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.

“Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail” has been said time and time again. As we approach the most common planning season for those on a fiscal calendar year, there are some fundamental mistakes that can be easily avoided to ensure the success of your strategic marketing plan. The top 5 reasons strategic marketing communications plans fail:

1. Pleasing the wrong folks

Your marketing plan should not be aimed to please the CEO, managers, or other supervisors. Rather your plan should be aimed at pleasing your target audience, your customer. Unfortunately, company heads often do not accurately represent the target audience and will not generate the same enthusiasm and responses among customers.

2. One size doesn’t fit all

Trying to be everything to everyone never works in life. In understanding that customer’s buying behavior and preferences vary, segment your customers and incorporate their buying behavior differences into your marketing messages, promotions, and product lines. Execute targeted, more efficient marketing initiatives to competitively position your company or brand.

3. Overdoing it!

A marketing plan does not need to be a dissertation. The actual plan needs to be actionable and doesn’t need to include every possible marketing idea you or your colleague could think of. Think big, then think realistic. For a marketing plan to succeed, it must be executed, and for a plan to be executed, it must be realistic.

4. Out of sight, out of mind

In a world of shiny things, with time stretched thin, “A type” personalities often get side tracked. The minute a marketing plan is filed away is the minute it’s set up to fail. To avoid losing focus, keep your marketing plan visible. I suggest creating a public cheat sheet, a condensed one page version of the marketing plan and posting it next to your computer. A one page plan should identify your goals & strategies, action items, who’s responsible for those action items and timing. It should be easy to understand, easy to monitor and update, and a daily reminder. Posting it publically will help hold you accountable.

Other ways to be reminded of your plan:

• Post goals, action items, and timelines on a bulletin board.
• Establish monthly action items and post publically for colleagues and peers to see.
• Share your action items and timelines with other departments whose involvement can help keep you on task.

5. Not measuring

If you don’t track the results, how will you know if you failed or succeeded in accomplishing your goals? You need to identify the value of your expenditures and measure what’s working and what’s not. If a particular marketing tactic is not providing the results you were expecting, perhaps the plan needs to be adjusted and the investment in that marketing activity reallocated. The tricky part about tracking is that some marketing efforts take longer to track than others. This needs to be taken into consideration when reviewing the return on investment as I don’t recommend jumping ship after a month of execution.

I encourage you to share your marketing strategy challenges and put us to the test in offering insights and recommendations: Vanessa LaCoste, vlacoste@boelterlincoln.com, 414-271-0101.

With the explosion of social media and ever more robust web content, video interviews have become an important element in many strategic marketing plans. Below, B+L’s Videographer/Editor Andrew Kazlauskas (who is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker) offers some tips for marketers getting ready to tackle online/corporate video interview projects.

TIPS FOR SHOOTING INTERVIEWS:

• Find a background to film the subject in front of – never place your subject right up against a wall. Also, avoid shots that make it look like a lamp or other miscellaneous object in the background is protruding from the subject’s head.

• The background you choose should directly relate to your subject. If you are shooting a surfer, try filming them in front of the ocean. If the subject is an auto mechanic, film them in their repair shop.

• Have the subject fill roughly one-third of the screen, while the background fills the other two-thirds. (Anyone who’s taken a film school class will recognize this as the “rule of thirds.”)

• The camera lens should be level with the subject’s eyes.

• The interviewer should position themself next to the camera lens, and at the same level. That way, the subject will be looking across the frame in the direction of the empty 2/3 of the frame (where the off-camera interviewer is.)

• Don’t backlight the interview. This will result in your subject being silhouetted with little detail or the background being washed out and overexposed.

• Avoid noisy surroundings to help capture the best audio. Be careful of refrigerators, loud computers, fans, florescent lights, ticking clocks, air conditioners, outside sounds, clicking heaters etc.

• Avoid having the subject sit on a rocking or swivel chair. Given the opportunity, they will inevitably rock or sway back and forth, which is extremely distracting to the viewer.

INTERVIEWING TIPS

• Make sure the subject is comfortable. Have water to offer them.

• Be sure to make eye contact with the interviewee and act and look interested in what they are talking about. This will ease the subject’s nervousness and make it easier for them to speak on tape.

• Questions should be open-ended and help provoke detailed responses. Avoid “yes-or-no” questions. Try using phrases such as “Can you describe”…”Tell me about”…”Explain why”…”How do you feel?”

• Obviously, subjects should know the topic of interview, but how much you want to brief them and/or have them rehearse answers can vary depending on the type of video you are trying to create and other factors. Coming from a journalism background, I prefer to limit that information, in an effort to get more authentic and unscripted answers. (Look for a point/counterpoint discussion of this with B+L’s PR Director Andy Larsen and myself in the next issue of this e-newsletter.)

• Never get tied down to the questions you came into the interview with. Be a good listener and try to build questions based on the subject’s responses. Don’t be afraid to dive into a relevant topic that you weren’t aware of prior to the interview. (This will also be explored further in the next issue.)

• At the end of every interview, ask your subject “Is there any question I missed, or something else that you would like to talk about?” This last question often prompts new and interesting information.

• Finally, remember you can never shoot too much footage!

ABOUT ANDREW KAZLAUSKAS: A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s journalism program, Andrew has a wealth of experience both inside and outside the agency business. In 2007, he directed “Chosen Towns,” a PBS documentary about the history of Jews in Wisconsin. In 2008, he won the Best Documentary Feature award at the Illinois International Film Festival for his film “Jack Be Nimble.” While at Boelter + Lincoln, he’s worked for clients such as the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, Wisconsin Dells VCB, Ministry Healthcare, WEAC and Mueller Sports, helping shoot and edit TV spots, online video projects and corporate events. His editorial footage (b-roll) has been used by ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS affiliates throughout the Midwest and on networks including the Travel Channel and the Weather Channel.

It’s that time of year – when strategists, media buyers and creative teams lock themselves into the largest conference room possible and start brainstorming for the upcoming years’ plan for their clients. Only this time, there’s a new voice that will be contributing to the madness.

Social media is no longer a fad. In fact, if properly strategized and integrated into a complete plan, it can be a significant force to your overall advertising and marketing landscape, and a driving factor to increased website visits.

Key phrase here: IF properly planned and strategized.

Think of it this way: You wouldn’t just show up to a blind date without planning, would you? Ideally you’d shower, brush your teeth and – if nothing else – know where you’re going to meet your date. Same goes for dates number two, three and four…assuming, of course, that you make it that far.

Yes social media is like dating – if you are unorganized and leave a bad impression, you’ll get nowhere fast. To prevent that outcome, I offer you these tips to use when you’re getting ready to pull the trigger on a social media program.

1. Know your Audience. Is your identified target audience present and active in the social arena? If they aren’t, and you are using social tools to talk with (not at mind you) them, you’re wasting your time.

2. Cohesiveness is Key. Social media tactics are to be treated just like any other PR, direct mail, or TV/radio tactics. Your social presence needs to be parallel to any and all initiatives – its part of the team, not THE team.

3. Research. Right up there with knowing if your audience exists in social networks is knowing what are your competitors and peers are doing. Who are they talking to? What are they doing right, and/or wrong? You wouldn’t fly a plane if you didn’t study up on how to operate it, would you? Didn’t think so.

4. Expectations and Goals. Establish clear expectations and goals before your jump into the social pool. Your social existence should not define your goals. To that end, keep your goal realistic. If a goal of yours is to get 1,000,000 followers in 24 hours, you’re doing it wrong.

5. Don’t be THAT Person. You want to be noticed for your professional and true-to-brand voice, not the voice that is more faker than a spray tan. No one likes arrogance – especially online. Curating appropriate content, delivering your message and interacting with your audience in the most authentic and genuine way possible will get you very far in the social arena.

6. Tool Belt vs. Blue Prints. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – these are social media tools – they are not strategies. These are channels to distribute your planned social tactics, which fold into your larger strategy. You need tools to build a house – you don’t need a house to use the tools.

7. Track, Measure, Tweak, Repeat. Your social media plan is a living & breathing plan. As such, you need tracking mechanisms in place to help measure your realistic social plan goals. What’s working? What could be tweaked? Make necessary changes and keep moving forward.

8. The Path to Information. Social media tactics funnel into a larger strategy, have calls to action and clear-cut goals, such as “heads in beds,” sales/conversions, etc. Because social channels are limiting, you must send your audience somewhere, typically to your website. Make sure the path you encourage your audience to venture on is a free of clutter, and easy to navigate. If you distract them, or send them in circles, you haven’t done your job. (Remember the “K.I.S.S.” principle? It applies here.)

Those weren’t so bad, now were they? If you still have a few questions, or would like to talk about it in more detail, email me at kklein@boelterlincoln.com or look for us on Twitter or Facebook.

Nearly half of America has a phone capable of browsing the Internet, and according to the New York Times, that’s exactly what they’re using them for. Given the pervasiveness of smart phones – not to mention new developments in tablet computing – browsing the Internet is no longer an office-only activity. Just imagine how many more potential customers could be searching for your business? You’d better get ready for them – and make sure your website’s current format is easily accessible to someone “on-the-go”!

Evaluating your site
Go ahead and visit your site on a desktop computer. Now get your hands on a smart phone and visit your site. Sure, it looks great on that large desktop monitor, but what do you see on the mobile device? Perhaps you get a blank page insisting that you install Adobe Flash Player, or maybe there are a few blank spaces on your page. That’s because many mobile browsers can’t render that fancy Flash animation that you based your site on. If the device is compatible with Flash, how long does it take to load? Does your site have high-resolution images or videos? Those look great on a user’s high-speed home connection, but are crippling on a cellular data connection. Of course, maybe your site looks just fine — except its really tiny… and/or completely illegible. Your web designer may not have planned for it to be viewed on such a small screen.

Now that we know what a mobile user sees when they visit your site, let’s consider why someone might visit your site on his or her phone. Be realistic – they probably aren’t there to watch a commercial for your newest product, or play a game based on your company’s mascot. They are most likely looking for your phone number or nearest location. If you have an e-commerce system, they may even be comparison-shopping in real time. You need to consider the speed of their connection – and the speed of life in 2011 – and remove any obstacles that stand in the mobile user’s way. They do not have time to wait for your site to download and they won’t go much further than three or four zoom-ins and clicks before they move on to your competitor’s easy-access mobile site.

Making your site mobile-friendly
One solution is to create an alternate version of your website just for mobile devices. Your site can automatically redirect mobile browsers to a secondary web page with contact and location info right up front, large visible buttons, a single column layout, and small-screen optimized graphics. Great examples of mobile sites can be found at Target.com or Bestbuy.com. Visit either on a mobile device and you’ll find Products, Store Locator and a Search fields on the front page in a compact design. They still have room for their ad of the week, and no product or feature is more than a click or two away. This is what mobile browsing should feel like.

Talk to your agency about adding a mobile page to your existing site. If you are planning a new website, even better; you can design it from the ground up with mobile-friendly devices and formats. This is the ideal situation, as it’s better to have one site with a flexible infrastructure than to try managing separate sites for mobile phones, tablet computers and desktops.

When planning your new site, keep these two buzz phrases in mind: “feature detection” and “responsive web design.” Ideally, you want your new website to DETECT the FEATURES supported by various browsers and devices being used and to RESPOND by providing a WEB DESIGN customized to the needs of each user. If you maximize the unique capabilities of the user’s device format and adapt to the needs of the user based on where they are browsing from, you’ll get this mobile web thing under control.