FrUn L&L- Oliver Osborne

Summary

Oliver, a market research consultant based in Toronto, discusses the importance of market research in businesses. He shares his experience in hospitality and emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to marketing. Oliver highlights the significance of understanding customer segments, reducing operational friction, and aligning marketing strategies with customer needs. He advocates for the use of surveys and interviews to gather insights and stresses the value of market orientation in achieving business success.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Market research is crucial for businesses to understand their target audience and make informed strategic decisions.
• 🔍 Oliver's consulting practice focuses on assisting businesses with market research and marketing strategy, especially in organizations lacking senior marketing leadership or familiarity with research processes.
• 🏢 Oliver's background in hospitality and experience in change management has shaped his holistic approach to business and marketing.
• 📈 The importance of conducting sufficient research is highlighted by the common strategic mistake of not doing enough research, which can lead to ineffective marketing efforts.
• 🔑 Market orientation should extend beyond the marketing department and be ingrained in the company culture, affecting all aspects of the business from the customer's perspective.
• 📊 The three phases of marketing (research, strategy, and execution) are all important and should be properly balanced to achieve maximum impact.
• 🚀 Proper research can lead to more effective targeting, reducing wasted resources and improving operational efficiency within the organization.
• 🎯 Market research helps in aligning marketing and sales, leading to a clearer positioning and more resonating messaging.
• 📈 Understanding the necessary impact from a revenue perspective allows for more confident decisions on marketing channels and budget allocation.
• 💡 Jeff Bezos' strategy of market orientation and customer-centricity at Amazon is cited as a successful example of the effectiveness of this approach.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of Oliver's consulting practice?

Oliver's consulting practice primarily focuses on helping businesses with market research and the strategic aspects of the marketing process.

How did Oliver's experience in hospitality influence his career in marketing?

Oliver's experience in hospitality, specifically turning a private members club from a loss to profitability, set the stage for his career emphasizing scaling and change management, which are crucial in marketing.

What is the significance of the 98% statistic mentioned by Oliver in relation to marketing conversations?

The 98% statistic highlights that a vast majority of marketing conversations focus on branding, advertisements, and communication strategies, often overlooking the importance of research and other aspects that contribute to effective marketing.

What does Oliver suggest as the minimum viable market research for a new company?

Oliver suggests that the minimum viable market research for a new company should be loyalist interviews, where the company reaches out to its existing customers to understand their experiences and feedback.

How does Oliver propose aligning marketing objectives with the overall business strategy?

Oliver proposes aligning marketing objectives with the overall business strategy by ensuring that the objectives are strategic, measurable, and have clear revenue implications, allowing for a cohesive approach and effective decision-making.

What is the importance of understanding the customer's language according to Oliver?

Understanding the customer's language is crucial because it allows for more accurate communication and messaging that resonates with the target market, avoiding the pitfalls of internal jargon and assumptions about customer needs and preferences.

How does Oliver recommend addressing the issue of non-representative samples in online surveys?

Oliver recommends building audiences to specifications, which involves actively seeking out the relevant respondents rather than relying on passive participation from a pre-existing database, to ensure a more representative sample.

What is the role of market segmentation in developing a marketing strategy?

Market segmentation helps identify homogeneous groups based on behavioral patterns, allowing businesses to understand and target specific segments more effectively, and to identify underserved areas or segments that are not well-served by competitors.

How does Oliver suggest using survey data to inform marketing decisions?

Oliver suggests using survey data to understand decision-making criteria, pain points, and perceived value among the market. This information should then be translated into clear messaging and aligned with the overall marketing strategy to ensure it resonates with the target audience.

What is the significance of having clear strategic objectives in marketing?

Clear strategic objectives provide a solid foundation for marketing efforts, allowing for focused targeting and positioning. They also help in saying 'no' to most options and confidently pursuing the most effective strategies, leading to better alignment and buy-in from different parts of the organization.

How can a company ensure that its marketing budget is effectively allocated?

A company can ensure effective allocation of its marketing budget by linking it to clear, strategic objectives that have been informed by robust research. This approach helps in justifying the budget needs and预期 outcomes, making it more likely to gain approval from finance and other decision-makers.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Introduction to Market Research and Personal Experience

The speaker, Oliver, introduces himself and sets the stage for a discussion on market research. Based in Toronto, he specializes in assisting businesses with market research aspects of marketing. Oliver shares his background in Hospitality, highlighting his success in turning around a struggling private members club. He emphasizes the importance of scaling and change management in his career, which has spanned work with multinationals, startups, and nonprofits. Oliver's approach to business is holistic, and he stresses the need for effective communication of marketing ideas within organizations, drawing parallels with political strategizing. He also mentions the importance of research in avoiding common strategic pitfalls.

05:01

📈 The Importance of Research in Marketing Strategy

Oliver delves into the significance of research in formulating effective marketing strategies. He argues that a lack of research often leads to ineffective marketing. Using Peter Drucker's famous quote, Oliver emphasizes that what gets measured gets managed, advocating for a market-oriented approach that extends beyond the marketing department. He discusses the benefits of research, such as targeted marketing, reduced operational friction, and aligned messaging between marketing and sales. Oliver also shares the story of Jeff Bezos and Amazon's early days, highlighting the power of customer-centricity and the insights gained from simple market research techniques like emailing customers.

10:02

🔍 Understanding Your Funnels and Deploying Marketing Resources

The speaker explains the concept of marketing funnels and how understanding them can guide the deployment of marketing resources. He discusses the misalignment between departments, such as marketing and finance, and the importance of harmonious reporting frameworks. Oliver suggests that a clear understanding of funnel functions can lead to effective resource allocation. He also touches on the importance of surveys to gauge top-line awareness and understand brand perception, decision-making criteria, and purchase intent. He advocates for using customer language in surveys to ensure that marketing messages resonate with the target audience.

15:03

💬 Conducting Loyalist Interviews and Surveys

Oliver talks about the practical application of market research, starting with 'loyalist interviews' where businesses engage with their existing customers to understand their experiences. He suggests using these interviews to inform customer surveys, ensuring that the language used in surveys resonates with the target audience. Oliver emphasizes the value of surveys in reducing operational friction and aligning marketing and sales efforts. He also discusses the importance of understanding purchasing criteria and using this data to inform marketing messaging. The speaker encourages market segmentation to identify underserved segments and tailor marketing efforts accordingly.

20:04

🎯 Developing a Strategic Marketing Plan

In this section, Oliver outlines how to develop a strategic marketing plan informed by market research. He advises on choosing the best target segments, aligning the organization around a single goal, and using data to support marketing decisions. Oliver stresses the importance of clear, data-backed objectives that can be understood and supported by all stakeholders, including finance departments. He provides an example of setting specific awareness and revenue goals, and how these objectives can guide marketing efforts and budget allocation. Oliver also discusses the importance of delivering on these objectives and the benefits of having a clear, data-driven strategy.

25:05

💡 Addressing Common Concerns in Market Research

Oliver addresses a common concern about the representativeness of online survey data, suggesting that research companies can build specific audiences to ensure more accurate results. He also discusses the importance of comparing survey demographics with census data for data cleanliness. Oliver talks about different methods for measuring brand awareness, such as omnibus surveys, and provides cost-effective recommendations for small businesses. He emphasizes the importance of starting with loyalist interviews to understand what drives customers to engage with a service or product.

30:06

🌐 Productizing Services and Aligning Marketing with Branding

The speaker discusses the challenge of productizing services and aligning marketing efforts with branding, especially when offering different types of fractional services. Oliver suggests finding a higher-order deliverable that applies to both services and using that as a unifying concept in marketing. He recommends understanding what previous clients value most and using that insight to craft a collective message. Oliver advises testing this messaging through conversations with clients and using that feedback to refine the marketing strategy.

35:07

📚 Conclusion and Offering of Additional Resources

Oliver concludes the presentation by offering additional resources to the audience. He mentions that the slides used during the presentation are part of a yearly budget and strategy guide that he shares with his network. He invites the audience to reach out on the fractionals Slack channel to access the recording and slides, promising that they will be made available soon. Oliver thanks the audience for their time and participation in the discussion on market research and strategic marketing.

Keywords

💡Market Research

Market research is the process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market, its size, needs, and competition. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of market research in understanding customer needs, preferences, and behaviors to inform business decisions and strategies.

💡Scaling

Scaling refers to the process of increasing the size or volume of a business, often through growth in market share, product lines, or geographic reach. The speaker discusses their career emphasis on scaling and change management, indicating a focus on expanding businesses effectively and efficiently.

💡Change Management

Change management is the process of preparing, supporting, and helping individuals, teams, and organizations to successfully adapt to new ways of working and to cope with the effects of the transition. The speaker's emphasis on change management suggests a focus on guiding businesses through transitions to improve and grow.

💡Strategic Level

Strategic level refers to the high-level planning and decision-making that determines the long-term direction and goals of an organization. The speaker notes that at a strategic level, people often make similar mistakes, such as not conducting enough research, which underscores the importance of strategic planning informed by thorough market research.

💡Market Orientation

Market orientation is a business approach that prioritizes the identification and satisfaction of customer needs through a cooperative effort between all functions within the company. The speaker advocates for a market-oriented approach, emphasizing that it should extend beyond the marketing department and be ingrained in the company culture.

💡Customer Centric

Customer-centricity is a business philosophy that prioritizes the needs and preferences of customers above all else. The speaker references Jeff Bezos' strategy for Amazon, highlighting the company's commitment to being the most customer-centric business, as an example of the effectiveness of this approach.

💡Funnel Analysis

Funnel analysis involves examining the stages that lead to a sale or conversion, from initial awareness to the final purchase decision. The speaker discusses the importance of understanding the funnel to effectively deploy marketing resources and improve the chances of resonating with the target market.

💡Positioning

Positioning is the process of creating a unique place for a product or service in the minds of consumers, relative to competitors. The speaker talks about the alignment between marketing and sales in positioning, and how data from research can help in aligning these efforts for better market impact.

💡Revenue Objectives

Revenue objectives are specific, measurable goals related to the income a business aims to generate within a certain timeframe. The speaker emphasizes the importance of setting strategic revenue objectives based on market research, which can help in making informed decisions about marketing strategies and resource allocation.

💡Qualitative Research

Qualitative research involves understanding people's attitudes, opinions, motivations, and behaviors. The speaker mentions loyalist interviews as a form of qualitative research, which can provide valuable insights into customer experiences and perceptions of a brand or product.

Highlights

The presenter, Oliver, is a market research consultant based in Toronto, focusing on helping businesses with market research and strategy.

Oliver's career began in hospitality, where he turned a loss-making private members club into a profitable business within four months.

Oliver emphasizes the importance of scaling and change management in his work with businesses of various sizes and types, including multinationals, startups, and nonprofits.

The presenter highlights that strategic marketing mistakes often stem from not conducting enough research, leading to the current focus on market research.

Oliver references Kim Scott's book and the concept of 'Radical Candor', suggesting that marketing communication should be approached with generosity and a coaching mindset.

Marketing is viewed as a holistic business function, not just branding and advertising, with a focus on the strategic level where people tend to make the same mistakes.

The importance of market orientation is discussed, emphasizing that it should extend beyond the marketing department and be part of the company culture.

Oliver mentions Peter Drucker's famous quote about the importance of measuring and managing, and how marketing should be viewed from the customer's perspective.

The benefits of conducting research are outlined, such as reducing wasted time and resources, easing decision-making processes, and aligning marketing and sales efforts.

Jeff Bezos's approach to market orientation and customer-centricity at Amazon is cited as an example of the effectiveness of this strategy.

The presenter introduces the concept of understanding marketing funnels and how they can be measured to optimize the deployment of marketing resources.

The importance of aligning different departments, such as marketing, sales, and finance, for a cohesive understanding and reporting of customer segments and revenue is discussed.

Loyalist interviews are recommended as a form of qualitative research for understanding customer decision-making criteria, pain points, and perceived value.

Surveys can be used to gauge top-line awareness and understanding of how a brand is viewed, and to test ideas or the scale of responses with the market.

The presenter suggests using customer surveys to inform market segmentation, identifying homogeneous groups based on behavior and potential value to the company.

Strategic objectives should be clear, trackable, and aligned with market research findings, allowing for informed decision-making and resource allocation.

Transcripts

over to you

Oliver hello everyone thank you for

making time on

um this gorgeous Tuesday to chat about

market research um so I thought I'll

just quickly nutshell who I am and um

and what I'm up to I'm currently based

in Toronto and my Consulting practice

focuses on uh helping businesses with

the market research and Str stry ends of

the marketing process um whether this is

in the instance where there is no senior

leadership within the organization or

whether there is senior leadership

marketing leadership that is um but

where um there might not be um as much

familiarity with the research

processes so let's jump in so I didn't

actually start in marketing I started in

Hospitality um and I had my first ership

role over 21 years ago running a private

members Club where I took it from losing

the equivalent of about 8,000 Canadian

dollars a week into profitability over

the course of about four

months and um and really this is this

kind of set the scene for the rest of uh

my career everything I've done um has

been has had a heavy emphasis on scaling

on change management um and and you know

while these days I specialize in in

marketing um I cannot help but view the

business um holistically uh and I think

that this is this has enabled me to uh

join dots that perhaps other marketers

might not join um I've worked with

multinationals I've worked with Scrappy

startups I've worked with public private

companies and nonprofits and my big

takeaway from this varied experience is

that at a strategic level people tend to

screw up the same things which is

typically um not doing enough research

hence where we've got to today um so

here's just a few of the brands I've

worked with over the years

um so you might be wondering why I have

this up on the screen for those of you

who've read Kim Scott's Book You'll Be

familiar with this um now I can't be

sure exactly of the people on the call

who are who are marketers um and and who

aren't but one what I'm going to attempt

to do as we talk about market research

is to view this through the lens of what

actually needs to be done in your

workplaces at a let's say political

level in order to um in order to to be

effective with your ideas and be

effective with the courses of action

that you're going to be proposing so you

know we we're we're we're here to to to

learn today um and and I can assume that

if if you are the person within your

business who is looking at this that

you're probably farther ahead than

anyone else in your business as far as

your marketing literacy and your

understanding of the discipline so I

think it's really important to keep

front of mind

that expert within our organizations we

need to approach how we communicate

ideas uh in a very generous way if you

will um and very much through the lens

of coaching um we we are here to uh to

to coach the other um individuals or

departments within our organization on

what needs to be done from a marketing

standpoint um it is I think it was Rory

Southerland um the vice chairman of

ogelby once said that you know marketing

to a lot of people is like astrology two

marketers can talk and get on perfectly

well and understand what what they're

saying anyone from outside the

discipline has no idea what they're

talking about so um I think we need to

be very patient and we need to really

you know talk talk people through the

steps of what it is we're doing so um

one of the things that I I I realized a

long while ago is that and this has only

become more prevalent is that about 98%

of the conversation around marketing

focuses on branding adverts tonality

production video short video long video

very long video very short video

platforms out of home you know media

channels events activations prospecting

and all of that stuff um however

marketing is considerably bigger than

that um and and while that while you

know Communications is kind of the

membrane that most people uh see um

there's a hell of a lot that goes on

before these things happen if you expect

to be able to to be as effective as you

can um with your Communications

activities now Mark riton that many of

you will be aware of he um goes as far

as to say that these three phases are

equally important which is not to say

that you need to spend exactly the same

amount of time on each face I think

that's that's you know clearly absurd

but more that doing each one of them

properly um together have a

multiplicative effect so to to to to

miss one entirely um will have a

significant result on the ultimate

impact of your

marketing and put um arguably a little

bit combatively if your strategy is not

based on proper research it could well

do more harm than good like Running a

Restaurant just bringing people food

without taking an order or checking

dietary

requirements okay into diagnosis so um

I'm sure that um most people in

leadership roles will be familiar with

the name Peter drer um he came up the

the the famous um what gets measured

gets managed line but what he also said

was something pretty spoton about

marketing and that it's not a

specialized activity at all it is the

whole business scen from the point of

view of it's final result that is from

the customer point of view and really

Market orientation is goes beyond the

marketing department um and and should

be something that um is imbued in

company culture across the board and

this is where I always encourage

marketing leaders to get very very cozy

with the people and culture leaders

within their organization because there

is a lot of ground um you know to be

shared here um and a lot of in a lot of

instances untapped opportunity for those

two business functions um to to to to

have a really positive synergistic

effect um Market orientation can't just

be something that the marketers talk

about um

so quickly you know if it is not

entirely clear um here are some of the

the benefits of actually getting getting

research done so as far as targeting is

concerned you know reducing you know by

by being very clear through research who

you're going after you will reduce the

amount of time and resources wasted

going over inappropriate clients um and

then to look at how this helps you know

lubricate the wheels of the organization

uh I'm sure that um there are a few

people on this call who have plumbed

inordinate amounts of time into

retiga at every uh you know monthly or

quarterly sales and marketing meeting

who you're going after um when this can

be deduced through um through robust

research you take a lot of that second

guessing out of the mix and it really

eases the uh eases the process and

reduces that operational friction around

what you're do um similarly when it

comes to um

positioning uh getting that alignment

between marketing and sales um you can

kind of take ego and you know the risk

of loss to loss of political Capital out

of the mix by looking at the data um you

know ideally one gets to a point where

one can say that um we have researched

our addressable market and we can know

definitively because we have a sample

size of a sufficient amount in order to

be representative of the total

population that everyone in our target

market decides upon which product or

Serv to use based on these two things

and 68% of them are motivated by at

least one of those two things therefore

we can Peg all of our messaging on those

two things and have the highest chance

of it resonating with the

market and then finally if you can get

to get to the point where you can be

very clear on um the necessary impact um

the marketing needs to have the

necessary outputs from a revenue

standpoint you can start to feel very

very comfortable very very confident in

your choice of channels and budget um

because there's a there's a there's a

root there's a root to that information

so believe it or not Jeff is a big

advocate of Market orientation um the

some of you may have heard the Thousand

email story but back in

1997 when they when Amazon was selling

CDs books and Records

Jeff wanted to add another category or

two what he did was sent out a thousand

emails to a thousand random customers

asking them what they would happily buy

from Amazon now to his surprise what

came back was such a myriad of responses

um

that realized from this that Amazon

could sell

anything um now fast forward to um 1999

so about a year and a half later and

he's announcing uh at the AGM to his

shareholders that Amazon will become the

most customer Centric business on the

planet um and I think it's pretty safe

to say that the the the subsequent 25

years have have underscored the

effectiveness of taking that approach

within your

organization um if you look back and

find any interviews of him at the end of

the 90s he T he bangs on about being

customer Centric a lot there's a Charlie

Rose interview um where he goes into it

um highly

recommended so let's get a little bit

more granular now what this what this

schematic hopes to um hopes to outline

is um how having this understanding of

your funnels uh how it could be

measured um and how it can help us get

to the bottom of where to deploy

our where to deploy our marketing

resources so for example um and listen

bear in mind um there can be a lot of

hygiene work that needs to be done to

even get to the point where you can

effectively understand your funnels um

one of the big um misalignments I see is

where marketing and sales well let's

assume marketing and sales teams in this

hypothetical scenario agree on customer

segments um but then the finance

department aren't reporting on Revenue

in the same way so there's not really a

harmonious uh framework um from which to

pull the information um so often when

when I'm working with businesses often

you know first six months just getting

their text St and Reporting protocols in

chap um but if you can have a a clear

understanding of how your fun funnel

functions um and where the opportunities

are this means that you can deploy

resources

as effectively as possible only deploy

them on on the source B so to speak so

um the top of funnel awareness um there

are I mean this will this will differ if

your business is below a certain size

and profile um then awareness can be

hard to track but if it's not um you can

very cost effectively run surveys um in

order to um in order to gauge Topline

awareness

um and um and if you're smart sov as

well um you can use um surveys and

whether these are programmed by other

people or whether you are doing them

within your own uh business you can

start to get a get an understanding of

how your brand is viewed and down into

consideration purchase making criteria

purchase

intent and Beyond um because what we

want to be able to do is is understand

okay if we if we increase uh with with

with everything the fuddle being the

precipitating factors that leads to

revenue right so you can look at your

funnel and you

can at the end of the process come out

with objectives that are very clear not

only on the Strategic result you want to

see um but the revenue implication of

making that change within your

business fine okay lovely okay so let's

get into some let's get into some

nitty-gritty you know the uh the real

practical application of this uh for me

the minimum viable market research is uh

is loyalist interviews um now if you are

a relatively new company and you only

have a dozen customers then you're in

the fortunate position of being able to

you know reach out to 100% of your

customers and and and ask them what's

going on um so with loyalist interviews

this is of course qualitative research

um you know you can and and this again

to talk about kind of how to get this

done as much as what to do um feel free

to play to people's egos here right in

order to get whatever it is half an hour

of their time

um you know that as a valued customer um

we are looking to um move our business

forward and your Insight being valuable

in helping us make the kind of decisions

that will benefit you

um you know as a treasured customer um

um and and improv the value of our

services

forever so understanding decision-making

criteria understanding pain points where

they see your

value understanding what were

appropriate the the um boarding process

was like how they feel about support the

sales process was like um and with all

of these things um obviously some will

apply to some business bus and lot of

others but with all of these things what

you're trying to do here um is extract

the key points um and this uh not only

the key points but the language people

use to describe these points it is very

easy within an organization when you

don't speak to customers or don't speak

to them very often is to end up with a

kind of communication short hand around

the pain points and around the benefits

and values that doesn't actually reflect

the language that the market uses um

because they're not employees of your

company they are customers um with uh

you know better things to do than find

really snazzy shorthand phrases for for

what it is you do what it is you care

about so um when you have the

opportunity to take these insights and

take that language from loyalist

interviews and and then turn them into

customer surveys um the survey itself

has come from a much better place um

right because you'll be able to use

language they've used test idea or test

the uh the actual scale of their

responses with the market itself um

now my experience uh is that that a lot

of marketers have have

actually a lot of marketers have never

produced uh and and um deployed a survey

um but this can be done in a number of

ways there are fantastic companies here

in here in Canada um one is Le um who is

who is my assessment the kind of market

leader really for this very very clean

data fantastic service um or you can do

it within your own business so for

example if you are a service business

Hospitality FNB maybe you are a

retailer the foot form you have through

your premises each day puts you in a

great position to um to get a high

volume um of of respons from

people and again you want to be testing

decision- making criteria um what what

they see are their their big pain points

um it's again that back to reduction of

of operational friction

um I'm sure we've all have those you

know long sessions where we're trying to

work on our personas and work out their

pain points and all of this stuff um and

you you know you spend four hours in a

boardroom and you walk out of it very

few concrete conclusions this will just

cut that all out because it'll just be

there in the data um and if you can get

to

385 um this is kind of my my threshold

for for it being really solid as far as

um really solid as far

as oh yeah there we are yeah leer still

one so yeah 385 so so for you

statisticians out there confidence level

is um 95 to 95 you run this survey 100

times you get the same result 95 times

and then confidence interval is kind of

margin for error so 5% margin for error

on your results um but but you know for

your average restaurant or um you know

single unit bricks and morar store get

385 people through the door um you could

get a really solid um you could get a

really solid survey done in in a matter

of

weeks and if you want to boil it down to

just the the real critical stuff

purchasing criteria and then paying

points right why did they choose you

over your competitors this is especially

good if they've come back someone coming

back to your restaurant coming back to

your store um why have they come back

what what are you doing for them that

they're not getting elsewhere

um and can you turn that into output

messaging

okay so if you want to get you know and

this this is something I I recommend um

if you can get the the representative

data is to work towards a market

segmentation now I think where where a

lot of people um come AC Cropper here is

they attempt to do it over under or

sorry along demographic lines and I'm

sure many of us would have seen the

Prince Charles Aussie Osborne um uh meme

about

demographics um where you know they're

they're both whatever they are in their

70s they're both British they both live

in a castle um whereas no one's

expecting Al go born and Prince Charles

to I suppose King Charles now terrible

at me as Brit um King Charles to um to

behave in the same way so what your what

Your surveys should attempt to do is

uh slice and dice the addressable Market

along behavioral

lines so what what you would hope to get

to the bottom of is um how the market

can be segmented into homogeneous groups

along Behavior

Alliance how many people or businesses

if you're a B2B business are in that

segment um what the value would be to

the company if 100% of them purchased

from you and were appropriate what is

your current market share of that kind

of

customer um this this can be just in the

same way that looking at your funnel and

getting to the bottom of where the most

tender loving care needs to be

applied looking at this you know

finished segmentation of the market um

will often help you

identify areas or segments where you

can have a good play to them that you

can service them but they're currently

underserved by you or um or maybe

there's a segment that um isn't served

by anyone you know you have a you might

have a relatively respectable share of

it but actually your biggest competitor

uh can't really service them so maybe

your decision is to to go all in on um

all in on that

segment

okay and so so quickly I'm just going to

spend another like five minutes drawing

those dots into into strategy um and how

how marketing should be informing um how

we make those

decisions so firstly it it makes it

really easy for us at an organizational

level to say you know what we could go

after this person this person this

person but actually this one we can see

uh is the best choice for us and so you

know

it what it really does is help you say

no to most options um and feel very good

about saying yes to to one of them and

this is not only from a targeting point

but also from a positioning standpoint

um you know as I mentioned above you

should be able to get a representative

idea of decision-making criteria of pain

points of perceived value across your

market and then obviously with the help

of a decent copywriter word Smith that

um into into your

message and feel confident enough to

stick to it I think that this is you

know again one of the the massive uh

benefits that come from come from this

Clarity and this the alignment um that

that this will help you get within your

organization is that it makes it easier

to stay the courts because it's not your

opinion against my opinion it's not the

owner's opinion against the VP or

sales's opinion the market has shown us

that this would be the best way to get

in front of it and the best way to uh

best way to grow the

business and finally objectives and I

think this is where this is where um I

see a lot of businesses fall down is

that objectives are there but not

strategic okay

so often objectives will look like

increased BR love which is nebulous

can't be tracked

um well it can be tracked but not

phrased like that um achieve 200 social

mentions this is a tactical goal right

this is squarely in in Communications if

you remember that you know anatomy of

marketing slide squarely squarely in

Communications and sell two million

t-shirts that's a business aspiration

okay with the appropriate research you

should be able to get to a position

where you can say stuff like our goal is

to increase awareness in the Ontario

population from 37% to 53% by December

31st 2024 and with all other factors

remaining the same this will yield $1.3

million in incremental Revenue increased

transaction average in $38 to

$64 2.85 million incremental roow okay

so these are kinds of strategic

objectives that that even a CFO can get

on board with um and I'm sure uh most of

the marketers on this call at some point

have had to uh lock horns with a a CFO

um or Finance director in order to uh to

get their plans over the line when you

can really get to the bottom of the um

the kind of results that they can put in

a spreadsheet to put it really really

bluntly they love spreadsheets um if you

can do this

uh then you have a much better chance of

having your PL signed off also because

you can work from this okay all right

right what what what am I happy to spend

what is the company happy to spend in

order to generate $2.85 million is it a

million dollars is it $2 million and you

okay are you're okay with that you know

um cost of acquisition um or you can

work at another way and you can say all

right well well now given our historical

results what is it going to take us to

increase awareness and then you can

build a comm's plan off that okay um and

then you have you you have all the

information at hand in order to go to

bat for that plan now listen you need to

deliver on it hopefully at the end of

the day if you've asked for a whole ton

more money than the year before um but

if you can reach this point if you can

reach this point then um you have the

best possible chance of not just being

lumbered with another kind of kga based

um you know kga based budget um that's

come from the finance department I mean

it's it's a it's it's kind of a it's a

crying shame that that Finance teams

still often win the battle about how

much the sales and marketing efforts

need for the year right whilst not being

marketers

um so uh I am getting to the 20 25

minute Mark um and um and so I think

probably now's probably the time for us

to open up the floor for

questions let me if anyone has any

questions just raise your hand I think

we saw a I think we saw a few in the

yeah yes there was like at least one or

two um Adam has a question Adam go

ahead

hi Oliver um great presentation I really

like that um than you I have found in my

working with online surveys in

particular that you get a really serious

skewing of the data because people who

take online surveys are people who take

online surveys and if your Market is not

necessarily always online that data may

not really be representative of the of

your real market and I'm just wondering

how you account for that in your work

and is there a path that

um that uh U supplier that you were

talking about who does uh these surveys

is there a way that they have either uh

qualitatively or quantitatively to

account for that uh okay so not really

account for it but build um build

audiences to spec um that is to say that

they will go out and seek the relevant

people rather than um it being them

being passively of their database um

that so that's that's one way that you

can you can aim to um be a bit more

detailed and and hopefully more balanced

um it's a lot more expensive um but you

know it it's it's more expensive to the

point where getting a you know so I I

had to do a piece of research on

electricians in Ontario um and there's

only like 46,000 of them in the first

place uh you know so they're like there

no chance of them being on a you know a

enough of them being on a panel survey

board in order to um in order to um to

get a you know proper kind of

Representative result um but partnering

if you partner with Distributors um and

you get a corner of their uh space

retail space in person you can capture

those people for probably about about

the same price if not cheaper so um yeah

it's it's less about account counting

for those SKS I mean I tell you what one

thing that it is worth doing when you

have those big data sets is look at the

typically you'll get like the kind of

there's a set standard demographic info

you're going to get with those survey

results um those survey results so if

you've surveyed a thousand people that

thousand people should be representative

of of your population if there's if

there if you look at your and so just go

to your census data and if they've got a

whole load of people between 35 and 20

and your sensus data is not showing that

big spike then they've not given you a

representative sample of a population so

that's something you can look out for as

far as data

cleanliness

so in the tldr answer is it really

depends on how you're doing the

recruiting and how you gather the people

that you're actually measuring yeah you

know some of this is about expectation

setting with um expectation setting with

um with the agency that's actually

deploying it um if you if are going to a

third party but yeah you should you know

if you're getting a samp of thousand

people that should be that should be

demographically representative of

broader population else you're not you

know not really getting a fair result

and so if you don't mind just a quick

second question sure one of the things

that you talked about

was um being able to measure things like

you know uh brand awareness and given

population yeah um do you do that mainly

through the kinds of questions that you

ask is there another tool that you use

to do that so um the the some research

companies will offer a kind of Omnibus

so they they basically send out a a

monthly um survey that has like one or

two questions from a dozen

different uh clients so you can

literally ask are you know have you

heard of this brand yes enough to have

an opinion yes but not enough to have an

opinion or no um and I think last time I

did that it cost about, 1500 bucks um to

get to get you know 500 answers on that

just get that Top Line awareness um very

easily um highly recommend it because

you know awareness is table Stakes for

anyone doing business with you right um

absolutely so you know especially when

it comes to service businesses

Hospitality um retail um those um those

benefit have you know in a big way from

understanding that Topline awareness of

their brands because sometimes sometimes

that's the answer they're trying to be

all clever and you know

price you know aggressive price

discounting here or let's could generate

loads of you know really fun content to

hope to go viral sometimes the answer is

create one advert and just hammer it

until your awareness levels go up

because that'll just funnel you know

inevitably funnel more people into your

business and then just one last question

um for smaller companies like I work

with a bunch of climate startups yeah um

they just don't have that level of

recognition yet right you know not

everyone does one out of 10 maybe have

heard of them if if that any

recommendations for that kind of

scenario um I mean look the starting

point is always loyalist interviews um

get understand because you know there's

that solid historical data it's not

people hypothesizing about whether they

would engage your services they've

already spent good money on you so let's

start with start with what actually got

them over the line um again whether it's

sales process whether it is um the pain

points that are alleviated whether it's

the potential value that they see in it

um um and and what what forward from

there yeah all right thank you very much

and again for the

presentation my

pleasure any other questions and yeah

there was um Cynthia in chat asked for

the name of the Canadian survey company

uh Le l e g

r and Adam I assume you asked the

question again cuz I saw you chat

it awesome any other

questions all right I must have covered

it that comprehensively that um that um

we're all

good

awesome all right well I had a qu

question um since I found this my name

is Stephen I'm a CTO and I am um never

thought I coders don't think of

themselves as a product and the

fractional people are actually selling

outcomes or products and I'm wondering

how you

might do some of these steps if the

thing you're trying to discover is the

is is how to actually do that

productization of a service have you run

well do you know what the step the steps

of the actually I

um there's a model I use which

essentially has the research at the

center of it and then it spirals out

left and right and left goes into

product development and right goes into

strategy like marketing strategy um and

so I think that the ven diagram has a

high degree of overlap when you're

talking to people um as far as the

questions that will give you insights

into potential for product development

um and and products being you know kind

of symbiotically connected with

onboarding supports and all of those

kinds of things um so high degree High

degree of overlap but it really comes

down to to to what you're trying to uh

get to the bottom of um you know with

with products especially digital

products there's a whole other layer of

of information that um that you can

easily gather which is around actual

product usage like the SAS world you

know that once once you start looking at

actual product usage a lot especially

startups realizing that 80% of the

functionality that they've been spending

the last two years using isn't actually

being used was hardly being used or it's

being used for something a completely

different purpose you know those kind of

Pinterest is a great example of this

right Pinterest in its current form that

was an off book usage you know an off

label quote unquote off label usage of

its original product um but they

realized that that's what most people

were doing and so they kind of pivoted

into pivoted into that right so um but

yeah a lot of the same processes apply

it's just about being very clear on the

questions that you want to answer um

without hopefully being too leading with

your uh questions in order to kind of

box people's answers in

um yeah but I think the same thing

loyalist interviews could be really good

if someone's been using your product for

two years they might be using it in ways

that you've never thought of you know as

even as the the kind of lead great word

loyalist I think of them as friendly

interviews okay yeah yeah you know

really really great and except for this

I probably should have mentioned in the

call loyalist the the freemium version

of otter AI gives you 30 minutes you can

extract usually about 2,000 words 30

minutes if they're uh you know even

without them being big big talkers you

can then drop that into uh drop drop

that into GPT or similar to extract the

kind of key points as well as obviously

just tonally being able to look out for

what they really stress um and what's

like oh well I think kind of you know

what I mean um but that that Switcheroo

between that qual into let me let me ask

400 people of all of these eight

adjectives that they've used to describe

the brand let me ask 400 people whether

they you know how strongly they feel

about those five adjectives and then you

can start to pull like perceptual maps

and and get very um very detailed about

understanding how people feel about

you you can also run surveys along

functionality lines right like you know

I use the X function

often false sometimes true or however

you decide to you know frame that answer

thank you my

pleasure any more for

anym I'm looking to see

um somebody asked if it was like uh

Leisure

360.com uh yep that's right

yeah yeah they they're great you know if

you've got um if you've got people who

can crunch the numbers in house which

you know something that

is uh already something we can do with

AI but if you've got the kind of data

analysis capabilities inhouse they can

just run the survey give it to you Raw

uh if you want um help both building it

and then with the analysis portion they

can also Supply that as

well Jill you had a

question yeah um thank you for the

presentation I was wondering my husband

is in the technical space of fractional

and I'm on the operation side so I'm

kind of having an issue bringing

together our marketing and branding with

services and uh Target because I don't

want to convolute people on thinking

it's one thing um and under the same

name so I didn't know if you had any

tips on how to go about that give me

sorry just just uh paint that picture

for me again so my husband's in the

technical side as CTO operations with

custom software development for um like

Access Control Systems and he is

fractional work there I'm in the

operation side with project management

data analytics and that sort of thing

and the hardest part I'm having is

bringing together my marketing campaign

because the target market of what he

goes after versus what I go after are

two different things so when it comes to

like our LinkedIn pages I have the

corporate page but how do I bring

together right without confusing people

right so is this you fractional

Solutions yep yeah okay so what you're

saying is that that you're offering two

different kinds of fractional Services

under one um Under One Roof um well okay

so there's a couple of ways you can go

about this um one is obviously to create

separate Brands but there's a there's a

there's a whole load of work that will

um need to be done in order to kind of

support separate Brands but another way

you can go about it is about kind of

going up the

conceptual um all going from the literal

to the conceptual when it comes to the

promises you make so you would have seen

at the the the top of my presentation

Clarity and control Clarity on what the

market thinks and feels and control over

your results okay

so um if you can find that kind of

higher order deliverable um that

essentially is um appropriate to apply

to both of the services you provide um

then that can be a way of of of tidying

that up um again you can you can test

for this um is in you can chat to people

who have engaged either your services or

have engaged fractional services in the

past and try to get to the bottom of

what it is that they um

that they really like and often it's one

or two things you know for me I find

that people are often just lack the

confidence to deploy the kind of

resources that will get them results

from a marketing standpoint because

there's no one Senor experienced enough

within the organization to really get to

the bottom of it okay so one of the

things people love is that they they

feel confident spending spending money

they feel confident allocating money on

budgets right and so you know um that's

typically where I you know I bring that

language in a lot um when I when I

position to people and then I explain

what it is that I do because it's not a

marketing result at the end of the day

I'm making a human feel a certain way

about their business um so yeah and you

know start with what you intuitively

believe would be um the best way to kind

of conceptualize the the the impact you

know at a non-technical level right you

can apply it to both um and then um you

know I'd highly recommend you you chat

to previous clients chat to existing

clients chat to you know other people

you know through you know it might not

just be about the kind of fractional

work you specifically do but anyone

who's kind of plugged in fractional

consultant you know that kind of persona

and then what the what the human impact

has been um that should give you some

quite fertile ground as far as your your

Collective

messaging thank you so much I appreciate

my

pleasure

any other

questions going once going

twice okay well I guess I'm giving

everyone back uh 15 minutes of their

time I have um I have so the slides that

we looked through are part of a uh a

yearly budget and strategy guides that

that I share with my uh that I share

with my network work um so if anyone

would like that um feel free to to reach

out on the the fractionals slack Channel

um slack

instance actually we're gonna make the

recording and slides available either

later today or tomorrow so there this

that I've got a director's cut of the of

the slides that um that that that are

more kind of absorb without presentation

you know absorb without voice over kind

of uh

design awesome all right well I'm going

to stop

recording