Never before have marketing executives had access to the tremendous amount of information like they do today. In our latest white paper, we highlight best practice research and analysis methodologies that companies should consider to help identify meaningful insights and relevant actions in today’s marketplace. When 70% of CMO’s confess fear of marketing data overload and 39% of marketers admit they can’t turn data into actionable insight, then research and analysis practices become critical. The information in our white paper is valuable in helping marketing departments know where to start and how to get smart with finding the right data and innovating the right actions.

1. White Paper - INTELLIGENCE ADVANTAGE
Demand the Intelligence Advantage
Uncovering critical insights that directly influence purchase behavior.
Do you have the intelligence advantage?
INFORM • ENGAGE • I N S P I R E • M O V E P E O P L E T O A C T I O N

2. Introduction
Knowing what motivates customers and influences their behaviors is critical to marketers and marketing efforts.
With the right intelligence, your next marketing initiative could produce breakthrough results. However,
uncovering the type of intelligence that will truly impact your business isn’t easy. For example:
• o you have confidence in the impact your next big marketing initiative is going to
D
have before you roll it out? Will it meet your key business objectives? Is the voice of your
customers directly influencing your plan?
• oes your research go beyond understanding “what” your customers are doing (or not doing)
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to help identify “why” and how you can influence it?
• an you point to a unique insight – grounded in data and extracted from the human
C
dimension – that has informed your communications strategy? Are you sure you’re not
missing a key understanding that will directly impact the success of your marketing efforts?
Those are tough and challenging questions. If you’re hesitating, don’t feel alone. Many of the nation’s largest
companies grapple with these questions on a regular basis. Marketing is not an exact science. But it can be
much more predictive by starting with the basics and adding unique intelligence.
Insightful market intelligence will guide more confident decision-
making, strengthen your brand and maximize the effectiveness of The Average
Shopper Utilized
10.4
your marketing initiatives. It will reveal the best ways to reach new
customers, retain current customers and grow lifetime value.
In 2011, the average consumer utilized 10.4 sources of information
to make a purchase decision – up from 5.3 sources in 2010. The
consideration set for purchase decisions nearly doubled in just one Sources Of Information
To Make A Purchase
year! And the sources of information ranged from TV commercials Decision In 2011.
and magazine articles to recommendations from friends and family, Source: Shopper Sciences
study of 5,000 shoppers
to websites, ratings and online blogs.
As the competition for consumers’ attention continues to intensify, what you don’t know can significantly hurt
your marketing efforts. And the worst part is, many companies aren’t aware of their organizations’ informational
blind spots until it’s too late.
Bottom line: The stakes have never been higher and having the right kind of intelligence has never been more
important. It’s NOT too late to gain the intelligence advantage.
Market Intelligence Basics
Broadly defined, Market Intelligence is the systematic process of gathering and analyzing relevant data to
guide business decision-making and planning processes. More specific to the marketing process, Market
Intelligence is the combination of data and analytical experience that helps turn subjective “gut instinct” into
fact and “intuition” into unique insight. It’s the fuel that drives the development of smart solutions and new
innovations to help your business grow. It comes in many forms and continues to evolve at a robust pace.
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3. The 2012 Industry Trends Report (developed by GreenBook Research) provided an overview of the evolution
of the market research industry, stating:
“An outline and direction of the future are emerging, and we can make some educated projections. We know that
the research professional is under immense pressure to deliver value and measurable business impact. We see new
technologies and research models less bound by traditional precepts of best practices gaining traction. We see
companies that embed innovation into their messaging gaining mindshare (and perhaps market share as well).”
Market Intelligence and research have become an essential part of the marketing decision-making process. In
fact, the 2012 BRITE/NYAMA Marketing in Transition Study (conducted by Columbia Business School’s
Center on Global Brand Leadership and the New York American Marketing Association) reported that 91%
of corporate marketing leaders believe that successful brands use customer data to drive marketing decisions.
When the response to this question is isolated to the CMO level, that figure rises to 100%.
Market Intelligence can be classified as Internal (customer contact data, campaign response, website traffic,
behaviors and content consumption, research and staff knowledge) or External (published studies, market
data/trends and competitive intelligence). It can include the development of Primary Research (involving the
execution of a customized research study) or the review of Secondary Research (tapping into existing research
studies). And it can utilize both Quantitative and Qualitative methodologies.
Is Internal Intelligence Enough?
Most organizations have put some Market Intelligence gathering mechanisms in place. In some cases, they may
even have a marketing sciences division or analytics group. Despite having these impressive Market Intelligence
resources in place, evidence shows there is still room for gaps. For real-world proof, look no further than Netflix
and Coca-Cola.
In the case of Netflix, the company decided to increase prices, rename one of its core business lines and begin
repositioning itself as a streaming content provider all in one sweeping announcement in September 2011.
The results were nearly catastrophic. Subscribers fled. Revenue dropped. And the company’s share price cratered.
After the dust settled, Netflix’s CEO conceded the decisions may not have been in synch with customer sentiment
– suggesting a lack of or misinterpretation of Market Intelligence.
During the 2011 holiday season, Coca-Cola introduced a special new marketing campaign that included white
polar bear cans. According to a Coke spokesman, the marketing department wanted to create a “disruptive”
campaign. In the end, they were successful – but for all the wrong reasons. The white cans looked strikingly similar
to Diet Coke cans and consumer confusion and backlash was swift. Although Coca-Cola claimed it was happy
with the promotion, the company was ultimately forced to redesign the cans and produce the majority of its
holiday cans in its classic red packaging. Similar to the Netflix example, it appears a fundamental misunderstanding
of Market Intelligence and insight played a role in the white can controversy.
The fact is most traditional “intelligence” sources have a few shared limitations. Typically, they only provide
useful data on the frequency of past behavior, not its core motivation, meaning or how to influence it in the
future. They explain “who, what, where and when” a measured activity is happening, but rarely provide useful
data to formulate insights on “why” it is happening. They do not account for the “human dimension” or the
“emotional” reaction customers may have to your brand, product and/or service.
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4. It’s important to note the limitations of traditional “intelligence” are not an indication of inadequacy. To the
contrary, traditional resources provide a wide range of valuable data points that populate the overall spectrum
of Market Intelligence. However, they do not provide a full view of your product lines, competitors and target
audiences. That’s why having an external Market Intelligence resource is critical.
With the right partner, your business should get a more complete
view of the marketplace. You gain a valuable source of unique
insights to help avoid costly miscalculations in your marketing efforts.
In a 2012 study,
39 %
To that point, two in five marketers (39%) admitted that they cannot
turn their data into actionable insight in the 2012 BRITE/NYAMA
Marketing in Transition Study. Think about how the Netflix and
Coke examples might have been different if a trusted resource could
have provided intelligence and insight that forecasted potential
of marketers admitted
customer reactions to each company’s decision. For a relatively small they can’t turn their data
Market Intelligence investment, each company could have avoided into actionable insight.
serious damage to its customer relationships and saved the Source: 2012 BRITE/NYAMA
Marketing in Transition Study
considerable expense of both the initial failed marketing effort as
well as the follow up in public relations and communications efforts
to apologize to customers.
The Common Gaps in Market Intelligence
Your company or organization likely maintains a robust customer database. And it’s very possible you have
resources that perform comprehensive data analysis to identify customer characteristics, purchase/behavioral
trends and the key moments of truth in the relationship continuum that drive greater lifetime value. If you
don’t have resources to effectively mine your customer data, make that a priority soon. In addition, you need
to invest in a resource to help identify gaps in existing intelligence via a targeted review process, analytical overlay
and filtered through “human dimension” research methodologies to be sure you’re armed for marketing battle.
Don’t hesitate to dive into the following areas as you work to close the gaps:
Creative Audit
This audit process includes a full review of your company’s brand, message platform and
communications. The creative audit is utilized to identify opportunities for improvement or
enhancement of current message strategies. As part of the audit process, communications
are reviewed to measure message clarity, ensure resonance with target audiences, gauge the
effectiveness of offers and identify calls to action.
Competitive Intelligence
Gathering competitive intelligence helps you differentiate your products and services to establish
a unique and compelling selling proposition within your market place. It also helps ensure your
marketing does not unintentionally increase the sales of your competition. Effectively positioning
your products or services results in focused communications that build equity in your brand
– not the overall industry category. A full competitive analysis includes a review of messaging,
channel use, offers, calls to action, key benefits and brand characteristics.
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5. Quantitative Studies
Existing or secondary studies typically provide a solid baseline for the formation of hypotheses, but
they do not always reflect the latest trends in the marketplace. Implementing a primary quantitative
study with as little as 400 respondents will provide results at a 95 percent confidence level with a
margin of error of +/-5%. With that level of accuracy, you can approach marketing decisions with
more certainty knowing they are backed by fact rather than hypotheses or intuition.
Social Media Monitoring
To get a full view of your customers’ online dialogue about your company, Internet monitoring
tools can be utilized. A comprehensive online listening tool will capture audience awareness,
sentiment and actions – providing actionable intelligence in real-time. That intelligence can be
utilized to support the establishment of an Internet monitoring/alert system to notify specific
points of contact when questions/concerns are raised and prepare answers for frequently asked
questions (FAQs) to facilitate meaningful interactions in online forums.
Precognitive Research
In addition to each methodology outlined above, Summit Marketing’s proprietary precognitive
research process uncovers the closely held attitudes and beliefs people aren’t typically able to
share. In fact, the precognitive methodology was developed in response to the limitations of
standard cognitive research techniques – which typically allow individuals to edit and position
their responses to suit their self-image rather than reveal their true feelings. In short, precognitive
research uncovers the true motivations of your target audience. Utilizing proprietary data-gathering
techniques and a multi-disciplinary approach to data analysis that includes psychological, sociological
and anthropological filters, this research approach reveals the underlying emotional and motivational
triggers that guide behavior. This is also the most fruitful technique at uncovering truly unique
insights and “A-ha Moments”.
Armed with new collective intelligence and insights, you will have a greater understanding of the
messages and images that influence attitudes toward your company and move your customers
to action. Specifically, the precognitive research approach is used to both develop and validate
creative messaging. That means you will effectively “test drive” creative messaging, offers, designs
and more before you “bet the farm” and roll out campaigns.
So What Do You Make of All This Intelligence?
You’re probably familiar with the term “analysis paralysis.” As you dive into gathering intelligence and insight,
be wary and watchful for this stage of saturation that can lead you to feel forever compelled to gather one
more piece of data, then another and another before making a decision.
Thomas Bullock, while serving as President and CEO of Ocean Spray commented how research is still about
gathering data and crunching numbers, “I don’t want them (researchers) to deliver information as much as
insights.” He went on to reflect how market research (intelligence) is not a substitute for good judgment.
“The risk is that rather than making a decision, people will want to go back and research again. But you need
to stop at some point. That’s the job of consumer insight: to know when they’ve gone far enough.”
As marketers, we never have perfect predictive information. Don’t wait on it! What you want to seek is the perfect
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6. balance and variety of intelligence types to empower more confident
strategic planning, creative development and campaign execution.
70 %
Generally, you’ll know you’ve reached that stage when you can step
back from the body of work and say, “That’s a really surprising
insight I didn’t expect…and I can see how it will directly impact
results against a key business objective.”
of CMOs confess
The proliferation of and demand for data is making the CMO
position in many ways harder vs easier. What to gather? How to fear of marketing
gather? Where to look for nuggets of insight? What is actionable data overload
vs simply interesting? Hubspot recently conducted a study showing Source: Hubspot Blog
out of 1,700 Chief Marketing Officers, 70% confessed fear of
marketing data overload. Many claimed what they are lacking
most are true insights that enable effective decision making. Insights lead to completing the total customer
engagement cycle and authentically build valuable relationships and advocates for your brand. Indentifying
insights and formulating actions require time, expertise and specific experience many CMO’s unfortunately
don’t have in-house and at their fingertips.
Do you have the Intelligence Advantage? If so, are you leveraging it – allowing it to inform breakthrough
creative and drive measurable results? Spend some time assessing where you and your organization sit today
in this conversation. There is an advantage in intelligence. There is power in insight. And there is exhilaration
when – as intelligence and insights are combined – goals are achieved and new definitions of “marketing
success” are realized.
ADDITIONAL PERSPECTIVE FROM SUMMIT MARKETING…
Perhaps the single most valuable outcome of our Market Intelligence process is our ability to capture the voice
of your audiences. Whether the focus is on potential customers, newly acquired customers, long-time loyal
customers or lapsed customers, we help our clients understand the needs of their markets and develop messaging
that informs, engages, inspires and moves people to action.
There are other agencies that gather data, but Summit Marketing helps you translate intelligence into effective
marketing strategies, messaging and tactics. By extracting the key insights from Market Intelligence, we help
you create “Informed Innovation.” This intelligence-based approach avoids the pitfalls of assumption-based
market planning. With the facts at your fingertips, you will move forward confidently.
Our findings also fuel the strategic planning process by identifying when customers want to talk to you and
when they don’t, their preferred communications channels and offers and communications that drive customer
interactions. These findings are leveraged creatively to establish or reposition a brand/campaign, provide a
message platform that identifies points of differentiation and benefit statements that resonate and generate
tactical communications that build a meaningful and motivational dialogue.
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7. How Can You Gain the Full Intelligence Advantage?
Gaining the Market Intelligence advantage begins with a simple conversation. Our discussion will be focused
on your needs – not our services. So whether your company is in the initial stages of establishing an intelligence
gathering process or has a full complement of resources, Summit Marketing will work with you to identify the
best possible Market Intelligence solutions for your situation.
As communications channels evolve at a faster rate than ever before – giving individuals the ability to share
opinions about your company at the push of a button, there’s never been a more critical time to keep your
finger on the pulse of your customer base. To keep your edge or gain an advantage in the marketplace, contact
Summit Marketing today.
CONTACT INFO
Doug Toomay
Director, New Client Engagement
8515 Bluejacket St.
Lenexa, KS 66217
(O) 913-562-3407
(M) 816-739-3112
Doug.Toomay@SummitMarketing.com
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