“What exactly is a buyer insight?”
I was asked this recently. It made me think. It is a term you hear and easy to quickly assume you know. Turns out, there seems to be confusion given the rise in the use of the term “insight”.
Defined
A good place to start is with a brief answer to the question itself. Here is my guiding answer:
A buyer insight is a profound, not-so-obvious, revelation as well as understanding of buyers, which leads to new innovations, value creation, marketing & sales capabilities, and business growth.
The basis of this definition is a buyer insight must be profound and it must alter an existing direction into one offering growth.
Do Not Confused Fact With Insight
One of the biggest areas of confusion I have noticed is misinterpreting a fact as an insight. One way of putting it is insight goes well beyond fact. To be profound means an insight is an often unforeseen as well as unarticulated observation, which leads to a new deep understanding. This new deep understanding then reshapes business growth strategies.
Uncovering facts of how buyers do things can result in improving effectiveness. However, improving effectiveness is not a clear direct connection to a profound insight. Mislabeling fact... Read more
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What is a Buyer Insight?
Tags: buyer insight, buyer persona, buyer personas, content marketing, content strategy, customer insight, Digital Marketing, marketing, qualitative research, social media strategy, Tony Zambito
Posted in Creative Best Practices, Emerging Platforms, Opinions, Social Media, Targeting, Word of Mouth | No Comments »
NSA Call Tracking May Not Stop Terrorism, BUT It Does Stop Bad Marketing Decisions
This has been an interesting week for the call tracking world.
If you use the phrase 'call tracking' with someone this week, it will likely conjure up images of NSA wiretapping, analysts hunched over computer screens in secret government bunkers listening to your private conversations, and injurious government spying.
In fact, the term 'call tracking' has been used more on Twitter this week than any other week ever. The entire world is talking abou the CIA/NSA program to track and monitor calls (along with emails, social media etc.).
But call tracking meant something entirely different--and something far less controversial just a few days ago.
Up until this week, call tracking was fiarly well-known tool used by millions of marketers to analyze which ads, campaigns, and search terms generate phone calls. There are several 'call tracking' companies, including LogMyCalls, that gather marketing data. Call tracking is like Google Analytics for the phone.
But, in the last 5 or 6 days the term call tracking has been commandeered by this government spying scandal. That's sort of unfortunate.
Call Tracking May Not Stop Terrorism...BUT It Does Stop Bad Marketing
Call tracking, as it has been known until this week, does not stop terrorism. But it does stop bad marketing.
Call tracking... Read more
Tags: call tracking, marketing, national security agency, NSA
Posted in Ad Networks, Ad Serving, Emerging Platforms, Media Planning & Buying | No Comments »
Put your money (and time) where the fans are: From social media innovation to practice
This post is the last in a three-part series with practical tips for marketers to pursue social and digital innovation. Read the first post, on maximizing your personal social media usage, here and the second post, on how to uncover the coolest new apps and toys, here.
You have the tools at your avail and you’re learning continuously about the social and digital landscape. But how do you take everything you’ve learned and put it into practice for your brand?
1. Experiment during existing campaigns. Don’t get overwhelmed by a new platform or technology. Think of how it can help add to your existing campaigns. Taco Bell did an excellent job with this, leveraging the growth of Snapchat to share the news that their Beefy Crunchy Burrito was returning to the menu. To do so, Taco Bell encouraged its existing social fans to add “tacobell” as a friend on Snapchat in order to be looped into an upcoming secret announcement. The Snapchat of the Beefy Crunchy Burrito was sent, generating a wealth of noise for the brand and the product launch, and then Taco Bell’s activity subsided on Snapchat. They were able to appropriately and successfully utilize a new platform for... Read more
Tags: apps, cinemagram, digital media, innovation, Madonna, nike, red bull, snapchat, Social Media, Taco Bell, Vyclone
Posted in Emerging Platforms, Media Planning & Buying, Opinions, Social Media, Targeting, Video, Word of Mouth | No Comments »
Report: Facebook Page Data Averages – May 2013
One of the more popular reports we publish, this is a great benchmark resource for anyone wanting to know how their ranks on Facebook. Brands appearing in this report include Subway, Taco Bell, McDonald's, Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, Twix, Oreo, Skittles, Estee Lauder, Red Bull, Monster Energy, Crest, Colgate, Oral-B, Hilton, Sheraton, Dole, Capri Sun, Nissan, Honda and Ford.
Tags: content marketing, content strategy, Facebook, facebook page, facebook page strategy, Facebook strategy, Social Media, social media marketing, social media strategy
Posted in Creative Best Practices, Emerging Platforms, Entertainment, Media Planning & Buying, Opinions, Research, Social Media, Web Analytics, Word of Mouth | No Comments »
How Activity-Based Buyer Persona Development Generates Opportunities
We are busy people. Our business and personal days are filled with activities. The activities we engage in usually are designed to help us accomplish either a business or personal goal. For example, I get up early and go to the gym and engage in the activities of exercising. Not because I just want to – but because I have a goal of losing weight!
Often times, marketing and sales folks have no idea about the activities our customers and buyers perform on a daily basis. Yet understanding these can yield rich and robust insights into goals, which drive buying decisions.
A Day in the Life
Since childhood, we have probably heard this quote a thousand times:
“You never truly know someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes.” –American Adage, Source Unknown
This applies in the development of buyer personas. Using an activity-based research approach allows us to walk in the shoes of our customers and prospective buyers. What it gives us is something very important. Context.
Context provides us with a day in the life perspective. We want to see what customers are confronted with in their natural – not artificial – environment.
On-Site
When you have visitors to your home, you take pride in... Read more
Tags: branding, buyer experience, buyer persona, buyer persona development, buyer personas, content marketing, content strategy, customer research, Digital Marketing, market research, marketing, social marketing, Targeting, Tony Zambito
Posted in Creative Best Practices, Emerging Platforms, Opinions, Social Media, Targeting, Word of Mouth | No Comments »
