Using Research to Grow Your Business

USING RESEARCH TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS SOUTH TEXAS WOMEN’S BUSINESS CENTER WOMEN’S BUSINESS SYMPOSIUM SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

INTRODUCTION INSPIRE CHANGE “ ” Tim Craig, Ph.D. Cultural Anthropologist GDC Elizabeth Anderson Marketing Manager GDC

Anthropology & Marketing, What’s the Connection? What is Cultural Anthropology? Ethnography ‘ grass roots’ approach—don’t speculate, ASK the consumer Many ethnographic methods In-depth interviews Focus groups Random on-the-spot discussions Send ahead exercises Social media integration

Research Cycle—Circular and Continuous

Strategies and Tips (general) 1. State your research goals immediately 2. Use the web — find out what’s out there, what’s been done, gaps,  use what’s been done for your benefit (data) 3. Apply findings to your study Case study: Hybrid Mom  transition from woman to mother and her changing habits/behavior Perceptions drive decisions and purchasing behavior 4. Use common sense — You cannot apply the same strategies/methodologies for research on cancer patients and doctors with research on shampoo branding and sales strategy . What’s the point? Look for: cultural/emotional/identity triggers in addition to pragmatic solutions to drive your business

Strategies & Tips (Methodological) From IDI’s to quick surveys to focus groups; capabilities continue to grow with technological advancements Still, there is value in the old school Both qualitative and quantitative applications Customize approach according to the data you seek AND the audience you are targeting e.g. hybrid methodology utilizing two or more methods  tailored to fit any size project  small business to enterprise level corporation Case Study: Physician’s study

Strategies & Tips (cont.) Surveys yield quick and inexpensive data Easy creation: Surveymonkey Easy to reach out: newsletter recipients, customer database, blogging groups, Facebook/Twitter accounts, Craigslist, etc. 2. Redundancy – ask the same question in different ways to verify consistency 3. Qualitative questions at the end Yields comparative data Consumer can answer questions in their own words 4. Further participation question

Strategies & Tips (Methodological) Talking to the people Interviews—meet in consumer’s comfort zone (e.g. home, work, restaurant, etc.)  more comfortable  chat openly and freely - Observations can validate or invalidate what person is saying/doing – Cultural Identity Send ahead exercises Photo/video/written journals, mobile/text uploads, etc.  Tech Mapping exercises – map out daily actions with comments (interactions, retailers, etc.) 7. Incentives —offer contests to save money e.g. target gift card contest

Red Flags for Secondary Sources Don’t take one article/source as gospel Legitimate source—watch out for the web - e.g. Wikipedia, bloggers, opinion oriented websites, ulterior motives Say versus do - e.g. Case Study: Liquor Store Skewed data – people who fill in whatever answer just for chance at an incentive

 Top 5 Lessons Learned  Record your conversations whenever possible—you cannot remember everything! Observe, Observe, Observe—surroundings tell a lot about people and their behavior Direct translations can sometimes have bad results Be VERY clear about what you’re offering as an incentive People really do want to talk and be heard, you just have to figure out how to get passed their burgeoning skepticism

User-Generated Ideas and Research Online tools enable businesses to better understand real activity and real associations users make every day about your brand/business and your competition. - Continually Monitor - Evaluate - Adjust

User-Generated Ideas and Research There are a variety of simple to use tools that can help you: Locate your key words Listen Engage

Locate Your Keywords To best manage your online presence, you must understand what people associate with your brand, and with your Competition. Google Toolbox: Wonder Wheel Google Trends Google Analytics

Google Analytics Easy to install on any site (big or small), provides invaluable data for free It’s not scary – online tutorials available

Tips For Using Google Analytics Think Trends vs. specific numbers Allow numbers to normalize prior to experimenting Your data defines you – most website comparisons are apples to oranges Tricks of the Trade Filter out your activity from the site. You want customer data, not your data. Use your IP or domain as filter. If you have a business partner that also accesses site a lot, filter out their activity too. Grow into it at your own pace. You may not need to report on all the functions the tool offers. Baby steps.

Listen Web 2.0 and the rise of social media has introduced “user generated content” and it’s significant impact on consumer behavior. Understanding where the products, services, or related conversations that are of interest to a marketer are taking place within social media channels and communities is the key first step.

Listen Use social monitoring tools to keep an eye on what people are saying about your brand, your competitors and the keywords you previously identified. Twitter Facebook Blogs

Twitter & Twitter Tools A variety of applications are available to administer your twitter feeds Hootsuite, Tweetdeck etc. Use these applications to monitor mentions as well as keyword driven conversation Before you can be a leader in the social sphere, you have to be an intentional and diligent listener

Facebook This just in: Facebook is not a fad More than 500 million active users 50% of all active users log in on a given day Average user has 130 friends More than 900 million objects people can interact with (fan pages, groups, community pages) Average user has 80 connections (fan pages, groups)

Engage With the information gathered through you user-generated research you can formulate your “Rules Of Engagement” Where will we be? (must at least be on Facebook & Twitter, these should be linked to your company site) What is our social media persona? Now that we know what people are saying – what can we do to scaffold the conversation?

Engage Tips for Engagement Marketing Encourage two-way communication, ask open ended questions, encourage consumer participation (share their experiences, post photos etc). Strive to be as personal as possible. A personal response and interaction deepens the consumers relationship with the brand. Be consistent with your “voice” and messages. Continuously Monitor, Evaluate & Adjust

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Using Research to Grow Your Business

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