The Landmark Blog

Market Research Speed Dating

I just spent the last two days standing in our company booth at a local business expo.  This was not a market research related event, but an expo that brings together a potpourri of businesses from all over the area (for me Salt Lake City, Utah USA).  Though successful for us, the expo felt like a meat market.  It seemed like I was back in the dating pool, trying to find a spouse, using speed dating techniques.  "What do you look for in a boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/business relationship/market research company?"  "What do you do in your free time?...participate in any online surveys?"  "What do you do...for work?"  "What do you know about market research?"

Every booth had a "gimmick"... something to pull you in to the booth...a drawing for an Ipod Nano here, a Grand Piano there, a flat screen LED TV here, an Amazon Kindle there, nachos at this booth, candy at that one, pizza at this booth, burritos (yes that's right - burritos) at another.  It was all a little surreal.  We chose to give away candy and an Amazon Kindle (it's amazing how few people have heard of a Kindle...Reading?...That interferes with my TV watching). Our drawing had a catch.  We decided to force (encourage?) people to get a better understanding of what we do.  Have you ever tried to explain a market research business to the guy that owns the Heating & AC shop down the street?  Taking nothing away from the guy...but...Market Research HUH? 

We set up an online survey and required the attendees to fill it out in order to enter into the drawing for the Kindle.  It was amazing how novel the approach was...and how open to participation the attendees were.  More than anything, I wanted some idea of who...analytically...was attending the event and whether we should even consider going back.  The results surprised me.

This is the third year that we've attended this business expo, and the first year we've had internet access to run a survey.  Reflecting on this year vs. previous years, a couple of things stood out that may be interesting to market research companies overall.  Here are some suggestions for market research speed dating:

• Have a product to sell vs. attempting to sell your services or your company in general.  Maybe this seems like a no-brainer, but there's a difference between your products and your services.  Products are typically much easier to explain in "speed dating" settings.  Include demos.
  

• Don't make your product (too) gimmicky.  Unless you actually sell the Sham Wow...don't approach your market research product like it is the Sham Wow.  Market research products and services require a pretty intellectual approach.  It's probably not worth dumbing your product down.  Rather, find a product that meets the need of your audience and have a real conversation about how it meets your potential customer's need.  Use examples.

• I'm sure that the qualitative researchers and ethnographers among us will agree that we need to be open to "other" non-intended uses for our products...even if they are market research products.  Immediately on explaining your product, people will begin expanding the scope of it beyond what you had anticipated.  Your customers are probably using your products for something other than, or more than, what you originally envisioned.  It's a great opportunity to expand the scope.  The only market research joke I've ever heard comes to mind...
  

A man doing market research knocked on a door and was greeted by a young woman with three small children running around at her feet.

The man says, "I'm doing some research for Vaseline.  Have you ever used the product?"

The young woman says, "Yes. My husband and I use it all the time."

The man says, "And if you don't mind me asking, what do you use it for?"

The young woman says, "We use it for sex."

The researcher is a little taken back. "Usually people lie to me and say that they use it on a child's bicycle chain or to help with a gate hinge. But, in fact, we know that most people do use it for sex. I admire you for your honesty. Since you've been frank so far, can you tell me exactly how you use it for sex?"

The woman says, "I don't mind telling you at all. My husband and I put it on the door knob and it keeps the kids out."

• Finally, it's a heck of a lot easier to differentiate yourself when there is no one else around like you. Develop a unique, non-gimmicky, product that you can explain and that addresses a specific need in concise ways.
  

Call me quick on the uptake (or not), but in following this process, I quickly realized that people understood what we were doing, what we were selling, how they could apply it to their business, and why they needed it.  If I could only have avoided the folks that wanted a lot of research...full scale research programs...for a cost that was less than the labor involved to put it together.

• Have you heard any market research jokes?  What are they?
  
• Ever felt like you were market research speed dating? Example?
• Other suggestions for dealing with these settings?
  

My Holiday Wishes for Market Research Companies in 2010

Every one of us wants something more for our companies in some way.  Whether you are on a market research account team that is "in the trenches" creating, conducting, and analyzing the market research data, or in a telephone center somewhere in the world managing interviewers or collecting the data yourself, or whether you are the leader of a market research company or a market research group trying to control costs, provide vision and lead your organization, my hope is that you are constantly looking for a more efficient and effective way to conduct your daily business and complete your daily tasks.  Each of us, regardless of the role we provide, should be constantly looking for ways to grow, expand, adapt, and evolve the company we belong to.  Market Research, especially in the last couple of years, has been a fast changing, quickly evolving industry that has really required some significant attention to "stay relevant".  If you didn't realize this, take a look around and see what's changing in the market research methods, budgets, platforms, etc. being used and developed, and evaluate how it's impacting your business.  Here are five "holiday wishes" for those of us participating in the market research industry.  I hope...   

• That our market research products & services will be relevant and successful in 2010.  We all work very hard...and try to work very smart...to evolve and keep up with the ongoing change in our industry.  Many of us launch new products, or develop new services with some regularity.  Here's to relevance & success of these products in 2010!

• That we will maintain a constant attention to the quality of the research that we conduct and the services we provide.  Quality is king.  Without a quality product, our importance and "seat at the table" will be questioned.  Whether your primary research method is qualitative, quantitative, multi-modal, online, phone, IVR, MROC's, focus groups, ethnographies, IDI's, etc.  A constant attention needs to be placed on delivering results that are representative, accurate, clean, and address the research questions that need to be answered.  Our industry depends on a "seat at the table" and it is up to each of us to see that this happens. 
  

• That each of us will find a way to conduct the market research more quickly without sacrificing the quality...or the ability to make the company money in the process (working yourself right out of business).  It's sad but true, that we've seen many of our business associates and business organizations work themselves right out of employment.  Market research companies need to find ways to conduct quality research, quickly, but at the same time make money doing it.  It's a plain statement that "Businesses exist to make money."  Finding a balance between quality, faster, cheaper is possible, but takes attention to the methods used and processes developed.  As market research companies, we must serve these three masters, but we must also make money doing it...or we work ourselves right out of business.    

• That the three previous "wishes" will be completed without "running" our market research staff "into the ground" in the process.  Each of our organizations spends years developing experienced market research staff who are excellent at the work that they do, who bring insights and creativity to the table, and who can deliver on the market research needs and our customer's expectations.  We must understand the needs of our clients AND the needs of our staff.  It's important that our staff have personal lives outside of work...helping them find the balance between work and their personal lives is important.  We can't take them for granted...at the same time, we MUST exceed our clients needs.  It is a difficult line to walk.
  

• That we will see an end to "The Great Recession".  I heard a term while driving into work this morning.  A doctor was on the radio and he mentioned, what he titled, an epidemic of "Recession Depression".  The stress on most employees, organizations, departments, etc. has been uncharacteristically high this year.  Until we see an end to "The Great Recession" watch your staff for "Recession Depression," acknowledge their efforts in a tough year, identify employees who have worked hard and seen some success, and thank your employees for their hard work.  Many times, all they need is to simply be acknowledged in some way.  
  

Best wishes for 2010 and beyond.  Here's to an excellent year for us all!

"Easter Eggs" For the Holidays

This article is probably not what you think.  It is not about the Easter Bunny assisting Santa Clause in delivering toys and easter baskets to good children during the Holidays (I never have understood the Easter Bunny...shouldn't it be an Easter Chicken..?)

In media, software, and online, an "Easter Egg" is something embedded in the website, the DVD, the software code, etc. that isn't made public or included as an "advertised feature".  To uncover an Easter Egg, you really have to know about it already, have someone tell you about it, be seriously lucky, or have quite a skill at discovering them.  Revealing Easter Eggs usually requires some series of pointing, clicking, typing, etc. that would not "normally" happen.  As my Holiday gift to you, here are ten Easter Eggs, I've tracked down online that I've enjoyed (out of a ton I've looked at).  Give some (or all) of them a try...they may be a little silly, but they are still fun.

1.  Pirate & Upside Down Language on Facebook - Many people know about this feature of Facebook already.  To access it, log in to Facebook, go to the bottom of your home page where it says English (US) and click on it.  It opens a "Select Your Language" option.  From the language options, choose "English (Pirate)" or "English (Upside Down)"...then see what happens.

2.  Flares on Facebook - This is a Facebook trick that you probably don't know.  Log into your Facebook page, then press the following combination of arrow keys and letters  on your computer (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, b, a, and then hit the "Enter" key).  Click around and see what happens.  The only way to stop the Egg is to log off.

(NOTE: The (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, b, a, Enter) code has significance and is a reference to old-school Nintendo games.  A bunch of video games that take advantage of this code can be found here.) 

3.  Konami Code Site - An entire website has been dedicated to revealing other websites that include "Easter Eggs" associated with the Konami Code.  It's really interesting...to enter the actual site, you have to enter the Konami code.  Go to the site.  To get in, type (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, b, a, Enter).  There are more sites listed than you'd think.  

(Google is well known for their "Easter Eggs".  Here are a few of them)

4. Google Languages - The search engine language in Google can be changed by clicking on "Language Tools" in the text right next to the search box.  Just about any language you can imagine is included.  What you may not have known is that if you type the following items into the search box...and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky"...magic happens:

• xx-piglatin (Changes the search into Pig Latin)
• xx-pirate (Changes the search into Pirate Speak)
• xx-Klingon (Changes the search into the Klingon language from Star Trek)
• xx-hacker (Changes the search into the "H4x0r" Hacker language)
• xx-elmer (Changes the search into Elmer Fudd's dialect from Looney Tunes)
• xx-bork (Changes the search into the Swedish Chef from the Muppets)
• google bunny ("Easter Egg" theme with an Easter Bunny game) 

5.  Google Pages - Take a look at these two Google sub-pages, I wouldn't guess that many people know they exist.  Funny information about Google products & technology.  

• Google Gulp - How would you like to be this product manager, in charge of marketing, or the market research group responsible for researching this product?
• Pigeon Rank - Provides information on why Google works as well as it does, and why it is soooo fast.  I've always been a Skinnerian at heart.

6.  Google Earth - You've probably downloaded the free software Google Earth.  If you haven't, take a look at it...it's free...and pretty cool.  What you probably don't know is that this software includes an "Easter Egg".  To uncover it, launch the latest version of Google Earth and hit Ctrl, Alt, A (Mac users hit Cmd, Opt, A) - all at the same time (not separately).  It launches a flight simulator that lets you fly around within Google Earth.  

(Note: Google has done such a great job with their search that a bunch of "knock-off" Googles have emerged.)

7.  Take a look at these search engines called "Google Parodies".  Simply type the term in a Google search box and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky"...act quickly on these...because they are often shut-down as fast as they emerge.  Makes you go "hmmm"...I wonder why that happens.

• Google Epic
• Weenie Google
• Elgoog (Google Backwards)
• Google Gothic (My Favorite)
• Shmoogle (Returns Google results in random order)

8.  Yahoo's Yodel - Go to the Yahoo homepage and click on the Yahoo logo's exclamation point (you can actually click on it)!  Make sure your computer speakers are turned on.

9.  Mini Cooper Website - On the Mini Cooper car website, type "reverse" (no quotes) into the search bar at the top of the main page.  A small gear shift will show up at the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Press and hold down your computer's "Shift" key and click the gear shift to see what happens.

And last, but never least... 

10.  Find Chuck Norris - Type "Find Chuck Norris" into a Google search, hit "I'm Feeling Lucky" and see what happens.  This one is a shout-out to my friends and associates in the SWMRA.

So what does all of this have to do with market research, market research surveys, general business trends, etc.  Very little...maybe nothing...but...Here's to surprising and delighting our clients and customers in 2010.  Happy Holidays!

• I didn't even begin to approach DVD "Easter Eggs".  Do you look for "Easter Eggs" when you buy DVD's...Have you seen any great ones?
• Do you have other "Easter Eggs" to add to the list?
• What is your favorite "Easter Egg"?