Surveys May Provide Kick Start Your Business Needs

With the economy recovering at a very tentative pace, you may feel as if your marketing efforts have stalled dead in the road, and you aren’t quite sure how to kick start back into gear. If that is the case, it may be time to consider the power of consumer surveys.

Surveys are a great means of getting a firsthand read of your consumer base in relation to your business. How has their spending habits changed? What products are they now shopping for? What attracts them to a business? By asking consumers direct questions, you eliminate the guessing game often associated with developing marketing campaigns. Using the data compiled from your survey, you can accurately target your consumers and increase business accordingly.

Basic Survey Terminology to Consider:
Quantitative Surveys are based on measureable results.

Qualitative Surveys allow you to explore issues with respondents and allow for open-ended responses.

Samples should be at random and reflect a true representation of your population (or in your case, consumer base). The larger the sample size, the smaller the margin of error. If you are looking for quantitative results, a rule of thumb is to sample at least 100 people. Qualitative surveys are less dependent on sample size as you are looking for an exploration on a topic.

So, are you ready to start surveying? Here are some simple steps to follow to get your market research off to a running start!
1. Select the type of research you need (Quantitative/Qualitative)
2. Design a questionnaire
3. Collect your data
4. Analyze data

Experiential Marketing – The Art of PR

During a recent marketing seminar I attended geared towards women business owners and the cultivation of their brand, I learned of a new industry buzz word – “Experiential Marketing.” The speaker defined this term as a means of inviting the customer in to become an active participant in your brand. She also noted that it is important to engage all of the senses in order to promote the full brand experience and to focus more on the psychographics of your target audience rather than the demographics. A little more outside research turned up this definition, “an art of creating an experience resulting in an emotional connection to a person, brand, product or idea.”

While these definitions make the practice seem lofty and rich, the root of experiential marketing is essentially the basic principles of effective public relations. By connecting to your audience on an emotional level, you can foster positive relations and total brand engagement.

Social media has quickly risen to the zenith of public relation channels (and experiential marketing) because of its effectiveness at connecting with a target audience on a personal level. In an Internet driven world, people have essentially created their own personal Internet real estate that is open to marketing touch points – free of charge. Whether through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube (the list goes on), smart marketers can infiltrate the personal space of their target audience with marketing messages that don’t appear to be such.

Fostering experiential marketing behaviors in your marketing efforts is essential to creating a brand in which people connect and trust.