In a lot of industries and marketplaces, the word “conventional” is loaded with negative connotations. However, that’s really not fair: because sometimes conventional is just fine.
But when it comes to marketing spend, conventional isn’t a good word — because it refers to what is known in the industry as “interrupt” marketing; and that’s not a compliment. Here’s why:
Conventional marketing relies on (yes, you guessed it) interrupting target audiences to get a message across. TV advertising, radio advertising, magazine advertising, bus advertising, and so on are all examples of interrupt marketing.
The problem, of course, is that the interruption doesn’t always happen. In fact, the vast majority of prospective customers aren’t in the mood to be interrupted, which is why conventional marketing relies on mass broadcasting and repetition to succeed. Now, if your company happens to be McDonald’s corporation or Disney, then this may not be a big problem — because the annual marketing budget is larger than the GDP of some countries. Dropping a few million dollars on radio ad isn’t a big deal (Ronald and Mickey can just work some overtime).
But for most businesses — and for virtually all small businesses — conventional marketing is cost prohibitive. Or even when it’s within the budget, it’s rather terrifying: because if it doesn’t generate customers, then it’s a massive waste of money. That’s where market research enters the picture and changes the ROI outlook!
Market research is the bridge that enables businesses to escape from conventional marketing, by generating reliable data about their specific buyer personas:
- Who they are
- What problems they have
- What questions they ask during the research process
- What goals they want to achieve
- What is stopping them from achieving their goals
- What they buy and why they buy it
- Where they can be found reading information on the internet
- What it takes to usher them from engaged prospect to loyal customer
In other words, instead of hoping that a business’ marketing INTERRUPT their future customers, market research empowers businesses to ENGAGE their future customers, and start a relationship. By knowing all of these details, you can craft specific campaigns to hit pain points, motivations and research questions that are relevant and informative to your buyer persona. Becoming a thought leader can impact your marketing and sales, and it makes all the difference between regret and ROI.
Learn More
To learn more about how market research will help your business micro-target your buyer personas – so you can engage instead of interrupt — contact the Communications For Research team today. You’ll speak with our co-CEO Colson Steber to determine what you need to know about your ideal customer and the market research methodologies you’ll use to achieve success.
