What do Del Monte, Coca-Cola, and ABC Television Studios Have in Common?
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A few days ago, I talked about the virtues of using audio to promote your business and sharing your important message with the world. My original plan was to follow up on that task and discuss reasons why some people get stuck and don’t follow through despite the fact that they know in their hearts they have something great to offer. And I was going to talk about a few ways people could overcome some of those blocks.
But that is going to have to wait because a bit of serendipity preempted that show!
A few days ago, I read in the Wall Street Journal that Del Monte Foods performed a non-traditional focus group, which piqued my interest! You see, I minored in marketing but never really used much of what I learned beyond quantitative surveys (more on that in a bit) because what they taught me didn’t really apply to the entrepreneurial spirit. And the full time jobs I had out of college had more to do with economics and the social sciences anyway. But I do remember learning about focus groups. And I do remember that they can be expensive and time consuming—if done the traditional way. The typical sample size for focus groups are roughly 6-10 participants.
So I thought, “Cool!” Another way technology befriends us because, according to the article, Del Monte created a private online community that mirrors a (rather large!) focus group to conduct their market research. The community is called “I Love My Dog” from which Del Monte’s healthy Snausages Breakfast Bites were born. Focus groups, in and of themselves, are a fantastic way to gather qualitative data. Amp it up to that sample size (400 handpicked members) for less money, and you’ve got another win-win. And apparently, Coca-Cola and ABC Television Studios have also joined that particular party.
At the same time I found the article, I was wrapping up the development of my own survey, which is focused on a broader project of finding out the trends and challenges of businesses today (see http://tinyurl.com/2xrp85. There are some incentives to participating!). I’ve seen corporations all the way down to solopreneurs use the free online tool, Survey Monkey to get that job done.
In fact, I had a meeting today with a banker who wanted to talk about ways of getting prospects to convert because he got very close to the finish line on closing the deal with some heavy hitters only to have them go to someone else. He also tried cold-calling new prospects (not for the faint of heart), and a letter writing campaign. One of the suggestions I offered was to create two different surveys—one to prospects and the other to potential clients who didn’t convert and give them an incentive to participate. I’m hoping he’ll take my advice.
So what do your ideal clients or customers want? Inquire within, and find out, if you haven’t already.
–Carol Dickson-Carr