By Lucy Davison
On Monday 9 May, 72 marketers and researchers gathered at The Forge in Camden for the first GreenBook European Insights Marketing Day. My agency, Keen as Mustard, teamed up with GreenBook to put together a programme designed to help research and insight agencies and suppliers market themselves better. GreenBook had already run two very successful IMD events in New York, and their team felt it was now time to come over to this side of the pond.
Marketing is so vital to our industry, but often it is overlooked in the relentless pursuit of new methodologies and insight. I think of insights marketing in three ways. First there is the marketing of insight itself – how to package and communicate our product better for stakeholders, to ensure insights have impact and are used. Then there is the marketing of data, research and insights businesses, so enabling agencies, suppliers, technology and panel companies win more business.
Finally there is the all-important marketing of MRX as a whole – spreading the word about the value of the work we do to those outside the industry. All these were important for Insights Marketing Day, but the practical element of how to market your business was paramount.
We started off with a morning focused on delivering great, differentiated and outspoken content. Presentations from writer and editor Robert Bain and MRS editor Jane Bainbridge made it very clear that research companies need to stand for something, have a clear philosophy and share it widely. Jane’s experience over 25 years as a journalist gave us real insight into her job – (by the way if you promise a journo something – deliver on time). We then focused on building a sales funnel, with inspiring presentations from Merkle, Dotmailer and Brainstorm Digital, all demonstrating how we could use our differentiated content to build a database, engage with it and increase business.
After lunch, a panel with senior directors from agencies including BrainJuicer, Insites Consulting, Northstar and Network Research shared stories from the coal face of what has worked with their marketing (and some fails!). Two really crucial elements we learnt were, first off, to share and communicate internally before you do anything externally – and secondly Tom De Ruyck’s point: ‘In marketing we only believe in telling, sharing and helping out.’ So don’t sell!
The programme then moved onto Will Goodhand from TNS, sharing how to build thought leadership through high impact presentations (so no pressure there, but Will more than delivered) and an inspirational talk by sales guru Wyn Davis of The Sales Experts, which convinced us not to ‘say you are selling research. That makes it a commodity. Sell the solutions it delivers. Sell success.’
Finally a panel of insight clients (Daniel Siddle from Eon, Lizzi Seear from IHG and Giles Finnemore from AURA) gave honest and direct feedback on the marketing approaches they receive from agencies and suppliers. Key messages were – be specific and tailored, don’t spam, deliver thought leadership and don’t ditch snail mail – it could become more effective again as it’s become so unusual.
After such a full day it was lovely to be invited to join ZappiStore at their offices just around the corner for original and delicious ZappiTini cocktails. A perfect end to a really interesting day.
By Lucy Davison, Managing Director, Keen as Mustard Marketing Ltd.
For a pdf of Lucy Davison’s presentation ‘Five things I know about Marketing for Market Research,’ please click here.
