CLEARED FOR TAKE-OFF: Internal Research and Consensus Building

Internal research is often just as important as external research for the launch of a new campaign, product or brand. Why? Not only does it provide insight from key company decision-makers and stakeholders, it begins to activate their “buy-in” – one of the most important elements of any launch.

Obtaining internal buy-in is often one of the most overlooked elements in a launch plan, perhaps because it covers such a potentially broad range of people. Think of all the different constituents who are affected by a new product launch: everyone from line employees to marketing staff, sales force, executives, board directors, shareholders, even partner companies. Unfortunately, without their blessing and support, the launch is not going to reach its full potential for success. Putting on sales conferences to educate the staff and sales reps for the new product is great, but if that presentation doesn’t really engage them and motivate them, you could be in big trouble.

So how do you go about getting buy-in? It is usually best to help your key players feel some ownership early in the process…starting with research. Typically, internal research starts with realizing there’s a need for a new product – which should be an ongoing process, not just limited to the R&D department. Ask the employees that interact with customers about the ongoing demands and product requests received from current and prospective customers. Perhaps you conduct focus groups with top performing sales and customer service staff, an online anonymous survey with the entire staff, or a hard copy survey at the next sales meeting. Whatever the tactics used, an important ongoing goal of your internal research is to determine market needs.

When a new product is being developed, survey the new product launch team about what they view as its major benefits. Compare this feedback with the market demand you’ve identified both externally and internally. This will help you examine the product’s value proposition, the reasons why customers should invest in it. Understanding the product’s benefits and point of difference will also lead into developing a name.

Admittedly, name development is one of the touchiest points of a product launch. Some companies try to use research to gain internal buy-in at this point; i.e., asking employees to submit suggestions into the mix of names developed by the marketing department/ad agency. While this occasionally works, we don’t recommend it – “creative by committee” is usually a recipe for disaster. However, convening a small group of key players from different functional areas for a comprehensive input session prior to the agency starting is a good idea. Think of it as a representative government, with each person polling staff in their department for specific concerns and insights and then articulating that nuanced input to the agency.

This same group can serve as a sounding board to review the initial group of possible names from the agency and provide them with feedback – a key part of the overall vetting process. This internal “sniff test” will almost always identify several names or phrases which may make sense on the surface but just don’t feel right to internal audiences who are intimately familiar with the product, market and competition.

Once a final name is selected, of course, one more piece of external research should be done – a trademark check conducted by legal counsel. However, before going to market, a final internal survey should be done to review and sign off on the chosen name, value statement, and logo design. Once consensus has been reached by the group of representatives, they should be charged with helping sell it in to their functional areas – after all, they’ve been involved all through the process.

Keep in mind, this is a general approach to pre-launch internal research and consensus building. However, there’s no cookie cutter way to do it. An incredibly wide range of variables can come into play, including the size of the company, privacy/confidentiality concerns, market considerations, model year timing and so on.

But regardless of the specific situation, suffice it to say that if you want your external brand, product or campaign launch to be successful, don’t just focus on external market research. Listen to the ideas of the company’s thought leaders, cultivate their buy-in and get everyone singing from the same song book. Then you’re truly cleared for take-off.

If you think about it, hardly a day goes by where we don’t each conduct some type of research. It might be very quick and simple, such as where to go for lunch; a little more involved, such as what type of running shoes to buy; or even something fairly in-depth, like zeroing in on the model of car you want to purchase. Whatever the case, almost all of us do research continuously on our own behalf…and (if you’re like me) you are always analyzing our tools and results. The same process can, and should, apply to the research we do for clients and their businesses. Here are some guidelines:

The Obvious…
1. Have a Goal
Before starting any type of market research, be sure to clearly define your goals and objectives. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, it’s going to make it difficult to find valuable information. (Sure you want a good lunch place, but is it for a client lunch? A date? An inexpensive lunch?) These goals will help define the path you’re going to take to find what you need.

2. Analyze Multiple Sources
If you were thinking about purchasing a new car would you go to that manufacturer’s website to conduct your research? Perhaps. But you certainly wouldn’t stop there. Other sites, car reviews, testimonials and or magazines would probably be on your “hit list,” too. The same holds true when conducting research for our clients. Don’t rely on just one source for information. This helps us collect measurable data points instead of anecdotal notes and opinions. You want to learn about key competitors, relative market share, product price points, etc. If all you have is opinionated statements, you haven’t gone far enough in your research.

Things to consider…
3. Keyword Search
We all know how to do a simple web search using Google and Yahoo. Take that a step farther by searching for “keywords” that customers (not you) would use to find your type of products or services. See how much interest there is in these keywords (including negative terms) and how many competitors you have in the market. Again the key here is to think like a customer, not a company insider. For example, search “jet ski” instead of the preferred industry term “personal watercraft” or “back pain” instead of “musculoskeletal disorders.”

4. Keep Market Research Unbiased
Be sure that from the beginning you’re completely honest with yourself regarding your results. If you start out only looking to confirm what you want to believe, you will immediately insert bias into your research. The point of your research is to find out specific answers to specific questions, and to harvest data that you can use reliably to predict the future success or failure of a product or service.

Preparing for action
5. Interpreting Your Data
Once you have your results be sure to do another reality check. At this point we may become tempted to throw out results that don’t conform to our beliefs going into the research, which would add a bias to the data. Your goal is to accurately interpret the results, regardless of the outcome. While we would all love for our research data to confirm what we feel is “right,” the entire point of performing the research is to let the target market tell us what they’re looking for, not to confirm what we feel or believe.

Research plays a crucial role in marketing strategy, product planning and business strategy in general. By following these simple rules of thumb, you’ll ensure the research you do yields valid, actionable results. And you’ll probably find a great lunch spot.

Thanks to technology, marketers today have an almost infinite amount of resources at their fingertips – from search engines, to online periodicals and research databases. Add to that: social networks.

Yep, I said social networks.

Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn, combined with our growing addiction to social updates and technology that is constantly within reach, can provide marketing and business professionals with an abundant amount of real-time data, without having to invest gobs of money into time-intensive research and development studies. And the process is kind of fun.

“Crowd sourcing” (as it is commonly referred to) is an invaluable way to tap into your legion of loyal followers, customers and the general public who help provide insight – both positive and negative. Social-media based conversations generate so much feedback, comments, complaints, compliments it’s a perfect research tool for smaller business that have stringent budgets to work with.

Why Consider Social Media?
It’s not a controlled focus group, and most importantly it’s honest, frank and not watered down by research groups trying to spin an original comment to fit in with a pre-identified (and inherently biased) set of answer selections. It’s the way feedback should be.

How to Use Social Media for Research:
1. Define your goals & objectives. As with conventional research, this is the first step. It should be done before you set out to ask questions and opinions of your various networks. What is it you’re hoping to achieve by tapping into your networks? Validate a new product or re-release concept? Gather ideas moving forward? Other?
2. Ask relevant questions. This may sound obvious, but eager marketers itching to get started right away often overlook this reminder. Your questions should match your goals for the research, but also should elicit constructive answers too.
3. Consider your networks. The phrasing of questions is important when using social channels to conduct crowd sourcing. Stay away from formal questions when using informal mediums like Twitter & Facebook. Neglecting the makeup of your audience = little to no response.
4. Do something with the data you’ve collected. Again, this may sound obvious but if you’re going to invest time and resources into surveying your networks – they’re going to want to see the results. Customers like to be heard, and love seeing their comments mold a future product, service or change in business. After all, it is the customers that fuel your bottom line.

Intrigued about how this cost-effective tactic can add value to your 2012 strategy? Give us a call, hit us up on Twitter or Facebook or drop us a line. I’d love to talk to you about it, and help guide you along the way.