Dialog with Sharon Goldmacher
Posted by Debra Semans on Tue, Jun 15, 2010 @ 11:08 AM
Welcome to the June 2010 edition of The Marketing Dialog. This month’s guest marketing leader is Sharon Goldmacher, President of communications 21 (c21) (communications 21 - integrated marketing PR agency). Inspired by other young entrepreneurs during a trip to Australia, Sharon founded communications 21 in 1992 as a full-service marketing PR firm specializing in brand development, product launch campaigns, media relations, executive exposure and special events; as well as creating marketing materials, Web sites and social media programs for clients. The company is committed to "Remarkable service. Real results." After its first year, the company won the DeKalb (GA) Chamber's Stargazer award for "Small Business Start-Up of the Year." And it hasn’t stopped winning awards ever since!
Full bio of Sharon Goldmacher.
To thank our guests for their participation, Polaris will make a donation to the charity of their choice. Sharon has chosen the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. “The Georgia chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is doing great work in helping to fund cutting-edge research, drive change through advocacy, facilitate professional education, and provide programs and services to help people with MS and their families move their lives forward. I know several people – both family and friends – who suffer from MS – and the research that is currently happening can only continue with your help,” said Sharon.
To make a donation, please click here: National MS Society
If you would like to know more about MS, please click here: Learn more about MS
TMD: Thanks for participating in this month’s Dialog, Sharon. Tell me about a time when marketing research really made a difference for your clients?
Sharon: communications 21 – or c21 – is often charged with a variety of marketing, PR and interactive assignments from clients – from creating marketing plans to developing media relations outreach programs to establishing or increasing customer engagement via social media. Marketing research, or at the very least, connecting and understanding what a client’s various target audiences are seeking in terms of information, services, products, etc. is vital to the success of any strategy.
Two clients used research to help them make vital decisions for their companies. The first was BellSouth when they decided to consolidate more than 200 offices spread across metro Atlanta into three primary locations along MARTA rail [Atlanta’s local public rail transportation]. The ultimate goal was to remove more than 20,000 single occupant vehicles of their employees each day from Atlanta’s heavily congested roads. In order to understand if their idea was even feasible, BellSouth conducted comprehensive research with their employees. It uncovered information on where employees lived, average commute times, willingness to use public transit and more. The study findings allowed BellSouth to confidently move forward and achieve its goals.
Instead of comprehensive customer research, Cousins Properties uses a series of short consumer surveys that provide them with added customer insight around The Avenue brand. The Avenue is a brand used for eight outdoor lifestyle centers in the Southeast. The Avenue In fact, we encouraged a survey in advance of the company’s website redesign for The Avenue, which helped them to focus on the features customers would like to see and use. In addition, Cousins has uncovered information on customers’ use of social media, mobile applications and more, and the types of retailers shoppers would like to see at The Avenue properties. All great information that helps them to continually deliver what their customers want.
TMD: Has there ever been a time when you or your client were surprised to discover something or would not have known something without having done the research?
Sharon: One client did not think their customers used smart phones, and was not considering online advertising or mobile marketing in its marketing plan. The research showed more than 60 percent of its customers used smart phones and wanted discounts to their phones directly. The client has since changed their strategy.
TMD: No doubt! I think that is one of the most important benefits of marketing research: to keep us open to how the world is changing – especially now. Sometimes you just have to test those assumptions. We have a lot of clients now asking about how their customers are using (or not using) social media – and there have been surprises!
Sharon, another important concern we are hearing from our client: saving money. How has marketing research saved your company or your clients’ companies money?
Sharon: With any marketing endeavor, if you’re using a shot-gun approach to reach people who may or may not care about a particular product or service – it will always be more expensive. And with social media, it’s more critical than ever to know where your audience is, what they are saying and what they want. Research can help narrow the spray of buckshot into a laser focused arrow – to hit the right audience with the right message. Without it, clients may throw good money after bad and not see any results.
TMD: c21 and Polaris both work with a variety of clients - very big companies and very small companies. You and I both know that not every company researches every decision – even very important decisions. What marketing decisions do you think are the most difficult to make without any research?
Sharon: Product sales and product redesigns are the most difficult decisions to make without market research. A company approached us to market their very expensive supplement product to active adults, yet they had limited research on their target consumers’ locations, where they shopped, what their triggers were for buying supplements, price sensitivity, etc., and didn’t seem interested in making the investment to find out. I felt we would be set up to fail, and ultimately, we did not take them on as a client.
Market research, when done properly, can make difficult decisions easy. We tested two product redesigns for a bottled water company. The bottle was to be the first two liter product on the market. The company president liked one bottle design, and we liked another. We conducted several focus groups, and the research clearly chose a winner (unfortunately, not the president’s favorite). However, he went with the research findings and bottles flew off the shelves – a true success. And c21 pitched a story on how a small businesses can use market research and placed it in Time Magazine – double bonus!
TMD: So much is changing in business, the role of marketing research in business is being examined a lot these days. The industry seems to be challenging itself to evolve with the new business realities. From the research user’s perspective, how has your thinking about marketing research evolved over your career?
Sharon: The advent and popularity of social media has made gaining small insights easy. Even though not everyone uses social media, clients see the tremendous value in having direct and ongoing access to their most loyal followers, customers, fans, etc. For companies that combine true market research with social media research, the knowledge can be extremely powerful.
TMD: Interesting – I agree completely that Social Media is a powerful new tool in the toolbox. It will be fun to see how the Marketing Research industry adapts!
Let us know: How are you using social media in gaining insight? How are you combining social media with traditional marketing research approaches?
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