This is article five of six in a series of lessons for Malcolm Gladwell’s Small Business Marketers To blink.
Wow, what a great chapter for marketers.Chapter Five in To blink it is. This quote from p. 160 describes the thoughts that a great marketer (Louis Cheskin) had about packaging: “Cheskin was convinced that when people evaluate something they could buy in a supermarket or a department store, they inadvertently transfer feelings or impressions that they have about the packaging from the product to the product itself. To put it another way, Cheskin believed that most of us do not make a distinction, on an unconscious level, between the packaging and the product. The combined product. “
A key concept in this chapter is that experts are often more reliable in identifying what will and will not work in the market than market research based on consumer surveys. For small business marketers, this chapter is a must-read. You know very well that you rarely have money for consumer surveys.
Gladwell explores the New Coke debacle and the incompleteness of the market research that led to it. Although this is a well-known marketing mistake, Gladwell provides his typical behind-the-scenes journalistic story and gives us clues as to why the marketing information that Coca-Cola marketers used to base their decision on was wrong to begin with.
Even more fascinating is his exploration of the musician named Kenna, a person who music experts agree should be a hit, but who can’t get the Top 40 airtime on the radio because market research can’t. capture the same information that experts see on a Blink.
Why? Because as Gladwell points out, “… first impressions of experts are different … more esoteric and complex.” (p. 179). Kenna’s music is different and difficult to put a specific label on, so music market research cannot properly measure it.
Gladwell also tells the story of the Aeron chair, a new product with a completely innovative look that even the experts said would fail. But with this chair, which looked so different, people didn’t know how they felt about it; Gladwell says that consumers “misinterpreted their own feelings” (p. 173). Market research indicated that the chair would fail, but it didn’t, because it was a great product.
What does this chapter mean for a small business owner? Two lessons.
On the one hand, we must understand the limits of market research. This method is not foolproof and will not guarantee the success of the market or avoid its failures.
Second, a small business owner must learn to recognize what areas they are and are not adept at. In areas where you know you are an expert, where your years of experience have taught you well and now you can realize something in the blink of an eye about your industry or your industry as it relates to your clients, well, On those topics, it’s a safe bet that you really are an expert.
However, a key pitfall is thinking that you are an expert in all areas of your business. You are not, and even your clients are not. They’re very smart shoppers, but they’re also not always aware of why they do what they do … so, when possible, study what they do and then discover ways to alter that behavior to your advantage.
Remember: Brand (who you are) + Package (your customer face) + People (customers and employees) = Marketing success.
© 2006 Marketing Hawks
