KNOWLEDGESTREAM AT-A-GLANCE
The Evolving Role of Insights and Analytics
ABSTRACT
CMO buyer satisfaction with research companies is at alarmingly low levels. Many observe that CMO has a more difficult role than ever -- forced to elevate their activities from just brand and marketing planning to having enterprise-wide revenue focus. GRIT study hypothesizes that research firms’ concentration on tactical execution to the exclusion of strategic advice often relegates research companies to also-ran status. How can internal marketer Chief Research Officers play a more important role counseling the Chief Marketing Officer? And how can research suppliers help better answer the big-picture questions and add a consultant component that is respected and sought out?
PARTICIPANTS
OBJECTIVES
1. Marketing Research Today: What is happening with traditional research in corporations? Do marketers think it's more or less relevant, and why?
Experts described their decision-making needs, sources and approaches they currently apply, and their relationship with internal insights resources.
2. What is Working / Not Working: What tools, vendors, practices, or leadership is making it better? What are the shortcomings?
We explored their unmet needs vis-a-vis corporate insights resources, and what solutions they feel they need but are missing.
3. Ideal Future State: What would need to be true to make it happen? What would address any remaining fear or ignorance?
We identified business and organizational obstacles to overcome so that marketing leaders can make better use of research activities. We also outlined the capability gaps to fill in and ways to empower client teams to better help themselves.
4. Near & Longer Term Action Step: Define path(s) to viable solutions and identify critical success factors in deployment. Potential action steps for speaking to this audience more effectively.
The experts let us know exactly what they'd like to see from an "aggregator" like our study sponsor, from vendors, and from the industry. This discussion was chock full of actionable ideas.
End Date: May 13, 2019
CONTRIBUTIONS
ACTIVITY
68 Days
4 Themes
24 Contributors
430 Posts
217 Comments
160 Followers
OUTPUTS
4 Slide Deck
4 Blog Post
4 Video
CALLS ATTENDED
• 2019-02-27 08:20:06 - Scoping Call
• 2019-03-20 12:34:43 - Check-in call
• 2019-03-20 12:36:18 - Prelaunch Call
• 2019-04-01 12:36:45 - Check-in call
• 2019-04-15 14:59:12 - Check-in call
• 2019-04-29 - Check-in call
• 2019-05-14 - Wrap Up Call
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As GreenBook faces a new market in which professional researchers increasingly yield to corporate marketing leadership for determining corporate research needs and hiring vendors, the company should find opportunities to establish itself as a trusted advisor and resource to this new audience. Client education -- whether through training, news clipping, podcasts, classes, conferences, or embedded/dedicated advisors -- could play a greater role in the company's activities and offerings, as marketing teams seek to learn about the process and options for determining what research and analytics they need, and finding partners to complete it. This new audience seeks greater understanding of research, analytics, and insights development. They want to feel more confident in their grasp of the field and in their ability to select and partner with vendors. GreenBook will be well positioned if they fill this new gap, establishing relationships with those who ultimately will make the decisions and who have the budgets. The most important positioning for GreenBook will not necessarily be "authoritative," "comprehensive," or "factual," although those are all important, table-stakes attributes for the offering. But rather, it will be most important to be "trusted," "consultative," and to "understand client goals."
RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
Provide detailed case studies on vendors in the directory -- not simply vendor ratings or statistics. These clients want real life examples of how solutions were applied to problems, and how data and insights were rendered actionable.
Foster trusted relationships with this emerging client target by providing them with education and training on how to understand -- and to be better clients of -- research, analytics and insights offerings
Provide news curated for clients' specific corporate goals. Help them to manage the firehose of information in the space -- externally in the news and perhaps even internally between departments.
Pass along feedback these new clients shared to make current vendors into better service providers for this emerging market. It will enable Green Book to improve the industry and to prove valuable both to vendors and clients.
THEME #1
Needs & Solutions Today
THEME SUMMARY
Experts all placed market research at the core and origin of all strategic decisions, but differed on how to accomplish this.
- Almost everyone saw a need for original insights to surface customer needs, inform product development, and optimize marketing.
- Primary, traditional research was not noted as source #1 for this type of insight. Passive CRM data, industry news sources, social listening, A/B testing, and surveys were all cited as sources.
- Barriers to more involved, qualitative, bespoke research included time, money, and the distractingly available and ubiquitous amounts of passive data at hand.
- Analytics and Research teams are seen as good partners for accessing and crunching large amounts of data, but marketing leaders may feel they have to derive the insights from the data themselves.
Regarding decisions for which they need insights "fuel," experts mentioned client needs (#1), customer journey, marketing effectiveness, customer segments by profitability, content for messaging.
Client needs/pain points - pulse surveys, interview studies, client advisory boards, customer service metrics, call center data/hotlines, current client database of purchase patterns
Preferred sources included industry news, internal and external, CRM databases, social listening, employee feedback, customer advisory boards, focus ground, market surveys.
Google Analytics (website insights), Alexa (competitive info for keywords, etc..), and advertising information from places where I run ads like on Google Adwords and Facebook.
Market Surveys and/or straight market research have proven to be successful when determining what sector of the market to attack. IDC, EMA, Ovum and Forrester are analyst firms I have partnered with in the past.
Experts' relationship with insights and research teams are extremely varied. Some rely on them, others have none, some use their output as raw data and a starting point.
an overarching [corporate] study helps set the tone, and specific [brand] research for [our digital] medium and a particular audience gives us deeper insights that we can put to great use.
you [don't need] research or analysis to validate everything you do. Insights should inform and guide. There are simply too many variables that marketing and innovation leaders must consider. But, with the right insights you are able to form a strong "gut" ...to arrive at the right conclusions
Marketing responsible for framing up the key business/consumer questions and Research figures out right methodology/how to.
THEME #2
Unmet Needs & Desired State
THEME SUMMARY
Experts see value in traditional market research to inform new products and campaigns, but struggle with the inevitable trade-offs of insiders' familiarity vs. outsiders' objectivity, human-driven insights vs. scalable automation, and a need to learn across channels vs united view of the consumer.
- Before a launch, market research uncovers opportunities, validates markets, and informs communication. But experts advocate a continuous "learning agenda" rather than bursts of spot-research.
- Internal insights capabilities sought include "storytelling," grounding insights in the specifics of the brand, actionability, and familiarity with the audience. Outsider's objectivity can be lacking.
- Frustrations include high costs of applying human insight to research, lack of scalability, confusing or non-actionable insights, imperfect or biased data, lack of access to or understanding of tools.
- Experts want market research that is comprehensive (i.e. at scale) and reliable, specific and relatable to their market and challenges, readable and actionable, with a unified view of the customer.
At launch, insights reveal markets, segments, or products to pursue; uncover unmet consumer needs and competitive gaps; inform how to speak to the market; and measure campaigns for optimization.
Proactive consumer research [when] looking to enter a new category, approaching a new audience segment or launching a new product. For example...social listening for...insights on drafting an apt communication strategy.
Consumer insights should...identify the unmet consumer need (dissatisfies); [validate] the concept, concept/product fit, product, and volumetric potential...for go/no go...[and track] performance...vs. expectations set with the consumer data.
there should be no surprises, as it is a continuous learning and sharing process. I recommend a "Lesson Learned" document that summarizes the findings that lead up to the launch as one of the steps in the planning process
Internal capabilities are seen as being better determinants of what insights best apply to a specific brand or market, but this familiarity can come at the expense of objectivity.
[Able to say] Here's what we know, lessons learned from this data, ...what we don't know, the actions we need to take [and] a potential future scenario if we do these actions.
[internal insights folks] are often approach data with a suspicious and somewhat negative outlook. Even more so when it comes to new methodologies. [And this slows action]
Experts cited real and perceived gaps in affordability, scalability, access to data, applicability to specific problems, and even knowing what research has already been done and how to access it.
data management platform [for] a unified view of the consumer...journey [and] third party data [with which] build rich marketing personas [and] to assist programmatic advertising...[but] typical match rates [are] 20-30%, which is really low to warrant the investment.
data intensive reports [without] a strong executive summary, research vendors who [don't distill] learning to be most actionable [or] train clients to utilize tools, [no way to] measure an idea's potential to displace current customer behavior, liking scores [that merely] are applause meters
If analysts could say - what would I do if I didn't have to prepare my marketing research manually, they would...use social media and e-commerce [but they] may be constrained by the manual requirement of collection which may be costly if done by humans.
THEME #3
Obstacles & Challenges
THEME SUMMARY
Experts face obstacles to accessing and applying good market research -- some inherent to the challenges of research (time, cost) but, others more cultural or organizational. A good guide could help marketers not only to find the best research and insights options but also to improve internally.
- Limited time, reduced budgets, and political or even compensation-influenced bias make the task of gathering strategic insights even harder than they need to be.
- Internally, marketers suffer from a lack of understanding of research and insights methodologies, while outside experts often don't adequately understand the business or present actionable meaning.
- These challenges can be addressed by: training and empowerment of corporate marketers to understand the research function, collaboration between clients and providers, tools and tips from a guide.
Limited time and budget were the main exogenous obstacles to applying insights. The need to impress clients, to get compensated, or to predict B2B purchasing patterns were also cited.
On the agency-side...a need for quick turn-arounds and explosive "wow" moments when presenting to a client...leads to insights that are flimsy...or a bit recycled.
executives who force research to be completed in a week. When companies expect to gain insights within a week, they will get garbage. It also exposes executive ignorance. The main problem with gathering data is not lack of data. You can buy lots of garbage irrelevant data and miss the point.
Time is often a hurdle as this is just one of many day to day and strategic priorities. Gaining insights is not a "task" or "equation". It takes time to assimilate, correlate and connect info, develop and test hypotheses and translate it all to a crisp compelling story.
Experts want partners to bring meaning (not just data), familiarity with the business, experience managing complex data, the ability to build off existing or syndicated research, speed, affordability.
Value Added Insights with recommendations: no data dumps, tell me the so what and demonstrate an understanding of the business and brand and triangulate with other data, even if it isn’t yours.
All external partners have time to FOCUS but...vary in...experience...Junior level folks or career consultants are doing the work and thus lack the perspective of client [which is] less effective as what [data] means and how to apply it if you are the business leader
Speed: quick turnarounds, none of this waiting 2 weeks for a qual report, or 4-6 weeks for a concept, way too long.
Experts also bemoaned their own lack of internal sharing, underfunding departments, pursuing the wrong goals, wrong metrics, and unrealistic expectations.
Product Marketing...typically leads this customer insight exercise. If PM is underfunded in headcount and budget...programs [risk] not performing...A/B testing in b2b...messaging is a [weak] work-around...in lieu of having data to support messages...to draw quick conclusions and adjust messaging
Marketing-funded research [aims] to foster higher demand generation ROI [but] Product team insights [are] gathered to inform design, features, usage/customer satisfaction.
technologies that we have...but we rely on external partners for helping us with deep diving & analysis. ...since some of these technologies are new to the market, we struggle with resources to help us with value maximization of the tool
These additional challenges stem from inherent corporate gaps. Leaders can't always hire talent, make sense of mountains of data, tolerate risk, or connect with longer-term strategic goals.
organizational bias...validate what is desired vs. truly using it to determine what are the best ideas and how to best bring them to life. In the worse scenarios, leaders frown upon contrarian information which limits the team's ability afraid they'll shoot the messenger
Marketing-funded research [aims] to foster higher demand generation ROI [but] Product team insights [are] gathered to inform design, features, usage/customer satisfaction.
Sales [demanded] a product or some obscure feature [and] R&D team did not understand at all there was methodology to true market research, that could be done quickly, with a large enough sampling of the target customer, to get a fact based view of the market and not just one voice.
Some of these challenges could be addressed but better empowering the team through training, collaborative models, and better tools.
internal stakeholders...ramped up on digital marketing research & analysis, so we can all work together on common goals
if all marketers were required to have a certain level of research and insights experience & training, perhaps commensurate to seniority...a compelling mandate...to begin all marketing efforts with research geared towards development of insights that inform strategic directions
difficult to determine the ROI for research, since there are a lot of implications in the long term. A quick refresher on how to look at immediate implementation & long term planning as a result of the research can be useful.
THEME #4
Getting There
THEME SUMMARY
Marketing leaders want help identifying the best research and insights partners, but they want to be shown through case studies or to talk through the issues with a trusted professional, not simply told.
- The idea of ratings or Consumer Reports style reviews was not suggested spontaneously. There may be skepticism that such content could be objective or apply to complex, varying needs.
- Rather, leaders want case studies to show how vendors' solutions were applied to others' issues, so that they can imagine how a solution could be applied to their own, undoubtedly different issues.
- Similarly, leaders value recommendations from trusted peers or known entities, rather than from strangers, whose perspectives are unknown and who may not be familiar with the company's issues
- Leaders also have a long wish list for the types of vendors they would prefer. The number one desire was: research and insights vendors who make the recommendations ACTIONABLE.
A guide should provide comprehensive overviews of the space, gaping heavy on past expertise and case studies
aggregators who list out the best agencies highlighting their past work & expertise, and also function as a platform to connect the clients with the apt agencies
live person aid instead of ratings or static data. Needs are becoming more complex or requiring deeper thought
a mentor from the research company...assigned to this client, working closely with them, understanding their product/ service, processes, etc. [T]he client would...end up with a Research and Insights Ninja [with] the right set of skills to fight for the company's mission.
Assets leaders would value include first of all, case studies, but also overviews of the industry with descriptors of strengths and weaknesses, and consultative conversations with impartial experts.
a resource that compares various types of research, strengths, weaknesses, when it works best etc. Most vendors will "sell" their tool/approach but it is difficult to know how it matches up to other approaches.
Leaders would like help making their own organizations smarter, not just finding outside help: training, podcasts and seminars, "embedded experts" (brought in or home-grown), and more.
Targeted courses to help access/harvest data from social media ('listening'), public/gov't data sets
information that helps marketers better define the business issue and research need [and] understand how researchers think... what is needed as inputs and a guide for creating clear, concise and actionable research project objectives
Organizing/curating is a major activity with which leaders need support, not just the research activities themselves.
a mentor/guide/expert would be a curator of both published market research reports and insights from social media.
'News clipping' - recent blogs, cases/examples, industry data, etc. harvested from industry and subscription sources
Google a research topic...and there will be millions of potential sources...so overwhelming. As a result we tend to go to people and value their experiences. We need ways to synthesize all the possibilities into frameworks that can educate and guide decisions
Leaders had a lot to say about what kind of vendors they want -- such as those who can translate insights into action, can make a financial case, and who are somehow invested in the ultimate goal.
the ability to adapt the research to the company's needs & the proactivity/ curiosity to meet other members, align the goals of the research to financial/ operational metrics, etc. There is so much more than the research itself that affects its results...should be able to have an empathic approach
Innovative firms should be offering performance or outcome-based services, to meet needs of new buyers [even] to an individual agent/representative level.