Markets are constantly in a state of flux. All around us we see changes driven by powerful market trends — digitization and personal empowerment through computing and internet, emergence of the net generation and their social media, growth of glamour queens, metrosexuals and ubersexuals, health consciousness, trade modernization, fragmentation of media and so on. The need to immerse in the world of consumers is as acute as ever.
Consumer immersion is all about getting close to consumers so that associates are able to see their brands and their markets through the eyes of their consumers. They get exposed to real consumers and real issues. The main techniques used for immersion into the consumers’ world include:
To effectively immerse, associates need to learn to listen emphatically, with the intent to understand. They also need to be cognizant of the effect they may have on participant’s behaviour. Observing unobtrusively is important because observation tends to alter behaviour, a phenomenon referred to as the Hawthorne Effect.
In addition to active immersion, marketers rely also on research fields that supplement consumer and knowledge immersion and feed directly into the insight generation and strategy development process. Some of these research fields are listed below:
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In an analytics-driven business environment, this analytics-centred consumer marketing workshop is tailored to the needs of consumer analysts, marketing researchers, brand managers, category managers and seasoned marketing and retailing professionals.
Is marketing education fluffy too?
Marketing simulators impart much needed combat experiences, equipping practitioners with the skills to succeed in the consumer market battleground. They combine theory with practice, linking the classroom with the consumer marketplace.