So how do we
marketers figure out what our customers will want as we emerge from the
pandemic? Rob recommends a “Recognize-Reimagine-Respond” approach, as follows:
Recognize
Understand that customers may have different needs
The role your brand played in the past may not be as relevant to all
the same people, but there may be new prospects
Reimagine
Now is the time to consider scenario planning or “war games”
Examine the benefits, needs or JTBD is your brand is serving
Re-evaluate existing segmentations, journey and innovation maps
Respond
Build new plans based on scenarios and “rapid response” tactics
Get re-acquainted with your consumer and their psychology
Expect swings in behavior until new equilibrium is attained
Let’s talk about how your customers and prospects are changing and where the opportunities lie. Shoot me an email: info at bureauwest.com.
My friends at
Ignite 360 looked at the data from their Navigating to a New Normal research
(ongoing quant and qual research), and saw a new macro trend emerging: a
focus on gratitude. A clear majority
of participants want to see change in their lives when the events of 2020 come
to a close. Appreciating what they have
was most frequently cited by those seeking change. They are looking for quality over quantity. This macro trend is going to have an impact
on how people spend their time and money.
The new trend
has immediate implications for how companies communicate with their customers
and prospects and longer-term implications for the development of products,
pricing, even business models. Read more
about the findings here.
Can I help you figure out how this trend impacts your customers and prospects? Let’s discuss! Shoot me an email: info at bureauwest.com.
Obviously,
we’ve all been doing a lot of Zoom calls lately. I’ve heard the term “Zoom fatigue”
about how tiring those calls can be. But
I’ve wondered if they’re any more tiring than the in-person meetings we used
to do. I got an opportunity to
contrast and compare: last year, I did a full-day in-person strategy session
with a client (well, 6 hours, from 10am to 4pm). This year, the same client needed to do
another 6-hour session, but (of course) on Zoom.
It
was indeed tiring, but there was an upside: when we took breaks, we were all in
our own homes, so we got to take a true break, rather than just getting up and
getting a cup of coffee with the other participants.
Also, I had a few tricks up my sleeve and I was able to get some tips from my colleague Eric Snyder at Ignite 360, who had just done a full-day workshop with another client. And it worked! Everyone remained engaged throughout the day and we were able to get results! (Though I will admit to being dead tired when it was done.)
Here
are my tips for surviving a 6-hour Zoom session:
I scheduled a 15-minute coffee break in the morning, a 30-minute
lunch and another 15-minute coffee break mid-afternoon – and I stuck to that
schedule (politely cutting people off – it’s an art!). So people didn’t have to go longer than an
hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half between breaks.
We did a few fun things throughout the day. We sent some cookies and snacks to all the
participants in advance which I encouraged the people to have during the coffee
breaks and talk about which treats they liked best. And rather than doing regular introductions,
I had everyone send me the information about what they do at the organization,
but also a little known fact about themselves and one or two photos of them
doing something fun or unexpected. I put
them in a PowerPoint deck and used them as “palate cleansers” between
topics. I would first just show the
little known fact and ask participants to guess who it was, and then revealed
the person and their photos. It really
served to break up the day and lighten the mood.
Here’s something I didn’t do, but Eric has done with great results:
offer small prizes for things like the first person to answer a certain
question. It could be as small as a $5
Starbucks card, but people love the competition!
In
addition, I discovered some helpful points about how to best utilize Zoom’s
features… and handle its shortcomings:
I knew it would be important for everyone to see each other
speaking, so I asked them in advance to all use a computer and not a
tablet (which only lets you view 9 participants at a time – we had 12) and
definitely not a mobile phone. And I
made sure everyone was in Gallery Mode (or as I put it, “It should look
like Hollywood Squares, where we are all in rectangles of the same size”).
I consider the chat panel an added bonus when compared to
in-person discussions. If someone has
something to add to what a person is saying at that moment, they can type it in
the chat panel, rather than interrupting.
Also, having two types of input – the voice of the person speaking and
the text in the chat panel – actually helps people stay more engaged. When you just listen to a person speaking,
your attention is more likely to wander.
One of the drawbacks of Zoom is that when two people start
talking at the same time, it takes a few seconds to realize that, and neither
can be heard. But the silver lining: it
forces a more orderly discussion. I had
people raise their hands to indicate they wanted to speak next and I confirmed
in the chat panel (e.g., “Next: Barbara”).
And when two people did start talking at once, I just had to play
traffic cop and say something like “OK, Mary, you go ahead, and then David.”
We were planning to work together on crafting a vision statement
and I had intended to share my screen so we could all agree on the text. But I realized that participants wouldn’t be
able to see each other that clearly while screen sharing. Instead, I typed the suggested text in the
chat panel, as well as subsequent revisions, until we had a version
everyone agreed on. (Note: that would be
a good time to click the “save chat” link in Zoom!)
Let’s talk about the best approach to find the answer to your strategic questions. Call me at 760-469-9266 or email info at bureauwest.com.
I
recently joined my colleagues at ThinkGlobal Qualitative in conducting research
with marketing and insights leaders around the world to understand the
challenges they are facing and their best practices in handling those
challenges.
Their
biggest question: how can we strategize and move forward during this crisis
when customers’ attitudes seem to change every few weeks?
Certainly
the changing circumstances have required some quick course changes for
businesses around the world. But upon
further discussion, we realized that obtaining a deeper understanding of our
customers can uncover their foundational values to help us better navigate
their changing circumstances. Qualitative
research is particularly well-suited to get at that kind of deep understanding. It goes beyond the surface questions and asks
“why?”
I
co-wrote an article based on the research, “Marketers Get a GRIP on the New
Normal.”
Growth – how to maintain and grow the business in a volatile world
Recovery – how to function most effectively in the new normal
Innovation – figuring out the new ways brands will interact with customers
Pivot – how to make those changes quickly and effectively
The
article discusses meeting those challenges and outlines approaches companies
can use to not only survive the crisis, but actually thrive. Click here
for the article.
Let’s get a deeper understanding of your customers in order to figure out how your organization can meet those challenges. Call me at 760-469-9266 or email info at bureauwest.com.
