Opportunities to Push the Envelope of Market Research

In a couple of weeks, Vivek Bhaskaran will be speaking at the IIR Technology Driven Market Research event in Chicago.   The Technology Driven Market Research Conference is all about the breakthrough technologies that will be used in market research.   If you're interested in learning more about this conference, take a look at their site and register.

In the meantime, get a preview of what you're likely to hear from Vivek and other thought leaders in the market research technology realm.  In this interview with Leaonard Murphy from the Green Book Marketing Research Blog, Vivek blows the roof off the conventional market research and then gently leads us back to really pushing the envelope as we look for new ways to really listen to what our customers and our markets are trying to tell us,

Using Analysis and Listening as Psychic Tools

OK, sorry, I pushed that headline a little to get your attention.  Let me explain.

A few months ago, I read this book SHiFT Selling by Craig Elias and it literally blew my mind.  Craig was talking about using simple analysis of sales you'd already won to literally predict and place yourself right in front of your ideal customer just when they are ready, willing and able to buy.  So it actually LOOKS like you're being psychic -- when you're actually being smart.

The Craig Elias used these same techniques to connect with me (after I was doing research on HIM) and we came up with this eye-popping webinar that you can participate in NEXT Tuesday April 12.  REGISTER RIGHT HERE.

How to Use Social Media to WOW Your Customers

Now we have a slightly understated headline to communicate a really interesting and important trend -- that's related to TRIGGER EVENTS (the webinar I was talking about in the previous section).

The latest issue of Trendwatching is out and you'll never believe what they are talking about "Random Acts of Kindness".   You know --- random acts of kindness -- like paying the toll for the person behind you, just doing something nice for someone you don't know -- BECAUSE it's the nice thing to do.

Well - it's a HOT HOT HOT trend in business right now.  There are tons of examples - I'll just give you a few right here :

• In October 2010, flower delivery service Interflora launched a social media campaign in the UK designed to brighten up the lives of Twitter users by sending them flowers. Interflora monitored Twitter looking for users that needed cheering up. Once found, the users were contacted and sent a bouquet of flowers as a surprise.


• In November 2010, Dutch airline KLM ran an experimental campaign called How Happiness Spreads, where it employed a "Surprise Team" to give passengers tailored, unexpected gifts at the airport.
  Combining with location-based game Foursquare, as soon as someone checked-in at a KLM Foursquare location within its network of airports the Surprise Team went online to find more background information about the person, decided upon a suitable gift and gave it them before they flew.
  For instance, one traveler tweeted he would miss a PSV Eindhoven football game while he was in New York. The Surprise Team, accordingly, gave him a Lonely Planet guidebook of NYC with all the football bars highlighted in blue.

If you haven't already noticed - this super trend is being DRIVEN by using social media technology to LISTEN to its audience and then take action because it's NICE.

Have the big corporations gone Buddhist - creating waywardly great karmic impressions?  It may seem like it, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they are being savvy marketers.