Archive for the ‘Market Research’ Category

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Lord Sugar Highlights How Simple It Can Be To Conduct Market Research

A few days ago, fresh from choosing his latest Apprentice (in the UK BBC show), Lord Sugar conducted some rather cutting-edge social media market research. The task that Lord Sugar was looking to complete was not the most business critical decision by any stretch of the imagination – however, it was still an important decision, and one that most publishers and designers will surely agree, can take much deliberation and an abundance of time. The task – to decide upon the cover for Lord Sugar’s latest book.

In The Apprentice, Lord Sugar is often talking of the importance of market research, and a few days ago he highlighted to all his twitter followers the apparent ease with which it can be undertaken. Lord Sugar posted a short message via his twitter account (http://twitter.com/Lord_Sugar) asking his followers to cast their eyes over three variations of a new cover for his up-coming book, and to then respond with their preference (cover 1, 2 or 3 – (view the images here)).

Sure enough, Lord Sugar’s followers duly obliged, and 24 hours later a twitter post appeared proclaiming cover number two to be the chosen winner.

So what had Lord Sugar achieved? Well, in the space of a day he had come up with a research problem, put the question to his market, and received the feedback he was looking for. And ofcourse, this was an act of measurement – the covers were already designed, so there was no need for qualitativefeedback as to what people liked about the covers, or how they could be improved. Lord Sugar got to the core of his problem rapidly, and got the measurement he needed.

Although this medium of social media research is fairly new (though certainly gathering pace rapidly), the principal of ‘dipstick’ research has been around for many years in various forms, through tools such as omnibus surveys and panels. With an omnibus survey, a specific question (or number of questions) can be submitted to a target market or a particular sample pool, on a syndicated survey that may run weekly/bi-weekly/monthly. Results are usually turned around in a number of days. Surveys of this nature are indeed very useful in terms of gauging a quick response from the market and gathering attitudes towards a particular topic; however, they are unable to answer more in-depth research objectives, where a wide range of questioning is required.

Research using social media channels is certainly more prevalent in consumer research than in business research – though its usage in a b2b capacity is certainly growing. Indeed, b2b research inherently leans more towards multi-modal methodologies, as many projects seek to address a number of sub-objectives. Projects may combine exploratory focus groups with a programme of desk research, followed by a quantitative telephone survey, in order to meet a project objective. And of course, all research tools have their strengths and weaknesses, their applications where they yield the best results, and Lord Sugar highlights the strengths of social media research here.

There is, of course, much more to social media research – attitudes to brands can be tracked through syndication tools, key trends and problems can also be identified and addressed – and much more. Indeed, it too is a methodological approach that could complement an array of other methodologies being used in a multi-method piece of research. The uses and possibilities are quite vast – those mentioned in these few paragraphs are very much the tip of the iceberg.

Lord Sugar’s dipstick twitter research certainly delivered quick results, and certainly met his research objective of gathering market opinion on which book cover is preferred. So, perhaps this could be a methodology that would be best used for answering questions whereby a response is either time critical, or where a rough quantitative gauge is required.

The pool of followers that each twitter user has (whether a person or company) could be considered to be its own miniature panel – or twitterpanel, if you will. Though this pool of followers may not be representative of a company’s customer base, or a person’s typical readership (as in Lord Sugar’s case), they certainly have a vested interest in the said account, otherwise they wouldn’t be following it. This is a panel that is instantly accessible, and as Lord Sugar shows, can answer a simple research problem in an extremely short space of time.

Though it is unlikely that this type of dipstick research through twitter can ever replace typical surveys (not least because twitter followers will no doubt be averse to being over-researched, let alone its limitations) it can certainly provide an excellent gauge on a market’s attitudes.

Ever the entrepreneur, Lord Sugar has taken a problem and found a simple, effective, and free solution.

Posted in Market Research, Sampling, Social Networking |
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An Insightful Discussion

Every year, Marketing Magazine gathers together a panel of experts for its Greater Insight Round Table event. On the day, some of the UK’s leading market researchers discuss what’s hot and what’s not at the moment.

This year, one of the main findings was that there is now no end of channels for gauging opinion, something which only heightens the need to know which data will provide the most effective insights for clients.

To see what the experts had to say in full, please click here

Posted in Articles, Market Research, Market Research Conversations |
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Business Surgery – Market Research Is Dead!

In our next Business Surgery, Nick Hague discusses how the world of market research is changing.

Market research is dead! Or at least it may be in its traditional sense. Times they are a-changing. For a long time at B2B International we have argued that delivering strategic insights is the key reason why companies commission market research in the first place; not for the sake of providing even more data. This is even more important in today’s world where data explosion has rendered marketeers paralysed.

Think of a ‘typical’ market researcher and in your mind you may conjure up a picture of either a back office fact finder or a lady with a clip board in the street wanting to find out what cereal you had for breakfast this morning. Of course, business-to-business research is very different to consumer research and we, at B2B International, would like to think we have broken the mould and bridged the gap between market researchers and consultants. However, whether carrying out consumer research or business-to-business research, a market researcher in the modern world needs to be a data analyst who can synthesize the myriad of datafeeds that are open to us today but more importantly pull out the key action points from a study to clearly inform a client what it all means and what the next steps should be.

Kevin Lonnie in his latest article, ‘The Limiting Adjective of “Marketing” Research’, talks about a changing market research world:

Even the AMA has dropped the word “Marketing” to promote their annual research conference. After 30+ years the “Marketing Research Conference” is no more; the event is now being called the AMA Research and Strategy Summit. When even the American Marketing Association is running away from the word “marketing” how many more hints does it take before we realize that the times are a changing?

With the increasing use of social media and a greater use of buzzwords like innovate, ideate, insight, collaborate and crowdsource being used; is this not a sign that the industry needs to act and become more like consultants:

While marketing research is and remains part of who we are, it no longer confines and defines us. Rather, we need to stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. We need to reclaim our rightful role as conduit to the customer and the guardian of rigorous scientific principles. But we also need to seize the moment and become strategists integral to our clients’ success.

Kevin argues that it is time for a name change for the industry: “a new descriptor for our industry, one that respects our past, but speaks to our present and our future”. Maybe, but I would argue that actions speak louder than words and in this modern world, the winners will be those that can walk the walk (rather than just brand labeling) and add value whilst delivering action to more readily meet the needs of client’s customers and deliver growth and differentiation for their organisation.

To read ‘The Limiting Adjective of “Marketing” Research’ visit click on the link.

Posted in Market Research, Marketing, Nick Hague, The Business Surgery |
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Your Company Is At Risk!

91% of companies have experienced at least one IT security event from an external source in the last 12 months

That is just one of the results of the ‘Global IT Security Risks’ survey conducted by Kaspersky Lab in partnership with B2B International, a global research agency, specializing in business research. More than 1,300 IT professionals in 11 countries participated in the survey.

The most common security threat comes in the form of viruses, spyware and other malicious programs. 31% of malware attacks resulted in some form of data loss, with 10% of companies reporting the loss of sensitive business data.

Only 70% of companies have implemented anti-malware protection fully across their businesses; 3% have no protection at all. The level of anti-malware implementation varies from country to country: in emerging markets 65% of companies have adopted it, while in the UK and US levels of implementation stood at 92% and 82% respectively. Despite this, the vast majority of companies still experienced an IT security breach in the last 12 months, and almost a third lost business information.

“Such an attitude is surprising when you know that almost half of all organizations see cyber-threats as one of the top-three emerging risks: IT strategy is ranked even higher than financial, marketing and human resources strategy,” said Alexander Erofeev, Director of Market Intelligence & Insight at Kaspersky Lab. “The most likely explanation is underinvestment in IT security.” Indeed, the study shows that every second company evaluates its IT security budget as insufficient, and estimates that an increase of 25% or more is required. Currently, the average investment in IT security is reported to be $8,055 for small businesses, $83,200 for medium-sized companies and $3,263,476 for large corporations.

Background To The Research:

The research was performed in partnership with B2B International, one of the leading global research agencies. More than 1300 IT professionals in 11 countries participated in the survey . All of them influence IT policies and take part in evaluating security risks. The survey covers businesses of all sizes, starting from small (10-99 people) to medium (100-999) and large (1000+). A wide range of topics relating to IT security were covered, including wider business risks, actions taken to protect the business, and incidents that have occurred.

Posted in Market Research |
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Tales Of The Not So Unexpected

In her latest Thursday Night Insight, Simi Dhawan assesses the place of stereotypes and clichés in the world of b2b marketing

Political correctness credibly avoids offending others and yet conflicts with our psychological well-being. Whilst we’re fiercely encouraged – even warned, of the dangers of spurting out some stereotype or saying anything that might come across as casually anti-social, in psychological terms, we could argue that in some cases, our psyche inherently needs to build stereotypes to make sense of the world. Put briefly, the classification scheme in psychology termed “pigeonholing” suggests that we’re so overloaded with information entering our five senses each and every day, that we need to “group” some of it together or, at least, make general inferences (based on previous knowledge) to digest it all. Of course, that is not to overlook the dangers of making wrong assumptions – particularly those based on social stereotypes.

A few weeks ago now, myself and a colleague made our way in the early hours from Manchester to Liverpool, given that Liverpool airport was the nearest location from which we could enjoy a direct flight to Poland, courtesy of “Whizz Air” (recommended – if only for the shocking bright pink theme that runs throughout the logo, aircraft and cabin crew attire). On entry into the main check-in, in full view of all of Liverpool’s finest, was an enlarged poster, advertising a certain ‘commercial sparkling light perry’ that is not unfamiliar to some of us:

Now, whilst I have been unable to source the identical visual delight that graced our eyes that very day, if you imagine the above bottles surrounded by wide-eyed party-clad young females holding wine glasses, then you wouldn’t be too far off. On noticing this advert, I recalled an earlier conversation with my colleague that in the early hours, amongst the check-in counters of many a budget airline, you can often expect to enjoy the gleeful laughter of a “hen do” party or two. With this nostalgic recollection, I couldn’t help but think “good on you, Lambrini, you know your target market!”

About a week later a casual remark from a close friend revealed that Lambrini is actually manufactured in Liverpool – so was this more about inevitable geographical and commercial convenience or was this a targeted marketing ploy?

Still undecided, I went about reviewing other advertising campaigns to see if there was any more evidence to secure a view on how far stereotypes are played upon and it quickly became clear that my original suspicions were right. A few experiences (in front of the box) and conversations (in the pub) later, some interesting observations came to fruition – where the most active stereotypes appeared to play on the differences between males and females.

Amongst my “fieldwork”, the first growing trend I enjoyed was with advertisers seemingly offering females the “upper hand” at the expense of de-masculinising many a slightly ridiculed man. I share a personal favourite, as follows:

- The “Treat It With Respect” Toyota Yaris campaign wherein a young female who is begrudged by her boyfriend’s mistreatment of her beloved car two days before (when he spills some food in it) later gets him back by “accidentally” ruining a picture she takes of him and one of his favoured celebrities they bump into (‘Gaz’ from Supergrass, for those interested). See below link:

The second observation was the slightly shameless “tongue-in-cheek” manner by which advertisers blatantly flog their products by building their campaigns upon a broad cliché. For example:

-The Lynx Excite “Even Angels Will Fall” adverts revolve around vaguely patronising your average male by enticing them into purchasing a deodorant that is so irresistible that it will send a plurality of model-esque females in their direction – angels inclusive:

Whilst it might be easy to try and sabotage an advertiser’s attempt to allure their target consumers by advocating the use of general clichés, I hesitate to do so. It appears that this activity is a complete necessity if you are to successfully plan and execute your marketing activities by following The Four “R’s” Of B2B Marketing, namely:

1. Revenue – Marketers must generate revenue opportunities

2. Reputation – Marketers must build the company’s reputation/brand by engaging customers

3. Relationships – Marketers need to creatively strengthen relationships with customers/partners/media and reduce “distant gaps”

4. Relevant – Marketers must have something meaningful, relevant and of value to customers

Indeed, taking the aforementioned Lynx advert as an example, it does appear as though this brand has been successful in meeting these B2B Marketing guiding principles:

1. Revenue – It targets the advert towards those most likely to purchase the product (men) and makes use of TV as a medium which will easily reach a mass market.

2. Reputation – It consistently falls in line with other campaigns e.g. ‘the Lynx effect’ which similarly follows the theme of a deodorant that enhances male desirability from the opposite sex. (However, does this alienate non-heterosexual consumers?)

3. Relationships – By offering some level of consistency, this, in turn, enhances the brand image of Lynx. It makes it more memorable and clear to understand what the brand is about – avoiding any ambiguity or “distant gaps”.

4. Relevant – Although it is built around the male stereotype that within their “psyche” exists the shallow desire to attract the attention of beautiful women, it is altogether presented in a very “tongue-in-cheek” fashion. Often overly enthusiastic and quite openly a visual satire with angels dropping from heaven whilst passers-by look up in the sky in awe. In this way, it does not ridicule the brand or bore viewers, but entertains and makes us smile.

In B2B market research, whilst we approach each project from an objective stance, we would be lying if we told you that we never involve any common sense in our analysis. In a recent European research project examining bathroom usage of general home-owners, it would have been impossible to not have an expectation on “activities carried out in the bathroom” and was therefore a reassuring finding that more males than females trim their beards each morning (suggesting our data was representative of our prior understanding!)

However, it is often good research practice to include a few “sense check” questions in any survey, to help validate the accuracy of your data in general, where if something looks out of the ordinary, then you can assess your approach. In this respect, taking human experience and general judgements into consideration (even those that could sit inside a common finding or cliché) is not a disadvantage – but a valuable skill. In short, research is not an exercise employed to unveil a host of new surprises to the marketers commissioning any project; rather, it exists to further refine and build on our pre-existing thoughts and inferences. To further demonstrate my view that clichés can work in our favour, I (in clichéd fashion) end with a quote by the eminently wise Stephen Fry:

“It is a cliché that most clichés are true, but then like most clichés, that cliché is untrue.”

Posted in Market Research, Simi Dhawan, Thursday Night Insight |
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