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February 2003
Are You Kidding Me???
It doesn’t happen all that often – probably once or twice each year – nevertheless, when a client occasionally invests the time and dollars to complete proprietary research and then does little or nothing with the findings, that’s exactly how we react.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
We understand the miracle of daily deadlines and the pressures associated with a day-to-day focus as well as anyone…some at Belden have worked in newspapers.
Yet, is there anything more important than better understanding our customer audience? With all due respect, the clear answer has to be “No!”
Yes, there’s one generation (and that’s ALL!) of loyal, traditional newspaper readers (ink smeared on newsprint) and many of that generation is in their prime spending years and amongst the best advertising customers, but what happens next??
New technology and all it will mean to reading is going to create a very tricky tightrope to navigate. If anyone thinks editorial and sales experience gathered over a couple of decades is going to instinctively offer the answers, they are, at best, foolhardy; at worst, irresponsible.
Guidance from proprietary research can serve as a compass, ensuring newspapers are at least headed in the right direction based upon what USERS are saying and doing, even though there will inevitably be missteps along the way.
One excellent piece of news is that many of those missteps can be avoided altogether by following the conclusions and recommendations most strategic research includes. Tap in to the collective wisdom – and, the trends across newspapers of all sizes – by building research guidance in to strategic planning and budgeting.
Even if internal or (heaven forbid!) other organizations are engaged, identify the top one or two recommended initiatives and do the best to heed such guidance. Then, find out how you are doing against each goal by measuring and testing again… and, again.
One of the successful tools we’ve seen towards advancing any objective is to make sure the entire organization understands the overall goals. If such goals come as a result of research, it often helps to familiarize the organization with the research questionnaire that formed the basis of any goal. We’ve even conducted an “internal” survey and segmented the response of newspaper employees with the general audience as a way of focusing internal directives. It’s worked well.
Two years ago Steve Case, AOL Time Warner Chairman said, “There will be more confusion in the business world in the next decade than in any decade in history. And, the current pace of change will only accelerate.” Do you think he had an inkling of his own resignation?
There’s no way a research cycle of conducting a market or strategic study every 3 years will allow anyone to know what’s going on out there. That’s especially true in larger, more competitive markets. And, doubly so with the rapidly evolving Internet space. There should be continuous effort to understand where readers and advertiser’s are going. That’s why having the entire organization looped in to goals can be so valuable. With more HUMAN resources than any other medium, our entire force can be collecting, gathering, and advancing our understanding. No matter how or with who ya’ do it, connect with users more regularly.
Newspapers “touch” readers and advertisers more often and in more ways than anyone else as well….are we capitalizing on that? Not as well as we can!
Time and time again we find that customer service can make a significant difference in how we are embraced. But, let me put some additional context on this very important point –
- this was perhaps the most important initiative to come out of the excellent Readership Institute work. And, as important as this effort was (37,000 completed surveys!!), Belden Associates conducts about 50,000 every year.
…in EACH and EVERY one, papers large and small and in any type of market you can find, those who serve customers better, inevitably enjoy better market shares, stronger readership, fend off tough economic times and are able to advance new products (or rate increases) with less resistance.
In recent discussions with more than one paper’s sales staff – both inside and outside – there was without a doubt, the sense of an incredibly valuable resource that had not been adequately harnessed More communication, training, selling tools and a better understanding of goals would help tap into that potential. That could only improve overall customer service, so let’s do so RIGHT NOW!
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