While we often write about social media in this blog and how businesses and organizations can use it strategically as part of an integrated marketing plan, it's not often first-hand field research on social media use by tweens and teens can be shared. But recently I had the opportunity to do some informal research on [...]
Everyone tells you that you need to research your potential customers, but no one tells you much about how to do it. Whether you are in a small organization or at a large company, you need good prospect research, and you may wonder where to begin and how to add useful details to that shadowy [...]
Yes, you read that correctly: How NOT to use customer demographics in your marketing. Under pressure to avoid making decisions based on intuition or hunches, small businesses and nonprofits may rely too heavily on the copious, free demographic research available today. Let’s look at two recent experiences that illustrate the 'data fog' problem, as well [...]
Three years after my first look at the question of where to find your customers in social media, I have a pleasant surprise for you: There is good news on this front. While changes made by social media networks and service providers often disrupt marketers, causing small nonprofits and businesses lots of extra work with [...]
A good friend and neighbor just happens to be an applied mathematician interested in modeling a variety of physical, biological, and social phenomenon (he’s a super smart guy). Much of his work with numbers and data is way over my head but a recent study grabbed my attention. Chris Danforth and his students at the [...]
Customer research is unlikely to reveal this truth to you: I’m not a shopper. I find the experience quite exhausting. When I have to shop, I like it to be as quick and painless as possible. So I go with a list (and coupons) in hand. Grocery store shopping is something I have to do [...]
In August 2011, the Pew Internet Project released findings from their May 2011 Internet Survey that found 92% of online adults use two online features: email (61% on an average day) and search engines to find information on the web (59% on an average day). Given the growth of the smartphone market and mobile access, increased [...]
