Today’s choosey mothers are asking, “Should I give my 8-year-old peanuts, sugar, molasses, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, fatty acids, and salt. And do I need to “blast” my school contacts about allergies?”
As “things” are more transparent, “things” have gotten more complicated. So how do we move from tracking existing behaviors to understanding how consumers will decide in our favor?
First, let me offer some comfort. Strategic marketing can become a predictive science once again. It just requires us to connect with consumers at the most fundamental level – How “We” make decisions.
Established social/psychological theory tells us that behaviors are the product of fundamental motivations – why people want what they want and do what they do.
Not to worry, we won’t be asking you to lie on the couch for some “free association.” That was Freud. This is Adler. And while the esteemed Alfred Adler did bring us the “inferiority complex”, remember this is an approach to simplify your marketing agenda. You’re more than up to the task.
In the 1990’s, MarketResponse developed a research methodology to define and quantify segments based on consumer motivations. Originally designed as a means of understanding brands across the many cultures of Europe, the method can isolate the core motivations that manifest themselves in the behaviors “Big Data” tracks.
As anyone who has tried to find firm footing on the soapbox of predictive models will admit, behaviors are ever-changing, confusing and often a misrepresentation of what today’s self-reliant consumer is hoping to achieve. Getting in front of today’s consumer requires getting to the core motivations of an individual’s needs and self-image.
Here's a Quick Walkthrough:
Step 1: Define Your "Domain"
With motivations you’re not researching a product or service; you’re out to understand a Domain. By “Domain,” I’m not referring to the lands of a king or the web address you snatched up at Go Daddy. Instead, you’re defining the experience.
It’s not cars; it’s “Driving.” Consumer reactions to banks are steadfast; research “Money” and the insights pour out. Instead of pet food, you want to understand a person’s relationship with man’s best friend.
Adler’s theory isolates a “productive tension” which gives birth to a decision. We’re all familiar with the expression, “I’m torn between …”. And if your teenage daughter ever asked to spend the weekend at a friend’s beach house, you know how this internal anxiety feels.
It’s similar to the tension experienced by your customers as it defines the Domain in which you compete. We view it as the most powerful perspective for understanding your category, competitors and customers. And we call it the “Motivational Lens™.”
Through a qualitative exploration designed to reveal what individuals are hoping to achieve within a defined Domain, you’ll be able to capture the boundaries and role models. And you’ll be able to assess how much energy a person is willing to exert in achieving the most vivid expression of their self-image through their buying decisions.
Step 2: Create a motivational Map
As much as I would like to avoid the cliché, there are two types of people. As you peer into the Motivational Lens™, you’ll observe a distinct division between those who work to embrace a positive and those wanting to avoid a negative. It’s the first dramatic divide you’ll discover in the qualitative exploration. It will look familiar to you.
The second divide in what becomes your quadrant map is the release of tension that defines where an individual lands on your map. An individual’s decision will be the result of asserting their will or adapting to the norm. If you’ve ever seen someone throw over a Monopoly board, you’ve seen an assertive will to avoid the negative of losing the match. You’ve just observed “lower left” behavior.
In time, this Vantage Point will serve in explaining people’s behaviors in a range of situations. So, you now have a quadrant map and a new understanding of why you’re winning or losing among specific groups of consumers.
Don’t thank me, thank Dr. Adler.
Step 3: Define Moticational Segments
With your four quadrants in place, it’s time to look for deeper divides. Our experience suggest four to six distinct groups exist within a given domain. While we’ve defined many Domains, we are still surprised at how discrete segments emerge. In the domain of shopping, for instance, look for significant numbers in what we refer to as the “Acceptance” segment. They know the routine of shopping and buying in your category. With their level of interest being marginal, they’re willing to default to the recommendations of advertising, friends and sales staffs.
Most importantly, pay no attention to the outside selves you observe. You’ll know if you’re at the motivational level when tough guys cry and grandma doesn’t share her fresh baked cookies.
In the end, your exploration reveals insights. Attitudes and opinions coalesce to define the segments within your domain. You’ll have the platform for differentiating strategies as they are rooted in the domain and not a product. Finally, you’ll have a new appreciation of why some tactics worked and other well-constructed plans failed.
Step 4: Quantify
It’s time to blend the art of qualitative learning with the science of quantitative design. The quantitative design is critical, along with the modeling expertise of Smart Agent Market Response Netherlands, (SAMR).
As authors of this field of work in association with the University of Tilburg, together we deliver a view of the market that makes the Motivational Lens™ eye opening. Results reveal why your brand or products are missing out on significant shares of the market, as well as your potential path for growth.
In this model, quantitative defines the size and priority of very specific drivers. Perhaps, more interestingly you'll see where you and competitors have an advantage among particular motivational drivers. When one pairs this with communications and “experience audits”, your first reaction will be to hug or fire your marketing agencies.
Did you stake your claim with a cool but alarmingly small segment of the market, or speak to the largest common denominator with no real point of difference? Lastly, have you embraced a market dedicated to crushing your margins before they say yes?
In all cases, you will have a logical and new perspective of your category landscape.
Step 5: Research-to-work
It’s time to post a Japanese proverb on the wall. “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.”
At this stage, the imagination roars. You’ve developed your domain specific “Motivational Lens”. You’re able to see the strength in concepts, products, and messages on a total and segment specific basis. It’s time to look at product development and marketing engines against defined goals by segment. The path is straightforward; the last hurdle is the internal consensus.
In our experience the logic revealed through qualitative examples is so vivid, the presentation and workshop guides write themselves.
Get your audience and get ready for strategic and creative minds to connect in rapid fire. Interactive designers can develop new decision trees based on motivations and not the behaviors that created “spray and pray” models. You’re now able to have a conversation at an individual’s most basic level.
Celebrate the ability you have to adapt through segmented messages and channels. Construct communications that are complimentary, logical extensions from mass media to segment-specific messages. Append customer files based on their motivations instead of the “rules” of the model. And let your competitors wonder why they’re losing share across all of their behavorial and attitudinal segmentations.
