marketing

How will AI impact your organization?

Image: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1449225

The news about artificial intelligence has been coming fast and furious over the past six months.  The list of things AI can do is reason for excitement as well as some worry.  But either way, it’s coming.  Organizations that learn how to utilize AI will benefit, but those who don’t risk falling behind.

  • Shameless plug: I’m offering a 60-minute webinar, “Intro to AI for Business” and a full-day workshop, “How Your Company Can Benefit from AI.”  Details at the end of this email.

How can organizations benefit from AI?

  • Encourage employees to familiarize themselves with AI.  Learn the basics of what AI is and how it works.  Use AI chat bots such as Chat GPT and Bard.  Find out what platforms are offering AI-powered services for your industry and get demos.
  • One caveat to the above: have a policy about acceptable ways for employees to use AI, and in particular, what data may and may not be shared on an AI platform.  Be aware of data confidentiality considerations – these differ by platform.  For example, information shared with ChatGPT is used to train it further.  However, OpenAI announced it will soon launch ChatGPT Business which will enable organizations to keep their data confidential.
  • Customer experience: the fact that AI can analyze vast amounts of data with ease can provide opportunities for organizations to serve their customers faster, better or in a more customized fashion.  For example, could your organization use AI to handle customer questions more quickly?   Or anticipate their needs with tailored recommendations? 
  • Innovation: organizations can use AI to analyze the behavior and needs of customers and prospects and come up with new products and services.
  • Marketing: AI can help organizations target their marketing more effectively, as well as help reduce the time needed to create marketing materials.
  • Productivity: AI sharply decreases the time to accomplish knowledge work tasks.  This raises concerns about layoffs, but the benefit could also be used to increase productivity and to enable employees to have the work-life balance so many organizations say they aspire to.

Of course, the above is just a partial list, and each organization will have their own specific opportunities and challenges when it comes to AI.  I’m here to help with the following options:

  • Intro to AI for Business: 60-minute webinar that explains what AI is and how organizations can benefit from AI, as well potential pitfalls to be aware of.  Includes time for Q&A.
  • How Your Company Can Benefit from AI: A full-day, in-person facilitated workshop to brainstorm ways your organization can best utilize AI, including a review of the relevant AI-powered platforms currently available.

Email me at info at bureauwest.com and let’s discuss how I can help!

Sources: Bureau West research; “OpenAI previews business plan for ChatGPT, launches new privacy controls,” TechCrunch, 4/25/23

Posted on by Jay Zaltzman

Learn to use AI now… before the competition

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been in the news lately because a recent advance in the technology now makes AI both significantly more advanced and more accessible to businesses. While in the past, companies needed big budgets and teams of developers to utilize AI, current tools have opened the technology to medium and even small companies.

Marketing is one area where companies are benefitting from AI.  A few examples:

  • Companies are using AI to analyze data on customer behavior, demographics, and purchase history to create personalized marketing campaigns that are more likely to resonate with individual customers.
  • Retailers are using AI-powered chatbots to provide personalized product recommendations to customers based on their browsing history and purchase history.
  • Restaurants are using AI-powered predictive analytics to analyze customer data and make predictions about which menu items are likely to be popular, allowing them to optimize their menu and improve their sales.

And there are many benefits beyond marketing, such as:

  • Companies are uncovering new business opportunities by using AI to analyze customer behavior and preferences.
  • Banks and other businesses are using AI to detect and prevent fraud.
  • Manufacturers are using AI-powered predictive maintenance systems to predict when equipment is likely to fail, so that maintenance can be scheduled before a breakdown occurs.

And that’s just a small sample of the ways AI is being used.  To be fair, many people have concerns about AI, such as job losses and potential abuse of AI systems.  But like it or not, these advances are coming and companies that don’t get involved may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

I’m starting a mastermind group for those interested in discussing how to utilize AI to benefit their companies.  Please let me know if you’d like to participate.  Email me at info at bureauwest.com.

Sources: Bureau West research; ChatGPT; “How AI could empower any business,” Andrew Ng, TED2022; Graphic: Designed by pikisuperstar / Freepik

Posted on by Jay Zaltzman

How Gen Z differs from previous cohorts

Generation Z, people born between 1997 and 2012, make up 20% of the US population, and are the next important group for companies to consider, both as prospective customers and potential employees.

Clockwise from top left: James Charles, Chloe Kim, Greta Thunberg, Billie Eilish,Lil Nas X, and Zendaya. (https://www.sfweekly.com/culture/who-is-gen-z-really/ Photo Credit: Grace Z. Li/ DFree/ Tinseltown/ Kathy Hutchins/ Live Oeian via Shutterstock)

I was at the QRCA Annual Conference last week – it was great to see my fellow qualitative researchers in-person! – and I attended a presentation and panel led by Jamin Brazil about Gen Z.  Whenever people talk about characteristics of cohorts, I wonder whether those characteristics have to do with the cohort specifically, or the life stage they’re in.  I still remember, at the beginning of my research career, people saying that Generation X were “slackers.”  Then, a few years later, they said “we were wrong, they’re actually hard workers!”  That’s because when they were college students they weren’t as hard working as when they got married and had kids!

Having said that, there do seem to be some characteristics that really are specific to Gen Z.  These came up in the presentation and were confirmed by the Gen Z attendees sitting with me during the session, as well as in research interviews I’ve been conducting with members of the cohort.  Marketers and employers should consider these characteristics if they want to appeal to Gen Z:

  • They are digital natives: That is, they have always lived with social media and smartphones.  As a result, they are quite experienced and savvy when it comes to inauthenticity and digital scams.  When it comes to purchasing decisions, they rely on influencers (people on social media regarded as experts or taste-makers in a specific area) more than other cohorts.
  • They are pragmatic: In contrast to Millennials who were raised by Baby Boomers and who tend to be idealistic, Gen Z were raised by Generation X parents – and saw their parents struggling during the great recession.  They tend to focus on saving money.
  • They are diverse: 49% of Gen Z identify as non-white, more than any cohort before them. They are more likely to have grown up amid diverse family structures – whether in a single parent household, a multi-racial household, or a household in which gender roles were blurred. As a result, they are less fazed than previous generations by differences in race, sexual orientation or religion.

The above has implications not just for marketers and employers, but also for researchers.  We are finding that Gen Z members are more difficult to recruit as research respondents.  They are mistrustful of traditional recruiting and worry about data security.  Research recruiters are finding greater success recruiting through social media and word of mouth, rather than traditional methods.  And Gen Z members are demanding higher research incentives, thinking of research participation in much the same light as a “side hustle.” 

How can you appeal to your Gen Z prospects?  Let’s ask them!  Email me at info at bureauwest.com.

Sources: Panel Discussion: Meet Your Future – Gen Z ARE the Future of Research, both as Participants and Researchers, QRCA Annual Conference, 5/16/22; What Are the Core Characteristics of Generation Z?, Annie E. Casey Foundation, 4/14/21; Bureau West research

Posted on by Jay Zaltzman

Marketers define new best practices

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.” 

Article: Marketers Get a GRIP on the New Normal
http://bureauwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Marketers-Get-a-GRIP-RJ.pdf

GRIP refers to the top four challenges discussed:

  • 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.

Posted on by Jay Zaltzman