Marketing Research Blog

As we see business after business fail, it is apparent that a lots of folks have been “asleep at the switch.” It is not just CEOs and other corporate executives but also boards of directors who have failed to rein-in wrong moves by CEOs.

I joined such a company some years ago after the long-term CEO had been dismissed and the outside board of directors had been thoroughly and repeatedly chastised by the state’s insurance commissioner. One would have thought that the board would have learned their lesson but a few years after I had departed, the insurer was once again “flown into the ground” while the board simply watched what was happening. There was no 3rd chance for this insurer; they were acquired by another insurer.

That rings a bell for me. I really get a great deal of satisfaction out of helping corporations profitably grow. Having sent a note, a while back, to a large bank’s chief marketing officer suggesting that I could help them make things happen (grow share), I received a call from one of his assistants saying “Nothing is happening here; the marketing V.P. has gone and the bank’s name has changed.” Clearly those in charge had been asleep at the switch and. sadly enough, this assistant had not yet grasped the reality of what had happened.

I have absolutely no desire to help corporations survive. My goal is to help businesses thrive by growing profitably.  To do this, one must constantly keep abreast of what buyers and potential buyers need and want and provide it. Be apprehensive when corporate executives claim that they know exactly what buyers need–thus it is unnecessary to ask. From my experience, there is only want to know what buyers want; ask them!

As my wife and I were driving to her office after church this monring, she was deep in thought about all that she needs to do for her business today. So as she drove along in deep concentration, I contemplated about that which I most like about my marketing research business. Helping businesses grow share!

Everything that I do is directed at helping businesses make better decisions. And I cherish the opportunities that the good Lord gives me to help businesses become more effective. Much of what I do could undoubtedly be done just as well by other marketing research providers. But there is one area in which I have no peer!

I developed a brand choice model (a mathematical model) that actually does what a brand choice model is supposed to do.  I call it the Optimal Brand Choice Model since it identifies the brand positioning that optimizes a brand’s share. Several years ago, I fully described this model in the scientific literature. But I will chat more about that later.

Welcome world! I’m regularly going to be blogging about marketing research:

• How to use it;
• How not to abuse it;
• How to get the most out of it;
• I will make many of the technical aspects of marketing research understandable; and
• I will encourage you to ask questions

The first topic that I plan to blog about will be “margin of error,” a term that we often hear on news programs and that we will be hearing more and more as the Presidential Election draws nearer.