Post 3: Generative Research

As marketers, we often are assigned the interesting task of getting to know our consumers by research efforts such as directly asking questions about behaviors, attitudes, and interests, and beliefs. Successful marketers talk to their consumers and understand that not all insights are found directly from pulling data from large databases and recognizing trends; instead, some of the most valuable realizations come from more qualitative research. I found working on this post to be particularly fascinating because at school and work, I have always been the marketer, but now I have the chance to be the consumer. In class, my peers and I try to find insights about consumers for school assignments and group projects. At my internship this summer, I used databases and trends in data to get to know my consumers’ snacking and shopping habits, and I also had the chance to sit in on focus group meetings and learn from consumers more directly. However, I think playing the role of the research participant is another way that I can understand and empathize with consumers in this situation and understand how they may respond.

My first task was to identify some of the things I can’t live without and the things I care about. The things I can’t live without are my family, my friends, my dogs, staying fit and healthy, Texas football, and my church. The first of these items I chose to share more about was my church. The church I grew up attending with my family and friends was a foundation for my faith, a characteristic that plays an integral part in my everyday decision-making. The next of these is personal fitness. Exercise helps me to stay healthy not only physically, but also mentally. It serves as stress relief and helps me to perform better in other aspects of my life. The final item I chose to explain was my dogs; when I’m having a rough day, my three labs are consistent sources of comfort.

I also identified the things I care about. These are experiencing the world, trips to the lake, fashion, food and cooking, my career, and Christmas. The first of these that I chose to explain is experiencing the world. I want to travel to as many places and learn from as many cultures as possible in order to gain more knowledge of the world and a global perspective. The next item is fashion. I think that what people wear is a physical representation of their attitude and how they’re feeling that day. If I dress in nice and sophisticated clothes, then I am ready to be successful and gain confidence as a result. The final item is Christmas. During this time, people are happier, kinder, and more generous, and it is my favorite time of year. A diagram of these items is pictured below.

My second task was to help the researchers understand my Digital Ecosystem. In the diagram that follows, I connected green lines to the digital and online sources I commonly use to get information. I commonly use six of these sources: web search, online video, national newspapers online, national TV broadcast websites, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and local newspaper websites. The three that I use most commonly are web search, national newspapers online, and social media. I use web searches to quickly answer any questions I may have either for academic or other purposes because they’re very convenient. I use national newspapers online to stay updated with current events and find reliable sources of information (again, both for academic and other purposes). I use social media mostly to stay connected with my social networks and find news and information about them.

My third task as a research participant was to describe my typical weekday and when I find certain types of information (pictured below). As you can see on my timeline, the first time in my day when I absorb a significant amount of information is at the beginning, when I am preparing for my day. This is because during breakfast I usually read the newspaper to stay updated on state, local, and national news as well as the weather. Reading for a little while each day helps me to stay informed about current events. Next I go to class, where I absorb much information about my future profession, the current financial situation (as I am a finance major), international news (in capital markets classes), general business, and design (in Design Thinking). My professors share this information through lectures for academic purposes. I also attend many meetings where I receive information. These are career-oriented student organization meetings (like Honors Business Association) or recruiting events (for full-time jobs). I gain work/profession related information at these as well as information about future events to place on my calendar. I also am exposed to a lot of information at night when I am doing homework, because this is when I search the web for academic and recreational use (i.e. catching up on pop culture) and use social media.

As I mentioned before, it is very useful for marketers to speak with consumers and ask open-ended questions like these to make important realizations either about core consumers or fringe cases. I found it very eye opening to have the perspective of a research participant. 

Post 2: Journey Mapping

As we discussed in class, one useful way we can develop empathy and a deep understanding of our customers is through creating a persona. If we can use this persona to establish this deep connection with our consumers, we can design great products, services, and processes that meet their needs very effectively.  One tool we can use to create this persona that really connects with our consumers is journey mapping, which “allows us to understand what happens to people as they navigate a particular context in which we are particularly interested” and is a technique to develop greater empathy through understanding deeper motivations and experiences.

To explore how to use a journey map effectively, I decided to interview my friend Cathy about her journey of choosing her major in school. Cathy is currently a fourth-year student in the McCombs School of Business. She is from Dallas, Texas and had several different influences on her decision regarding her major, so I thought it would be interesting to explore her story.

Cathy’s first thoughts about her college major came before college even started. Growing up, and particularly in high school, she thought she might want to pursue an area of study in a marketing or advertising field. This is partially because in high school she was a Vice President in student council, a position where she enjoyed working with students, faculty, and other parties and therefore discovered that she loved working with people. She also has many family members and family friends working in advertising, and from in speaking with them it looked like an interesting career, so her student council experience, family, and family friends were her primary influences at this point in time. She started primarily looking into a Communications degree; however, at this point in time, she was only 50% confident in her decision to be a Communication major.

This makes sense, because she changed her mind before college. She is very close with her parents, always taking their opinions to heart, and they were her primary influencers at this stage. They realized that the economy was in a bad place at the time (2009 and 2010) and encouraged her to look into a business degree, which they thought might be more practical for finding a job in the future. She applied and was accepted to McCombs, which is a very well respected business school, so she decided to become a business major with a communications minor. However, at this point she still had not started college and did not know much about any of the possible major choices, so she was still only 70% confident in her primary and secondary choice of major.

When she came to college, Cathy was exposed to possible majors and because of her interests she thought she wanted to major in Marketing, with her secondary choice being Advertising. In her first semester, she did not take any business classes because she needed to fulfill some core requirements first, but she met with her advisor and saw her degree plan. This showed her that it was relatively simple to partner her planned primary Marketing and secondary Advertising degrees. The meeting further reinforced her decision, and she became 80% confident in her degree plan.

After her second semester of school, she went on the CIBER Marketing Study Abroad program in Paris. Abroad, she took her first Marketing classes, and she loved them. In addition, being in Paris, seeing all the beautiful architecture of the historic buildings and cathedrals, and meeting many intriguing travelers with unique stories sparked her interest in learning about new places, people, and cultures. She thought she might want to work in a global marketing career. Her confidence level increased to 85%.

In her third semester, she took the beginning class “Principles of Marketing”, but also took an “Introduction to Advertising; Integrated Brand Communication” class, which she loved. She started doubting her choice in marketing and instead thinking about how much she enjoyed advertising. Even though her parents may not believe that it is a practical career choice, she thought that it may be the right choice for her. Her classes influenced her opinion at this time, and she became only 70% confident that her primary choice of major was Marketing and her secondary choice was Advertising and started thinking she may want to switch these.

During her fourth semester and the following summer, Cathy started looking for internships in the marketing realm to satisfy her course requirement. She accepted a marketing internship position with a technology startup firm focusing on developing phone applications for children. In this position, she worked on building the company’s brand and image as well as developing its social media strategy. She quickly discovered that she did not enjoy her job or working in the technology industry, a realization that pushed her a little more towards advertising, where she may get to work with clients in multiple industries, and she became only 50% confident that she wanted to major in Marketing.

However, during her fifth and sixth semesters, she took marketing electives that she loved. Her international business class reminded her of how much she enjoyed learning about people in other cultures, and her electives focused on developing her ability to learn about customers’ decision making, thought processes, and motivations. Cathy remembered how much she enjoyed working with people and the resurfacing of these memories and discoveries helped her to be 100% confident that she wanted to be a Marketing major with an Advertising minor.

The summer after her sixth semester (last summer), Cathy studied abroad in the historic and beautiful city of Florence, Italy. Her 100% confidence level was only reinforced by the humanities and culture classes she took for a month overseas. Now, as she recruits for full-time Marketing positions for after graduation, she can choose which positions to apply for based on her absolute certainty that she wants to be able to use her marketing degree and work with as many different kinds of people and cultures as possible. She is looking for positions that will allow her to apply these interests, ideally travel as much as possible, and use her Advertising knowledge as well. Even though she doesn’t want to only work in Advertising, she does believe it would be interesting to use her knowledge and work on the client side of marketing and work with Advertising agencies too.

Overall, Cathy’s journey of choosing a major had some indecisive points. However, she used her understanding of her personality and her influences and motivations in order to make the choice that was best for her. Successful marketers are able to do this as well. They can use tools like journey mapping and the creation of personas to unlock the true motivations, influences, opinions, and feelings of their customers. Once they create that deep connection they can make decisions about their correct course of action. This course of action includes not only designing products, services, and processes that customers love, but also designing products, services, and processes for consumers that are currently navigating the context they’re researching in coordination with their business plans. Below is a physical representation of Cathy's journey.