Know-How Exchange : Research/Metrics

Dear Penny,

By "innovative quantitative research methodologies for testing below the line advertising" I presume you mean a system of ground-breaking ways to estimate or measure responses to merchandising, exhibitions, sponsorships, direct mail, and printed sales material such as catalogues and leaflets?

Perhaps the sooner colleges STOP pumping "marcomm speak" and its associated jargon into the minds of their students the better for all concerned.

I think there's an important lesson here for all of us: off line and online marketers, students, teachers, Ph.Ds, professors, designers, copywriters, professionals—ALL OF US—and it's this:

Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation. People, communicate clearly.

The primary goal of marketing is to clearly communicate a message so that the message in question elicits a response.

When any aspect of marketing cannot do this the message the marketing carries then becomes noise, which leads to people (your audience) tuning out. If people are tuning out it's necessary to ask one's self why the heck the message is going out in the first place.

So, that's one method. What is the message, how relevant is it, what value is it passing on, and how many people are interested enough in that message to stop what they're doing long enough to listen, to read, or to watch and then take action?

There are four watch words here, four drums that I (and many other people) have been banging for (in my case) at least ten years: relevance, significance, salience, and persuasion.

Is the message relevant to its targeted audience? For instance, cat lovers are unlikely to buy dog food if they don't have a dog. Non smokers are unlikely to buy ash trays, and so on.

Does the message or its promise cut through all the other stuff the audience is being bombarded with long enough for it to connect? And does the message stick in the minds of the audience once it's connected?

Finally, once that message has run the gauntlet of the above and arrived triumphantly at its destination (the prospect's needs) and presented its bona fides, does the message then make enough of an impression for the prospect to carry out a specific action?

The action in question need not be a sale or a transaction.

It could be something as simple as giving a name, an e-mail address, or a telephone number.

It could be a request for more information. it could be the redemption of a coupon or a discount.

It could be the beginning of a longer term relationship that, although it may not elicit a sale up front, one that MIGHT, over time, lead to a longer relationship in the guise of a subscription,
a series of repeat sales, a referral, or word of mouth.

This way, what may have started as a transactional relationship
(a simple exchange of money for goods or services) gains the potential to turn into a transformational relationship, one where the initial connection creates wider, broader, and more long term repercussions, each one of which strengthens brand perception.

When this happens it enhances trust, it encourages likability, it drives word of mouth and social proof, and in certain cases, it creates an affection or even a love for the brand in question and everything that brand or that service stands for in terms of value, pain relief, supposition, presupposition, perception, and benefit.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

I would say the 'PRISM' for in-store reach; see:

https://www.instoremarketer.org/?q=node/5779

Measuring how many shoppers come by a certain part of the aisle (and are thus exposed to in-store marketing) and how many of those covert to by a brand, has lots of potential