Who loves ya?

Focus on customers, not focus groups. In yesterday's sermonette on market research and surveys, I said that it was all about how you apply what the research numbers reveal. Marketing, we are told, blends science and art. But the art of marketing lies more in the detective dimension of the practice, not the aesthetics. The best marketing people I’ve worked with over the years always reminded me of cops on TV. In the old days, this was Columbo and Kojak. Today, it’s CSI. The science of evidence. And blending experience and instinct to sort it all out and throw out the red herrings. This is the real art. Yes, marketing is largely a numbers game and numbers don't lie. Problem is, they don't always tell the whole truth. What you have to do to avoid being misled is to play cop. Snoop around. Be nosey. Talk to people. Find out who knows what about whatever. Not necessarily to your actual customers, but to prospects. And to the people they turn to for advice and opinions. Don't confuse them with the professional people who canvas the industry. Get your data straight from the source. Secondary research is just that – secondary. Get primary data you can turn into real knowledge. And don't forget that customers will often respond to your questions not because they know the answer, but because you asked the question. This is why you have to drill deeper. There's the view that you can toss all market research and focus groups. I don't go that far. There was a woman who worked at Ketchum, the advertising and PR people who handle a lot of food accounts, who claimed she could know everything she needed about test-snacks simply by putting an assortment of them on the table right outside her office. People would vote with their tastebuds. She could automatically identify and eliminate the slow movers each day. She claimed it worked better than any focus group she ever ran. So maybe it's relevant to remember the Reaganism about dealing with the Soviets: "Trust, but verify." In the old marketing model, this would imply that you would trust your instincts, but verify with the numbers. Evidence suggests that you might want to turn that around today. Trust the numbers, but to ensure you’re not misled, verify them with your instincts.