Market Research is DEAD!

  Ok, well market research isn't totally dead, but according to Martin Lindstrom market research will be changed forever with neuromarketing. In his latest book Buy-ology Linstrom shares the results of the most extensive neurological study ever done. 
   Instead of asking people what they think or asking them to share the reasons they purchase the way they do, Linstrom and his team watched the brain while asking people questions or showing them images. One of the most shocking revelations was the fact that the anti-smoking campaigns were actually working for the tobacco companies. Linstrom interviewed several smokers and asked them if the warning signs bothered them when they purchased cigarettes. One woman said that it did, however when they did a scan of her brain when she looked at the warning sign, a signal rang in the motivator area of the brain. It was doing the opposite of deterring her, it was motivating her to purchase that cigarette. While it is unknown as to why this happens it is a huge insight into the behaviors of consumers. It also answers the question of why more people aren't quitting smoking when they see those warning signs.
   Because of findings like these, Lindstrom believes current market research techniques will soon die and new ones like these (neuromarketing) will take over. While current market research techniques like focus groups and surveys have their flaws that need to be flushed out still, I think we are still a long way from actually being able to use neuromarketing as a research tool. For one it is incredibly expensive to use the machinery for tests. Second, neuromarketing is a great tool for the aftermath of a marketing campaign. It can show researchers what part of the brain is triggered by certain ads, however it will never be able to tell researchers what the consumer wants in the future. To find this information out, I think focus groups and surveys is the best way to do it!


   Where do you think market research will go? Will tMRIs become cheaper and allow more people access to using them? Will marketing start working on the neurological level- if so, how will they do that? Lots to come in the next few years of marketing and I'm excited to see!!

The Power of Asking the Right Questions

In a recent study done by the CMO council, revealed that many companies are not closing on close to 80% of their leads, or potential sales. There are a few reasons as to why this number is so high. The biggest being structural problems within the company. For example many respondents said they do not have the tools to generate and create new business opportunities. Another issue is that many people do not think sales and marketing departments are functioning as efficient as they could be. These different factors are severely affected sales in companies around the country. 


From one study that asked the right questions, they were able to identify these major problems within multiple companies. With this knowledge companies can now focus their efforts into creating stronger, more understandable structures. This study shows the power of asking the right questions and how it can lead to a greater understanding of a problem. While structure is always a challenge for companies, they probably didn't realize how much of an impact it was having on their sales and revenue. 


For the complete analysis of this study go to Marketing Today

GutCheck!

Here is another example of how powerful the internet is for any company to get valuable information for very little cost. GutCheck is one the latest tools companies are using to hold focus groups over the internet. It allows market researchers to interview people one on one via an instant messenger platform, or do an entire group on the instant messenger platform. One of the largest challenges with focus groups is that there are always one or two people who will dominate the conversation. This tool allows market researchers to talk to everyone individually and get the most out of all of their participants. 

Another huge factor is diversity in geographic locations. Unless marketers are willing to spend the money to do focus groups across the country, the group is not very representative of the country. This could potentially skew the results of the focus group. Lastly there is costs. As the video below mentions it costs on average $700 per participant, whereas GutCheck is $40 per participant.

The only downside to this website is, the participants are actively online and willing to participate. Which means there might be a demographic/ psychographic that may be missing from this area. However, every tool has their downsides, its up to the market researcher to fill in the missing pieces with other tools!

To learn more about GutCheck check out their website at gutcheckit.com

Using Social Media for Market Research

As we know or can probably guess, social media has opened the doors to a two way road between marketers and consumers. Marketers can no longer push a message on the consumers without hearing feedback as well as consumers have a much stronger voice in the online world which forces companies to be more proactive and communicate with their customers in this online Community. Below is a video I found that shows social media is an asset to another department of the marketing group: the market research folks-

  As David C Skul of Relativity an internet market firm says in the video- social media is a great way to converse with customers as well as get very detailed demographic information. A profile can tell the market researcher so much information that it helps them narrow down who to talk to, or who is talking about their products in the social media world. 
   A company might think they need to target 14-19 year old males who play video games, however through research on social media sites like FaceBook and Twitter, that company may realize their actual market is 17-24 year old males who are active members of a community. This understanding will allow companies to market to their actual audience and connect with that audience.