4 Watch Outs When Conducting a Survey
10 Sep 2015

4 Watch Outs When Conducting a Survey

“There are errors everywhere,” my market research professor claimed on the first day of class. He continued and said, “as a market researcher, your job is to reduce the errors as much as possible.” As someone who has worked in the industry for fifteen years, I believe that this lesson is still extremely important. In other words, when conducting a survey, there are certain things to watch out for.

If research errors are not found, the results will lead to inaccuracies. Ultimately, the insights garnered from the study may lead a brand to the wrong conclusions.

If you are developing a survey, here are a few errors that you need to watch out for.

1.     Inaccurate Objectives

When constructing your research objectives, it is always important to think about how the end results will be used. In other words, when conducting a survey, you must make sure that your objectives are clear and factual.

2.     Improper Research Methodology

Sample size, language issues, and goals of the research are aspects you need to consider when determining the methodology. For example, a survey with only 25 respondents only provides directional information and does not represent a portion of the population.   You may want to consider using more open-ended research approaches such as focus groups.

3.    Bad Survey Writing

Survey length is too long, leading with sensitive questions (i.e. household income), too many open ends, inconsistent or wrong survey scales are just a few of the problems that occur when writing a survey. The best way to solve survey errors is by asking others to take your survey. The more people who take the survey, the more errors you will be able to find.  Also, double-check to ensure the survey logic is accurate. To sum up, survey writing is vital when conducting a survey, and your choices are very important.

4.    Sampling Bias

How you acquire your sample can impact survey results. Your friends or colleagues may provide biased results if they took your survey. Also, only researching a certain segment of your population may also skew results. For example, if you were targeting a national population, but only reached New Yorkers the results won’t be representative.

In conclusion, survey writing plays an enormous role in the success of your study. For example, any combination of sampling bias, bad survey writing, improper methodology, and inaccurate objectives can submarine your research. In particular, bias can torpedo a research study by skewing the results to inaccuracy. The job of researchers is to conduct smart, factual, and insightful studies, in order to inform a marketing strategy. By avoiding these pitfalls, you as a researcher will be on your way to doing your job to the best of your possibilities. And the possibilities of market research are endless!

About Provoke Insights

Provoke Insights is a full-service brand consultancy and market research firm. Our innovative approach helps brands navigate through today’s cluttered marketing space. We are the nerds behind the advertising, branding, media, and content marketing initiatives. Our obsession with data and research makes your marketing strategy compelling and impactful.

Check out some of our most recent posts from our strategy and advertising research blog here:

  1. Blockchain & the Markest Research Industry
  2. Is Your Research Stuck in the 1980s: Update Your Brand Tracker!
  3. Market Research Doesn’t Need to Be Boring: Improve Data Visualization
  4. Tips For Building Brand Strategy for a Successful Brand
  5. What’s the Difference Between Quantitative and Qualitative?

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Check out our most recent features in the news media:

September 11th, 2019: 40% of U.S. Millennials prefer crypto investments in the event of a recession: eToro Survey

July 31st, 2019: Jewelry Is About to Get its Own ‘Got Milk’ Ads

July 1st, 2019: 22 Top Advertising Research Companies 2019

Keep on the lookout for more blog posts from us!

Research for Content Marketing
10 Sep 2015

Research for Content Marketing

Positioning your company as a thought leader is an art form.   By publishing research studies, you build your brand’s credibility.

With a proliferation of media channels available today, it is pertinent to make sure your data gets its full mileage.  Bring our research to life, using contenting marketing as a catalyst for B2B and B2C awareness, engagement, lead generation, and conversion. Tactics can include online videos, infographics, sales materials, email marketing, thought leadership pieces, press releases, and guerrilla efforts.   Plus, all of these content initiatives help grow your brands online presence, and ultimately help improve your organic search efforts.

1. Design Template

Before your questionnaire is even designed, develop a PowerPoint template.   Design is critical to research reports. It is key that the design fits your brand’s look and feel.

2. Headlines

Even before the questionnaire is fielded, start developing potential headlines for the report. These headlines are based on the questionnaire, and are used to help guide the story. SEO is important to build awareness and credibility.  When developing headlines, take into account the keywords your brand wants to be known for in online searches.

3. Storytelling – Report Writing

Storytelling is an art form.  Using the designed templates and headlines as a base, create stories that keep the readers excited.  Reports should include background/objectives, methodology, key findings, recommendations, and detailed findings.

4. The Extra Touch

After the content in the decks is finalized, use graphic designers to further enhance the decks.   The content, graphics and charts should be able to live in more places than just PowerPoint.   Reports should be designed so they can easily be used in sales collateral, press releases, white pages, Facebook posts, or even a blog.

Survey States Web Developers Are Happy
10 Sep 2015

Survey States Web Developers Are Happy

Looking at a Career in Web Development?

SkilledUp, the online educator, commissioned Provoke Insights to conduct a survey among 300 web developers, and some of our findings were quite interesting.  The survey results were a media sensation and were featured in USA Today, Inc, AM NewYork and Mashable. It really helped bring attention to the services SkilledUp has to offer.

Web development is a rewarding career, with 88% of respondents stating they were “satisfied” with their job. Some of the reasons for this happiness include the flexibility and work-life balance a career in web development offers. Another positive aspect of a web developer’s job is relative job security. As part of the technology segment of the job market, web developers are almost always in demand. Currently around 10% of unfilled jobs in America are in technology. As a result of this excess demand, jobs in technology pay, on average, 50% more when compared to the rest of the private sector. These figures only represent some of our research results.

Top in demand jobs developer jobs include: front-end, back-end, and full stack.  Are you ready to become a web developer?  Do you have the skills to become a web developer?

Similiar to SkilledUp, do you want to boost your brand through market research? It is a great way to gain media exposure and position your brand as an industry thought leader. If you are interested in how you can use content marketing for market research purposes, check out this blog post.   This blog entree will provide detailed steps on how to conduct market research for content marketing purposes.

Tech Companies…What’s Your Brand Strategy?
10 Sep 2015

Tech Companies…What’s Your Brand Strategy?

Technology is the fastest growing industry in New York City. In 2014, jobs in this sector had grown by 33%. As the tech boom continues, how can your brand stand out from the crowd? By developing a strong brand strategy, you can elevate your company above the rest!

Even if your product is unique, it is imperative to find your target and communicate what makes your brand special. However, gaining a potential client’s attention poses a challenge since there are more communication channels than ever before. Consumers’ attention is no longer focused on just one medium. Viewers are consuming content across mobile, desktops, and televisions. Besides, mobile consumption is divided into so many different categories and applications, all with their own tracking devices.

Research that Leads to Brand Strategy

To overcome these challenges, you need a better understanding of who your customer is. For example, which clients will most quickly adapt to your technology? Is your tech company marketing to the right market? Does your audience desire to be part of a new emerging trend? Additionally, what are specific attributes of this audience (age, gender, household income, and/or psychographic attitudes) and how can you leverage that?

It is key to uncover essential information and gather important insights in order to reach your desired audience. Ordinarily, companies like Provoke Insights provide services and tools to help you learn about consumers’ media usage, habits and even specific information about their favorite blog. Furthermore, the research services that we provide will help your tech company develop a strong brand strategy.

Turning Innovation into an Action Plan

Even if your technology is the most advanced in the marketplace, it is a challenge to answer your customers’ needs in a simple and digestible method. In this case, the ‘difference’ needs to be significant and can be developed into a compelling story that separates your product from the competitors. Particularly, it’s important that you can pinpoint what makes your product innovative to consumers in order to maximize sales. Usually, market strategists develop smart action plans based on their own opinions.

For instance, Google Glass was marketed to the general population, and their strategy was based on their belief that their product was exceptional. However, the general public didn’t receive Google Glass too well. Thus, the product failed to generate as much profit as expected. But Google then decided to do some market research on who could benefit most from the Glass technology, and marketed to construction workers. As a result, the product has been a great success. In other words, research can lead you to find the right market.

As you can tell, there are many moving parts to a holistic marketing strategy. Above all, Provoke Insights’s goal is to assist with all aspects of your marketing and branding needs.

About Provoke Insights

Provoke Insights is a full-service brand consultancy and market research firm. Our innovative approach helps brands navigate through today’s cluttered marketing space. We are the nerds behind the advertising, branding, media, and content marketing initiatives. Our obsession with data and research makes your marketing strategy compelling and impactful.

Check out some of our most recent posts from our strategy and advertising research blog here:

  1. Blockchain & the Markest Research Industry
  2. Is Your Research Stuck in the 1980s: Update Your Brand Tracker!
  3. Market Research Doesn’t Need to Be Boring: Improve Data Visualization
  4. Tips For Building Brand Strategy for a Successful Brand
  5. What’s the Difference Between Quantitative and Qualitative?

Sign up for our newsletters here!

Follow our social media accounts:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/provokeinsights

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/provokeinsights/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/provoke-insights

Check out our most recent features in the news media:

September 11th, 2019: 40% of U.S. Millennials prefer crypto investments in the event of a recession: eToro Survey

July 31st, 2019: Jewelry Is About to Get its Own ‘Got Milk’ Ads

July 1st, 2019: 22 Top Advertising Research Companies 2019

Keep on the lookout for more blog posts from us!

75% of Small Businesses Want to Use More Analytics
10 Sep 2015

75% of Small Businesses Want to Use More Analytics

Big Data

Big data can sometimes seem like the cosmos; a nebulous mix of analytics, cloud storage, and private information that can be both mysterious and intimidating. This is especially true for small businesses. A recent survey conducted by Provoke Insights, a brand consultancy and market research firm, found that two-thirds of small companies still don’t know how to navigate big data. Despite this, most companies desperately want to be able to harness the power of analytics. Though intimidating, big data should be analyzed and leveraged appropriately; otherwise a company is not operating to its fullest capacity and money may be left on the table. Small businesses can’t afford to have others eat their lunch.

The Importance of a Marketing Plan

Small businesses must have a well-defined marketing plan in place. Analytics and big data should be a big part of the plan. The power of big data and analytics can be harnessed in a number of ways. Including using analytics to inform marketing initiatives, using analytics as a way to gauge what’s working, and what needs some improvement. Without analytics, a small business is simply guessing the right move as opposed to using data to help them make more intelligent and informed decisions.

If you are a small business and you need help with your marketing plan, Provoke  Insights can help. Feel free to contact us for tips on how to create a marketing plan that uses analytics to make informed decisions.

Measuring Content Marketing ROI
10 Sep 2015

Measuring Content Marketing ROI

Content Marketing has become the number one way for businesses to increase their online presence. Through articles, blogs, videos, pictures, surveys, and infographics, companies can better communicate with their customers.

Companies use this marketing initiative to create a personality and thought leadership, as well as provide an opportunity to engage with consumers. Creating effective content improves SEO, thus enabling potential customers to find businesses more easily via online search.

However, determining the ROI on content marketing is not straightforward, but there are ways to measure it.

Consumption metrics– This metric measures how many people are consuming your content and which channels they are using to consume it. It also measures how frequent and in-depth their consumption is.

You can calculate the consumption metric by counting total and unique visits, downloads, time spent on site, cost per visitor, and bounce rate.

Lead generation metrics- This metric measures effectiveness of a content piece by requiring a name or email address before viewing the content.

Sharing metrics- This metric measures 1) what content is being shared and 2) by who. An increasing number of shares implies that your content is becoming more effective.

It is also important to analyze who is actually sharing your content.  Social influencers spread the word across a larger audience, therefore making them a more desirable target.

Sales metrics- This is the most straightforward way of measuring ROI for content marketing efforts. There are CRM systems to track actual sales close rates. It is key that the CRM system can follow a customer’s path from awareness to the actual sale.   With this type of system, you can determine which types of content really drive sales.

Content marketing is vital to a business’s marketing campaign. By using these metrics effectively and efficiently, businesses will be able to figure out which content works and which doesn’t.  It also helps companies determine how to best create and utilize content marketing.

Capitalize on Your Consumer’s Multichannel Behavior
10 Sep 2015

Capitalize on Your Consumer’s Multichannel Behavior

Changing Brand Interactions

Are you aware that consumers’ interactions with your brand are not what they used to be? Consumers are now consuming media from multiple devices simultaneously – this is what we call ‘Multichannel Behavior.’ Shoppers talk about your brand while they watch your latest commercial, then comment on it with hashtag messages via their smartphone. It is no longer a controlled, one-on-one conversation between consumers and a brand. As a result, brands need to adapt to this new method of media consumption.

Your brand needs to understand and capitalize on the fact that your consumer and his/her peers spend about 15 hours in front of truly beloved companions such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, or even smart TVs using 63GB of data daily!

This exposure to various mediums means there is more opportunity to catch the attention of the consumers and engage them with your offer. However, their journey from one device to another is fragmented, now you have to invest in many more advertising placements than ever before.

The Second Screen

In order to understand them and multichannel behavior better, you must know how they leverage the power of their second screen:

  • Consumers are multitaskers, viewing unrelated content on multiple devices simultaneously.
  • This group start their journey on one device and continue it on another.
  • The next-generation search and investigate related content to what they see on another device.
  • Millennials interact with their social networks while they watch other media.

Opportunities

Don’t be scared of multichannel behavior, there are plenty of opportunities due to the following:

  • Consumers do not leave the room or change the channel for a commercial break.
  • Soppers watch TV in social settings.
  • Despite multi-screening, ad recognition is not affected.

As the consumers change the way they gather information and switch between devices, advertisers should use the available research to both understand their consumer journeys and, more importantly, to reach them at the best moment while they are within their comfort zones.

Learn more about how the landscape is changing here.

Socially Awkward Companies Get More Action
10 Sep 2015

Socially Awkward Companies Get More Action

Socially Awkward Companies Are Succeeding

A recent survey by Provoke Insights found that the majority (82%) of small businesses are using social media. Yet, more than half (54%) of these businesses state that these marketing efforts are not paying off. Through analyzing the survey responses, Provoke Insights pinpointed five key areas to help small businesses create more effective social media initiatives.

1) Write out your strategy.

Thirty-three percent (33%) of small businesses say they need help to develop a social media program. Most importantly, companies should determine their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the social media landscape. Above all, companies need to understand the gaps in their current plan before they reach out for outside help. Therefore, although this isn’t a full social media plan, businesses need to go in the right direction to develop a more comprehensive strategy.

2) Stand out from the crowd.

A social media presence is more than just having Facebook and LinkedIn pages. However, most small businesses are solely using those channels (77%, 55% respectively). Interestingly, only 45% are using Twitter and even less are using Youtube (33%), Google+ (31%), blogs (18%), Instagram (16%), Pinterest (14%), Vine (9%) and Slideshare (5%). However, these additional channels can provide businesses opportunities to stand out from their competitors who don’t utilize these mediums. In addition, using social media sites such as Google+ and Slideshare helps improve organic search.

3) Invest smartly.

Only 60% of small businesses have utilized paid social media advertising. However, of those who have used these channels, most (77%) have only used Facebook advertising. Meanwhile, it is important to test other social media channels, such as LinkedIn or Twitter, to determine if they have a higher engagement rate. Also, by continually examining paid social media tactics, you can determine which messages resonate most with your audience, as well as which sites produce the best leads.

4) Know what your numbers are saying.

Tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Insights are free tools to measure customer engagement. But only 25% of small businesses are analyzing their website data, and even less (19%) are measuring their social media metrics.

However, website analytics can show you what drives consumers to your site, including if your social media efforts improve ROI. Furthermore, you can learn more about your target audience, engagement rate, and the number of people who view your posts by only using Facebook Insights. Thus, companies can learn a lot from their numbers.

Al Matesic, the owner of the digital advertising agency SWAMP80, states; “It surprises me how many companies only care about having a presence online without tracking if it works or not. Whenever I develop a website and social media pages for small businesses, I make sure I teach my clients about how to read metrics so they can be successful online.”

5) Create stronger relationships.

60% percent of small businesses believe that social media helps keep them in touch with their customers. That is to say, keeping in touch on social provides businesses an opportunity to further engage with their customers by giving advice, improved customer service, and new product offerings.

Methodology

Provoke Insights conducted an online survey of 211 small business employees who are involved in the company’s marketing initiatives. “Small business” is defined as between $100k to $20 million in revenues. We distributed the survey between February 27th- 28th, 2014, using Survey Sampling B2B Panel.

Check out some of our most recent posts from our strategy and advertising research blog here:

  1. Blockchain & the Markest Research Industry
  2. I’m Just Not That Into You: Exclusivity or Bad Marketing?
  3. Is Your Research Stuck in the 1980s: Update Your Brand Tracker!
  4. Market Research Doesn’t Need to Be Boring: Improve Data Visualization
  5. Tips For Building Brand Strategy for a Successful Brand
  6. What’s the Difference Between Quantitative and Qualitative?

Sign up for our newsletters here!

Follow our social media accounts:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/provokeinsights

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/provokeinsights/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/provoke-insights

Keep on the lookout for more blog posts from us!

Four Ways to Better Understand Your Consumer
10 Sep 2015

Four Ways to Better Understand Your Consumer

Knowing your customer should be your top priority. You waste time and money when you cannot pinpoint who you customers actually are.  If you don’t know who your target audience is, how can you reach them effectively?  How do you know how much they are willing to pay for your product?  What do they think about your product and your industry overall? What would enhance their loyalty and referral rates?

Use research that is already out there.  There is a lot of free research that is already out there.   Simply start with census.gov to understand your industry’s basic demographics.   Many times your local library may have access to business databases that you can utilize.  Also, you can learn more about what your customers and prospects are saying by simply using keyword searches on Facebook and Twitter.

Seek consultancies that conduct secondary research if you need more information about your target audience.   Agencies, like Provoke Insights, have extensive access to secondary databases.  They are able to digest and analyze several sources quickly to help answer your questions about your customers.

If your questions are not available from existing sources, primary research can be conducted. While more costly, a company can utilize this method to identify specific questions they may want to ask about their customers. Primary research allows you to learn very specific information about the customer such as demographics, psychographics, behaviors, and opinions of certain products or services.   It is also a great tool for testing marketing initiatives before prospects.

Use your website analytics.   Finally, besides the traditional research methods of learning about your audiences, there is so much that can be done with analytics to get a good grasp on your customers.  With website analytics, you can monitor where, when, and who visits the site.  Once you analyze and understand your website visitors more, you can learn to engage with them in ways that resonate.

Five Tips For Getting Your Brand’s Social Media Right
10 Sep 2015

Five Tips For Getting Your Brand’s Social Media Right

Social media has gone mainstream.  Consumers age 45-54 are the fastest growing segments on Facebook and Google+. Users age 55-64 are the quickest growing segment on Twitter.  No longer is it a playground to hopefully show your relevance to younger consumers.

Are you thinking about your brand’s social media strategy?  Here are five tips to getting social right!

  1. Consistent Brand Persona The content you post on social media should be aligned with your brand persona but more importantly should go beyond the benefits of your products to make it more relevant with your consumers and attract prospects.  In order to truly stand out, you need a social media strategy.
  2.  Inspire Your Audience Social sites are not the place to sell your product or services but instead a platform to let your audience establish a relationship with your brand. You want to inspire your audience to follow you by sharing your firm’s belief and motivation.  Apple does not claim to make the best products but instead builds its cult following by insisting that they “think different.” The message resonates with individuals who believe themselves unique or different despite the ubiquity of white earbuds.
  3. Mobile First Consider details such as the fact that 189 million Facebook users only access the site from mobile devices. It is in your best interest to adopt a mobile-first policy for content creation.  Ensure that your content displays well on mobile devices then adopt it for other screens.
  4. Beyond Facebook Social media is bigger than Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  LinkedIn adds approximately two members per second.  Blogs and forums are viable places to establish thought leadership and frequently harbor influential early adopters. If you are planning on reaching Millennials then you need to consider video, as images are already passé. Cable networks don’t reach nearly as many adults aged 18-34 as does YouTube.  As well, combine that with the previously mentioned facts about mobile use.
  5. Measure! Measure!  Measure! The most important thing to know is your campaign goal and the metrics to assess your progress.  If you are focused on generating traffic, the measurement metric will differ from a firm primarily interested in engagement.