Tag: market research

Why Customers Really Buy: Book Review

August 20, 2012 Blog 1 comment

How do you find out what truly makes your customers tick? Can you understand what your customer REALLY wants through surveys, focus groups, and structured interviews?

The answer, according to Linda Goodman and Michelle Helin, is “No”. Debunking traditional research predicated on the above yardsticks, the authors of “Why Customers Really Buy – Uncovering the Emotional Triggers that Drive Sales” claim that true insight can only be achieved through conducting emotional-trigger research.


Who Should You Really Target

November 16, 2011 Blog no comments


Courtesy of Lost & Found Online Marketing

One of the most important chapters in the book of marketing is customer segmentation and targeting. You need to know who you’re reaching and how you’re making your product or service relevant to their needs, wants or desires. Without a keen understanding of your target segment, everything else may fall apart.

The challenge however is this. How do you know who they really are?


To Research Or Not To Research?

October 17, 2011 Blog no comments


P&G researchers study customers where the action truly is (courtesy of Science in the Box)

Marketing research is a huge cannon in any marketer’s arsenal. Or is it?

The weapons of choice? Street surveys, focus group discussions, straw polls, online surveys, telephone interviews, and behavioural observations. Supplement these with secondary (desktop) research findings published by research houses and voila!, you’ll have the makings of a great marketing strategy.


Smashing Stereotypes

September 13, 2010 Blog 1 comment


Courtesy of Psychology Today

One of the greatest sins committed by many marketers like myself is this – we like to pigeonhole people into boxes.

From demographics (age, sex, income, education, residential type), psychographics (alternative lifestylers, tech-savvy, adventurous, metro-sexuals), geographic (American, Middle Easterner) to ethnic (Chinese, Indian, Malay, Others), there are always convenient labels for us to understand our target audiences.


Digging Deeper To Find Gold

June 14, 2010 Blog no comments


Finding treasure requires a lot of investigating and digging. Just ask Indiana Jones! (source)

In any successful marketing endeavour, one must be willing to think, live and breathe like one’s potential customer. This also means that preconceived notions and prejudices must be tested and thrown out the window if they are proven untrue.

What are some of these common misconceptions and myths? Let me offer some examples.


Eye Power versus i-Power

June 6, 2010 Blog no comments


Source

In the age of digital dominance and wicked widgets, one tends to lose the use of one’s primary senses. Lulled by the comforts of computers, one can become oblivious to one’s immediate surroundings and end up relying more on secondary rather than primary data.

By inadvertently shutting ourselves to the real world and gluing our eyes (and fingers) on our mobile computing devices, we may then rely on third party “gurus” and “experts”. We put our trust on the charts, trends, data, and analytics churned out by researchers who are often located half a world away.