.

Let me know what you think!

Filed Under: Budgets, Digital, Market Research, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Face to Face

November 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I love industry conferences. End of story. I like meeting friends, peers, and hearing new ideas. I like the after-hours bar-time when people get a bit more unplugged and talk about their ideas and how these ideas relate to work and life. If it weren’t for the pause I get because of the huge environmental impact inherent in conferences and trade-shows, I’d be an unabashed cheerleader. But, again, on balance I enjoy attending industry events a ton.

But I do find a few things really funny, notably the efflorescence of conferences on things like Web 2.0 technologies, the Cloud, Mobility, and the Internet in general. I find the disjuncture between the supposed “untethering” of people from the vicissitudes of geography and the need for face-to-face meetings in which we “tether” ourselves to each other, well, hypocritical.

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Filed Under: Events, Innovation Tagged With: , ,

How to Present Research Data in a Way that Inspires Action

November 18, 2010 By 2 Comments

It’s one thing to collect data and feedback – but quite another to analyze and present the data in a way that is clear and inspires action.

The Power Presentation Outline

Here’s a presentation outline that you can use the next time you have to put together a killer presentation using research data.
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Filed Under: Career, How-To, Market Research Tagged With: , ,

Is it just me, or did Microsoft miss the point?

November 18, 2010 By 1 Comment

I’m going to go out on a limb for a bit and critique something about which I have only incomplete information. I guess that hasn’t stopped most of us in the past though.

As anyone who follows happenings in the mobile world probably knows by now, Microsoft has just launched their new Windows Phone 7 in the market this week. Reviews are generally positive and this offering is expecting to be a serious and compelling alternative to the iPhone and various Android based devices.

Some of you may have also seen the TV commercials for the phone (a quick search should find the “Really” TV spots). The commercials are well produced, interesting and quirky in a way and generally well received by most lay people (amongst the target audience) that I’ve spoken with. There’s just one problem I think.

People don’t walk away with the core message that Microsoft is trying to communicate via these spots – that the new Windows Phone lets you get on with life without losing yourself in your phone. Instead most people I’ve spoken with believe the ads convey that the new Windows Phone is so interesting that you’ll be completely engrossed in it. Ouch!

Sounds like they totally missed the point. I wonder how these ads tested not just at the concept stage but post production as well.
What do you think?

Filed Under: Advertising, Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

The Social Enterprise: Barely at Operational

November 17, 2010 By 1 Comment

I recently attended the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Santa Clara, CA, an industry event focused around what people are deeming “the social enterprise,” and I noticed an interesting transition afoot; namely the transition that takes place when a business idea goes from conceptual to operational. Put simply, this transition occurs when a business idea or model makes the leap from being sold as a vision of what could be, to being sold as a process which businesses are incorporating into their methods of conducting business.

Eventually, for these ideas to gain real currency, they have to be institutionalized. In other words, they have to become part of the air that enterprises breathe.

From conceptual to operational to institutional.  That is the evolutionary chain of an idea.

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Filed Under: Innovation, Market Research, Planning Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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