Good Market Research - Getting to Know Your Customers

We are motivated by two things, praise or reward. It’s kind of funny, but whether you are 3 years old or 43 years old, it’s the same. I can make my son do chores or homework without a fight simply by offering him ice cream. I know I am willing to go the extra mile for an adult version of ice cream (for me that’s the latest teckie gadget). Oh heck… who am I kidding? Real ice cream still works for me too. The point is how do you motivate your customers?

The first step is to understand your customers. Market research can help you know who your customers are, as well as what they want. You have to ask the right questions though. If you don’t really know your customers you will not retain them, thus leaving you to chase after new ones constantly. Don’t just follow your instincts as many companies do. Take the time and really get to know them. Ask the right questions; get the facts; and therefore discover how to motivate your customers.

Election Jitters? Is Business Uncertainty Holding you Back?

Change, we don’t like it. In fact, we not only fear it. Many of us dread it. It doesn’t matter what it is. Whether it’s changing small things like the route we drive to work or our toothpaste, it stresses us out and makes us anxious.

Many eyes were on Denver this week when President Obama and Governor Romney met for the first of the presidential debates. Business decision makers from the U.S. and abroad were hoping to get their first glimpse into the future White House occupants, and with good reason. There are a host of policy alternatives at play in this election that will affect the course of industries from healthcare to energy, transportation to construction, and telecom to agriculture.

How market research is more than just hiney hygiene!

I can’t think of any classy way to say this, so I’ll just say it straight out. When you think of toilet paper you think of - - well -- hineys, bums, tushies, a caboose, keister, arse…. the list goes on. OK I admit it; I actually looked up slang words for buttocks!

But I digress. Procter & Gamble is the undisputed leader in the U.S. toilet paper market. Charmin toilet paper has been around for 70 years, so clearly it has wiped the cheeks of everyone from Harry S. Truman to Lady Gaga. They probably know everything there is to know about butts! Maybe there’s piped music blaring through their offices by Sir Mix-a-lot. "I like big butts, and I cannot lie!" Alright, maybe not, but how great would that be!

Advertising in Education - Old School or New School?

Marketing and advertising evident in a 1910 Schoolhouse

If you think that advertising in schools is a relatively new phenomenon, look closely at the wall of this 1910 restoration of Rosehill Schoolhouse at the Cherokee Strip Museum in Oklahoma. Along with the wood burning stove, well worn desks and dusty chalk boards you will notice a handful of advertisements for local businesses. Direct marketing in schools has been around for at least the last century; it is an interesting exercise to see how some of the marketing efforts have changed.

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The UK Pub Scene

After living in London for a year I can tell you that the British Pub is still the center of after-work activity, and in many parts, during work activity. But the Pubs are under siege from low-priced super-market beer, taxes and the living room.

According to a market research report by Marketresearch.com partner IBISWorld, the Pub and Bar industry got caught between legislative changes that bumped up the operating costs and the “crippling economic recession" that started in late 2008.

Apple and Market Research...I knew it

I knew it.
For years Apple claimed, or at least Steve Jobs did, that market research was something he just didn’t do. He famously said that he knew what the public wanted, not the customers.
However, the Wall Street Journal reported that in the patent war with Samsung they found studies entitled Apple Market Research and Analysis, surveying customers on iPhone preferences. Say what??