Using Market Research to Boost your Brand

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Keynote Presentation

March 22, 2016

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Using Market Research to Boost

Your Brand

• 4

What We’ll Cover•

1) Conducting market research at an education institution.

2) Common mistakes when conducting market research.

3) How market research informs your brand strategy.

is what you stand for in the minds of the people you’re trying to reach, influence, and move to action.

• Brand

• 6

How do you manage something that’s in people’s minds?

Model for Brand Management

Desired perceptions about brand

Influence perceptions about brand

Visual Identity & Logos Tone & Voice Storytelling

Marketing Plan Content Strategy

Website Publications Advertising

Earned Media Actual Experiences

... (Strategy)

(Tactics)

(Results)

Actual perceptions about brand

It all starts with understanding perceptions

of your brand.

• 8

It all starts with understanding perceptions

of your brand.

• 9

external

Conducting market research at an education institution.

SECTION ONE:

11

Who should participate in research?

• Prospective students

• Current students

• Parents - current or prospective

• Guidance counselors

• Alumni

• Higher ed leaders

• Hiring managers

• Civic/government leaders

• Major donors

12

Who shouldn’t participate in research?

• “Everyone”

Qualitative Research

15

Qualitative research:• Is a conversation

• Answers the “why?”

• Is extremely flexible

• Provides a foundation for quantitative

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Types of qualitative research:• Focus groups

• In-person

• On-line

• One-on-ones

• Used for sensitive topics

• Can supplement focus groups

17

Conducting qualitative research:• Develop a script, but don’t be hemmed in

• Keep digging

• Don’t take notes

• Listen more than you talk

• Get comfortable with silence

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Limits of qualitative research:

• Budget sometimes dictates talking to your own people

• People are really bad at predicting their own behavior

• Usually limited to people with high affinity (unless you provide incentives)

• And even then…

Quantitative Research

20

Quantitative research:• When it follows qualitative research, it can ensure

that you have the right brand attributes

• Tracks changes in brand awareness and perceptions over time

• Reaches a larger (and more external) audience

21

Limits of quantitative research:• To do quantitative research, you need the right

sample size (otherwise it’s just a questionnaire)

• If you do quantitative without first doing qualitative, you’ll be left with many “why” questions

Common mistakes when conducting market research.

SECTION TWO:

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Talking to the wrong people.

24

Leading the witness.

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Asking people to predict their future behavior.

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Doing the wrong kind of research.

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Calling it quantitative (when it’s not).

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Believing everything you hear.

How market research informs your brand strategy.

SECTION THREE:

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1 Confirm things you’ve long suspected.

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2 Disprove or dispel internal thinking about your institution.

32

3 Test an idea before going to market.

33

4 Develop a brand strategy and adopt a plan for managing your brand.

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5 Understand the gaps.

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Gap: Medium

Current Position: Academically rigorous, prestigious, traditional, known for humanities research

Desired Position: Academically rigorous, highly innovative, forward-thinking scientific and biomedical research

Gap Analysis for Innovative Scientific Research

36

6 Define (or refine) your editorial and content strategy.

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Does your content strategy align with your brand and address the gaps in perceptions?

Content strategy includes:

• Content themes and messages

• Voice and tone

• Editorial calendar

• Governance

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Editorial Strategy

= Storytelling

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7 Measure and evaluate an existing brand strategy.

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Regular audience research

Analysis of inquiries from prospective students

Event attendance

Website conversions

Applications

Yield

Giving patterns

Measure your results with:

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Measure your results with:Regular audience research

Analysis of inquiries from prospective students

Event attendance

Website conversions

Applications

Yield

Giving patterns

Understand the State of Higher Ed Branding: http://mstnr.me/StateOfBranding

Resources

Our Capabilities: • Brand Research and Development

• Marketing Campaign Creation

• User Experience Design

• Content Strategy

• Digital, Print, and Social Media

• Search Engine Optimization

• Analytics

773.305.0537 mallory.wood@mstoner.com @mStonerInc mstoner.com

Our latest work: uncsa.edu

773.305.0537

hello@mstoner.com

@mStonerIncQ&A

Contact Us

Joel Pattison Director of Strategyjoel.pattison@mstoner.com 434.989.7731

Cassi Greenlee Sales Manager cassi.greenlee@mstoner.com314.400.7294

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