Dialog with Ann Wilson
Posted by Debra Semans on Thu, Jan 07, 2010 @ 12:52 PM
Welcome to the January 2010 edition of The Marketing Dialog. This month’s guest marketing leader is Ann Wilson, Principal of Maywood Marketing and Communications (www.maywoodmarketing.com). Ann has extensive experience in marketing communications for all types of industries and will be talking about her experiences with marketing research. Click to learn more about Ann.
To thank our guests for their participation, Polaris will make a donation to the charity of their choice.
Ann has chosen The Empty Stocking Fund in Atlanta, GA as her charity. The Empty Stocking Fund has been bringing holiday cheer to metro Atlanta’s underprivileged children since 1927. Each year the generous contributions received from thousands of Atlantans along with local businesses and foundations enable them to provide gift packages to tens of thousands of children living in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties.
Ann says, “I started supporting the annual Empty Stocking Fund drive almost 10 years ago, because one of my clients was a regular contributor. As I learned more about the cause, it touched my heart because Christmas is the time of year that children whose families are in need feel that more keenly than at any other time, I believe. Helping make their holidays a bit brighter seems like a great way to keep the spirit of the season.”
We invite you to make a contribution of your own or to learn more about The Empty Stocking Fund by clicking this link: http://www.emptystockingfund.org/favicon.ico.
TMD: Thanks for participating in this month’s Dialog, Ann. Let’s just start with the obvious question: Why do you think marketing research is important?
Ann: There are a very few blessed individuals who are so attuned to the wants and needs of their consumers or customers that they are able to “trust their gut” with regard to marketing decisions and come up winners. The rest of us don’t have a clue what our target audiences want—despite the overwhelming volume of information available to us. Instead, we have a range of (usually differing) personal opinions. The best, most cost-efficient, time- and brand-saving solution is simply to ask potential customers exactly what they want up front, through marketing research.
TMD: Tell us about a time when marketing research prevented your company from making a big mistake.
Ann: I worked with a company planning the expansion of one of its brands into China. One of the early pre-launch steps was to conduct market research on the name and logo as well as the concept. To our surprise, we learned that both the name and certain aspects of the logo meant “death and ill fortune” in some Mandarin dialects. Needless to say, we changed the logo design and adjusted the brand name for the Asian rollout.
TMD: So that research kept your company from becoming one of those Marketing textbook case studies of what not to do. Good for you!
How has your thinking about marketing research evolved over your career?
Ann: I’ve become more convinced than ever that market research should be part of the standard equation for any marketing endeavor. With all the technology at our disposal and the speed, breadth and cost-effectiveness the Internet has made possible for many research projects, why wouldn’t a responsible business want to incorporate marketing research into the plan?
TMD: Tell me about a time when marketing research really made a difference in your decision-making?
Ann: A few years ago I worked with a client on a marketing campaign to introduce a revolutionary new technology in a fairly mundane service category. The marketing agency developing the ad campaign for us felt strongly we should go with considerably longer-than-usual copy in the print ads to talk about the benefits of the new approach. The client and I weren’t so sure. We researched it and found potential users were extremely interested in reading and learning about the technology and how it would improve the results delivered. So, we went with the “talky” copy and the launch campaign was quite successful.
TMD: And you and your client were open to learn something new. Keeping an open mind is so essential to good marketing research.
TMD: What were the most important lessons you learned about marketing research in the early days of your career?
Ann: I was fortunate, when I was a marketing cub in the 80s, to work with three of the smartest, most insightful and patient marketing research professionals I’ve encountered in my career. I had been put in charge of national advertising for my company, and my experience with research at that point was zilch. These great guys took me under their wing and taught me what marketing research was and what it wasn’t, how to be a client who worked as a partner with the marketing research team and how to effectively interpret and use the results. The basics they taught still serve me well—such as getting crystal clear about what you are trying to learn, investing adequate time to develop the right questions and being objective about the outcomes.
TMD: Sounds like you were a good student of marketing research as well as having great teachers!
How do you get buy-in for marketing research from other executives?
Ann: Depending on the size and “newness” of the project (as opposed to a fresh effort in an ongoing initiative), most executives I work with expect marketing research to be a part of the plan and budget. They’ve almost all had experiences where research saved both money and brand equity by helping avoid a bad decision or enhanced marketing efforts by revealing a potential new direction that hadn’t been thought of. In these challenging economic times, however, sometimes company leaders want to squeeze the budget for marketing research. In those cases, I remind them of the volatility of today’s marketplace and the complexity of product and service decisions facing consumers. How can we possibly make sense of this environment for our marketing effort without research? That, plus a couple of reminders about the wisdom of using marketing research on past occasions usually convinces them.
TMD: What are your recommendations for marketing research professionals? What are the pitfalls they need to watch out for?
Ann: Probably the biggest “watch-out” for marketing research professionals are the clients who already know how they want the research results to turn out. These are the folks who just want the research to confirm what they think they already know. Often, if the results don’t bear this out, they twist the interpretation or pounce on selective statistics to support what they want to do. Then when their marketing efforts don’t produce the desired results, they often blame the marketing research and/or use it to avoid blame: “Hey—how was I to know it would be a disaster? The research said it would work.”
TMD: I am sure many readers will relate to that!
Ann: That said, it’s important to set clear, realistic expectations for clients, ensure they see the whole picture the research results are creating—not just a tiny bit—and not shy away from challenging a client’s preconceived notions or misguided interpretations. That’s not always easy to do, for sure, and they don’t always come back to thank you. But I have been that kind of client on occasion, I’m afraid, and I was quite grateful to my marketing research company for setting me straight.
TMD: Ann, thank you so much for your time and for sharing your extensive experience with Marketing Research. We enjoyed speaking with you.
