Have you seen the latest study on how Twitter can influence purchase intent? What about the report that predicts that every American will have at least seven branded apps on their mobile device by 2010? Or the one that says email is all but forgotten by today's internet users, and all marketers who use that channel are officially beating a dead horse?
OK, these aren't real studies (not to my knowledge). But if they feel real, it's because you likely receive as many "ground-breaking" studies as I do. If one of those studies piques my interest -- and very few actually do -- I can spend hours picking it apart and even more time quizzing the author.
But if the marketing buck -- and budget -- stops at your desk, there's a good chance you don't have the same kind of time to read every study out there and drill deep on the ones you think have merit.
So how do you sort through the jungle of information? We asked some of the leading producers of those studies, as well as some top consumers of those reports, what they do to separate the wheat from the chaff, and -- just as importantly -- how they put those insights into action.
Integrate market intelligence with customer intelligence
Market intelligence doesn't happen in a vacuum. According to Carl Doty, VP and research director at Forrester Research, marketers who focus only on the latest study or findings -- and therefore disregard what they already know about their existing customers -- do so at their peril.
For Doty, the solution begins by clarifying some definitions, and then building in-house teams to digest the information and apply it to the brand's specific needs.
"There's 'market intelligence' (e.g., primary and secondary research findings), and then there's 'customer intelligence,' which by definition must include a deep analysis of a firm's existing customer data from all available sources," Doty explains. "I've found that the most mature firms maintain a dedicated team that is focused on the market intelligence piece, while also building core competencies in a separate customer intelligence team. This team uses technology to aggregate customer data and insight from all sources -- regardless of origin -- to drive customer-centric business decisions."
According to Doty, the distinction between market intelligence and customer intelligence can help keep a brand from getting bogged down in hypothetical theories and turn streams of information and insights into useful, actionable facts.
"Many of my clients call this 'fact-based marketing' or 'precision marketing,'" Doty says. "Market intelligence alone will get you insight and help develop hypotheses about what potential customers may or may not do or believe. Combining those valuable insights with real intelligence about existing customers helps to separate fact from theory and enable marketers to predict what customers will do based on facts about their past experiences with the firm."
Find out who you're talking about
Data aren't hard to come by in digital. But not all data are relevant to your brand, and according to Reineke Reitsma, VP and research director at Forrester Research, many CMOs make a big mistake by failing to appreciate what the data truly represent.
"If the data or information isn't representative for the audience the decision is relevant for, the information can be very misleading," says Reitsma, who adds that the problem is most pronounced when assessing social networks and online communities, where marketers frequently fail to appreciate the meaning of the data presented.
"If you don't know who [the data] represents, and if you don't know the size of your client base that's commenting on these platforms, the data should be used as directional only," Reitsma says.
Be open with your inquiry
While it's critical to zero in on the specifics goals for your brand, it's also important to be open to new possibilities when reading a research report.
According to Bill Patterson, a senior analyst at Mintel, marketers who can strike a balance between their specific goals and still keep an open mind stand to make the most out of their research reports.
"Be sure you know the question that you are trying to answer when going into the market for market intelligence. However, be open to exploring new avenues of inquiry as they open up," Patterson explains.
Filter, filter, filter
These days, what you read is just as important as who you read, especially when it comes to finding insights for your brand. According to Mark Silva, principal and managing director of Real Branding, the key is to use a vetted network of industry pros to filter in trusted, high-caliber information.
Building and maintaining a network of "trusted sources" is a good way to stay on the cutting edge, according to Silva, who argues in favor of crowd-sourcing the initial question -- is it worth my time to read this? -- as well as the secondary question presented by any new information -- what does it mean?
"We've found several events and our own custom network of Silicon Valley individuals -- some from the trusted research companies... many from the venture capital [space], start-up and tech crowds, along with a few of our contemporaries in the agency business -- are the best sources," says Silva, adding that the crowd-source approach can be broken down into beats for larger companies, putting one or two team members in charge of gathering insights for a particular subject area.
However, the use of social networking tools like Digg, Delicious, and Twitter (to name a few) allows any entity to share that information across the entire team.
But crowd-sourcing your filtering process may not be as useful as dedicating an employee, or even an outside vendor, to filtering and distributing critical information gleaned from research reports, says Evelyn Majewski, senior researcher at eMarketer.
"I understand that some companies might not have the resources to hire researchers, but I think it's important to have someone dedicated to this function," Majewski explains. "Whether it's a full-time hire or it's outsourced to other professionals, researchers can add a lot of value. Researchers know which sources specialize in which topics and how to efficiently find the data marketing teams need. While some resources cover the same topics, one may outshine another. Researchers and aggregators help you figure out which set of data is best for your needs."
Next page >>
