1 We are in the mental health profession, not a marketing business.
Focus groups are like marriage counseling. If you want to sell, consumers want to buy, but poor communication and lack of understanding can stop the sale of dead in their tracks much the same way that can impair relationships. The idea is to break down barriers and to identify shared values and mutually supportive behavior.
As in therapy, subjects come into focus groups to be heard, not only for financial incentives. Life is tough, and most people have few connections to the vent. Maybe they just came home from work, where bosses, clients and associates have made unreasonable (as they perceive them) requests all day long. Maybe they have a nagging partner or out of control children at home. Not to mention the daily bombardment of one-way communication, commercial messages can not help but see everywhere they look.
Focus groups have their own time. Discussion guides should be well planned, but there are huge advantages "release" from time to time. Allowing respondents patter from time to time an unparalleled opportunity to experience meaningful human moments. Understanding your patients who are really your brand and a role in their lives is where the quality really shines.
Consumer thought processes are not linear, and a focus group can not always be.
2 It is a journey not a destination.
Just as no one gets "fixed" in therapy, at least in the short term, it is unrealistic and counterproductive to expect to find "the answer" in the focus groups.
"Validation" or "winning concept" is not what we're after here. We work in a risky business, it is still more art than science. And without conflict and confusion, there would be no art.
can scan the Cliff Notes for "The Brothers Karamazov, " but a true appreciation can only come from diving, and wrestling with big questions of the human condition represented in this book a long time.
In art as in life, sharply contrasting beliefs may be equally important and equally valuable. In both cases, the answers, by themselves, are shallow, without the insight and understanding that support them.
This is wrestling, traveling, fighting what is important.
Focus groups are equivalent to the marketing process. great intellectual and creative adventure in which spontaneity and unexpected twists make everything all the more rewarding and insights that appear so much more valuable.
David Ogilvy famous quote on the research can be cited too many times.
"I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use the verdict, they come to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, not illumination."
ideas and solutions do not come from focus groups and surveys. They come from people who thought and felt deeply.
When he joined because it was "time" or an intellectual struggle, the focus group process can provide an incredibly rich food for thought, serve as the foundation for smart, creative marketers struggle with and develop their ideas.
3 Be honest
Qualitative research is time for creativity and openness. It is not about forcing your opinion (or ads, logos and new product concepts) down the throat of our target consumers. It is about accepting responsibility and not assigning blame.
How many times have we heard of an advertising agency art director, watching the back room, saying, "These patients are really stupid. They do not get a job ."
How many times have we heard of an advertising agency art director, watching the back room, saying, "These patients are really stupid. They do not get a job ."
...This is not about us as marketers. It is to them as consumers. What we think is irrelevant in the long run, the more defenses we have, the more we try to rationalize past decisions, the deeper we dig ourselves into a hole.
...As Albert Einstein once said: "If we knew what we were doing, would not be called research, it would ?"
In the long run, honesty - and humility - will pay off handsomely
.4 If it feels good you're probably on to something.
When a great Louis Armstrong was once asked to define jazz, he replied: "If you ask, you never know ."
I like it captivating improvisations Armstrong or Ella's singing, singing, a great marketing comes from the soul. True, we are the first commercial marketing, not artists, but to minimize the impact of art and emotion in favor of an overly analytical approach can be a fatal mistake.
bonds between brands and their customers are no different from any form of art that connects with your audience. The legendary brands are created with the vision and inspiration, never with the research.
But qualitative research and focus groups in particular, represent a unique opportunity to feel our way through the works in progress as we have at this point with target customers and our professional colleagues.
5 Nothing is more important than a big boost.
Focus groups are like the old saw about computers. Garbage in, garbage out. Consumers often know what they like and what they want, but can not always articulate their feelings. We must provide them with the tools or vocabulary to talk about these complex emotions.
So, whenever it is exploring a new product concept, positioning, communications, alternative or any kind of innovation, it is important to present a wide range of single-minded positioning concepts. Putting a "stake in the ground" provides an excellent starting point for a meaningful, articulate conversation with respondents.
6 Put patients to work and take them out, "Critic's Chair ."
Getting patients involved in the exercises right away, even something as simple as a kind of brand, it helps them get going. The goal is to get participants talking, it is preferable to each other, and do not answer "yes "or "no "to questions posed by the moderator.
This direct involvement is growing exponentially in importance when exploring concepts.
This direct involvement is growing exponentially in importance when exploring concepts.
...a common complaint about the focus groups was how easily they seem to turn into a consumer know-it-all marketing critiques. It should be no surprise. Handing out the terms for respondents to mark or reading concepts one by one group for feedback is an invitation to speak publicly about the dos and don'ts of marketing.
...Consider instead workshop approach, where a group of eight can be divided into "teams" of four. They are considering a package of terms, of five or ten or more, and then charged with selecting one or two of the most motivating concepts and bringing them to life.
We can ask for a product name, package design, write ads, select a spokesperson who embodies the best product, or any other number of things.
a lot of good things happen with this approach. Most importantly, when the subjects were deeply engaged with this challenge (which seems to enjoy), they become avid participants who have a stake in the process, not by foreign critics.
How are mutually discuss and think out loud, first as they feel their way through the concepts, and then they bring their favorites for a living, we are able to observe the consumer thought process up close and personal. The final output of a creative exercise is important, and expectations should be high in this regard. However, the experience of psychological and creative journey is invaluable.
This approach also removes the temptation "to keep score." If we test ten o'clock concepts, two of them show remarkable promise, but the other eight have been laughed out of the room, whether it indicates a failure? Or, if ten out of ten are received positively, it was unqualified success?
Absolutely not. The depth of understanding and direction are the keys to a focus group, no unquantifiable scorecard.
7 Adapting Proactive
Unlike quantitative research, focus groups are live, ongoing experience that can last a day, week or more. This gives the opportunity to develop, to absorb, consider, and adapt. The discussion guide and incentives should be reexamined after each day of study. Inaction and static thinking were his enemies. "Having all the same so that we can compare apples to apples" does not hold water. Best to push your thinking, aggressive. You can always keep the "old " concepts in the back pocket for the next market for a reality check or apples to apples comparison, but ready with something new that reflects the date of learning will maximize the value of research.
8 Embrace a common experience to build consensus.
Focus groups are very social, shared experience. This is not just a metaphorical journey, but a real one. Together, we hang out in airports, drinking coffee desperately seeking Internet connections, flying from city to city, things with junk food in the back rooms of research facilities and drinks in the hotel bar, where everything is almost every night.
The stated purpose of travel is to connect with consumers, but the opportunity to connect with peers is equally important.
Sell the idea internally is often much harder than it sells to final consumers. Corporate policy and conflicting interests are known to kill great ideas before they get a fair chance to develop.
The focus groups allow us to look at the consumers first hand, absorb their feedback, and talk through key issues, allowing our thinking to develop collectively. Ideally, key members of brand teams and outside agencies participating in this experience, implicitly granting them "insider status" and enlisting them as champions of marketing ideas or direction.
construction bonds united front makes it much easier to push the idea through the payment system.
Conclusion
Conclusion
...Contrary to the prevailing belief of many experts of marketing research, quantitative research is not the end of everything. To quote Albert Einstein once again:
"Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted ."