How to find out what the competition is doing? What do clients think? What does the market want?

All great questions.

Market research surveys can answer a lot of them but sometimes you need to take a longer, deeper look at market dynamics.

Marketing Deep Diving is about uncovering core issues through the lens of lengthy, targeted, loosely structured, one-on-one interviews with clients and prospects that take the organization deeper than marketing slogans. It’s about finding pearls of wisdom.

This is the third of three blog posts that look at Deep Diving in Marketing as part of the process of understanding market dynamics and customer behaviours.

WHY The first post looked at why organizations need to go Deep Diving.
WHAT The second post described an effective Deep Diving process that uncovers core truths.
HOW This third post looks at how to go Deep Diving, as well as where and when to go diving.

How to go Deep Diving

It takes time, planning and experience. Don’t jump in if you need to find a pearl by next Wednesday.

Planning is critical because you need to determine who to interview and the discussion areas for the interview. These are the “Where’s” of interviewing and they drive the market research, the market analysis and the conclusions. If you spend time diving in the wrong spots, or diving in the right place but looking for sea shells, instead of pearls, you’re wasting time and money.

Deep Diving is typically initiated at a senior level. Usually it’s the head of the Marketing group; sometimes it’s the management team/CEO/President; sometimes it’s the board.

Can it be done by someone internal?

Absolutely. The individual should be somewhat separated from the day-to-day operations of the marketing/research department, because you don’t want their views coloured by bias or pre-conceptions. At the same time, they have to be a respected, credible voice within the organization so that their report will carry weight.

You are looking for three things with the appointed researcher:

• Experience. Someone who’s done Deep Diving before and who can represent the organization at senior levels, as needed
• Objectivity. Able to dispassionately describe a situation, without having to worry about stepping on toes
• Value-add. A person who can analyse data, imagine the potential and draw actionable conclusions. Sometimes they have to see the bigger picture with just a few pieces of information.

If I go external, how do I engage?

Use the same criteria as selecting an internal partner: experience, objectivity and value-add. Then look for an organization with which you can develop a strategic partnership. A Deep Diving project is going to take between 2 and 6 months, depending on the project scope, reporting and the level of interaction. Regular discussions between the individual researcher and the project owner will help drive the project to faster and deeper conclusions.

What’s the end result?

Deep Diving will bring rich pearls of wisdom to the management table. It describes why customers buy and why some people don’t; the way an organization is perceived; motivations; future intentions; and core brand truths. Of course, what you do with the information is up to you…

Does Train of Thoughts go Deep Diving?

Train of Thoughts brings experience and objectivity to organizations when it goes Deep Diving, having surfaced successfully from many dives. To find out more, contact tim@trainofthoughts.ca.
Just a thought.
Tim

Photo taken and licensed by Zulema.

Tagged as: Deep Diving, market research