Getting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta

In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Brandon Rhoten, Chief Marketing Officer at GroundTruth. Together, they delve into the introduction of Twitter and how that impacted branding for many companies; explore the big mistakes brands make when establishing their digital and social marketing strategies; and highlight the importance of customer insights for understanding the success of your marketing plan.

Best known for building Wendy’s digital/social marketing, Brandon Rhoten has a successful track record of delivering sustained growth through enterprise-wide transformation initiatives. He is currently Chief Marketing Officer at GroundTruth, a media company turning real-world behavior into marketing that delivers real results, and Growth Advisor at SOCi, Perion, liifer, and Papa Johns.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 One of Darshan’s first aha! moments came with the introduction of Twitter in 2006. Seeing brands “sound like people” changed how his team worked at Wendy’s to build their digital/social presence: they wanted to sound like a personality. Suddenly, almost every brand transitioned from sterile and corporate with one-way communication with customers to having deeper personalities and customer interactions. Brandon’s mindset completely shifted. At the time, Wendy’s was working towards attracting customers under forty and Twitter provided a pathway to achieve that.

👉 Brandon often sees brands assuming that all you have to do for successful digital marketing is have a social media presence. While this will work in select instances, he clarifies that it’s all about what problem you’re trying to solve. Before diving into a social media or digital strategy, you need to establish what you’re trying to accomplish. For example, if you’re a new brand starting out, you need to figure out who you’re selling to and what message will resonate with them. THEN, you can go onto what communication channel will work best for getting that message out there. 

👉 According to Brandon, customer insights are essential in digital marketing, particularly when you’re learning what works and what doesn’t for your marketing plan. While you could learn a certain amount of this from analytics, they are limited in what they can tell you. Brandon explains that you can use analytics to aid in understanding what’s working but that you need to look into the processes you’re putting in front of customers and how they are using them so you can adjust and readjust accordingly. To illustrate, Brandon shares the example of AirBnB. They were so focused on getting good click rates that they initially didn’t notice that these clicks weren’t generating sales and they were just wasting money with their efforts to improve them. 

Listen Now!

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Apple - https://apple.co/3gsuA31 

Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3B0lVy6 

Youtube - https://bit.ly/3KYAHtd 

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And connect with the host and guests here:
Darshan Mehta on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshan--mehtaIResearch Website - https://iresearch.comBrandon Rhoten: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonrhoten GroundTruth: https://www.linkedin.com/company/groundtruthco Getting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Luca Popovac, Senior Executive, Abhilasha Sinha of Open Secret, Laura Beavin-Yates, Stephen Griffiths of Level 2, Kristin Luck or ScaleHouse, Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business, Nicolas Zeisler of We’re Doing CX Wrong and How To Get It Right, Pricilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing, Brooke Sellas of B Squared Marketing and Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience.

Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes: 

• Changing the Direction of Customer Experience with Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive
• Innovation, Curiosity, and Being Human with Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret
• [Greatest Hits ] Emotions & Consumer Behavior with Laura Beavin-Yates
  
  

If you are interested in joining Getting to Aha! as a guest, please complete this form

In this Greatest Hits episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Bryant Leech, Vice President, Agile Insights & Platform Solutions, at InnovatMR. They discuss Bryant's aha! journey, his career, agile marketing strategies for clients' data insights, panels, sampling, surveys, and much more. 

He is a specialist in market research, design research, project management, hiring, employee coaching, consulting, brand management, and customer satisfaction. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 [ 00:02:44 ] Market insights are not just numbers on slides. Always look at insights from a holistic view
👉 [ 00:04:00 ] Agile marketing strategies help many brands do more with less. They can now make multiple product launches to the market within a year
👉 [ 00:06:10 ] A "panel" is an online group of respondents that can take surveys. It's cheaper and faster to get insights when you use a panel
👉 [ 00:06:45 ] To recruit people into panels, there are many ways, such as: 

• Search Engine Optimization SEO 
• Incentified Games

👉 [ 00:07:59 ] In the panel world, there is a lot of interconnectivity between different panels and partnerships. "Your sample is only as good as the quality measures you have in place"
👉 [ 00:09:23 ] To avoid fraudulent data such as bots filling your surveys, keep an eye on the quality of data coming through by working closely with your panel
👉 [ 00:10:39 ] Some examples of quality measures you can use to stop fraudulent data are: 

• Using IP addresses for signups/logins
• Understanding the textualization within people's answers to open-ended questions

👉 [ 00:11:23 ] Always determine if your panel providers have quality measures. Have a list of different quality measures for pre-survey, during the survey, and post-survey stages
👉 [ 00:18:22 ] The quality of data influences the price you pay for surveys
👉 [ 00:22:32 ] The future of panels, sampling, and surveys is panel companies coming out with survey tools and survey companies with panel tools
Listen now!

bCast - https://bit.ly/3ACsRBz

Apple - https://apple.co/3gsuA31 

Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3B0lVy6 

Youtube - https://bit.ly/3KYAHtd 

RSS -  https://bit.ly/3AFrUs6 
Getting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Luca Popovac, Senior Executive, Abhilasha Sinha of Open Secret, Laura Beavin-Yates, Stephen Griffiths of Level 2, Kristin Luck or ScaleHouse, Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business, Nicolas Zeisler of We’re Doing CX Wrong and How To Get It Right, Pricilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing, Brooke Sellas of B Squared Marketing and Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience.

Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes: 

• Changing the Direction of Customer Experience with Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive
• Innovation, Curiosity, and Being Human with Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret
• [Greatest Hits ] Emotions & Consumer Behavior with Laura Beavin-Yates
  
  

If you are interested in joining Getting to Aha! as a guest, please complete this form

In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Ila Byrne, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer at Parch Spirits Co. Together, they delve into why you should always keep your finger on the pulse of your chosen industry; how the alcohol market is experiencing a massive shake-up; and why constant curiosity and observation are key to figuring out consumer insights.

Ila Byrne is a successful multi-brand creator and beverage innovator with a passion for the future of holistic drinking. She led innovation strategy and ideation for Diageo North America for five years. Her strategic recommendations on ‘Drinking Better’ led to a shift in the global business vision for Diageo to address the 'low & no' opportunities. In 2019 she was named by Forbes as one of the "Women Running the Liquor World." She has over fifteen years of international marketing and innovation expertise and is an Effie-winning creative force with strong cultural acumen and a passionate desire to improve the world through sustainable ideas.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 Ila owes her success in consumer insights to constant curiosity and observation. It’s about observing how people are engaging, whether it's watching certain shows on TV or noticing behaviors in different industries. She’s constantly curious about why different things connect with people, which has helped her to become the best entrepreneur she possibly can be. Those in the entrepreneurial space would do well to imitate her, to learn and gather as much information as they can.

👉 Over the last decade, beer and wine have been declining in popularity in the alcohol market, and spirits are constantly increasing. That’s owed largely to the fact that people believe they don’t give them much of a hangover, and people are now, more than ever, educated on how alcohol works. This is something Ila has obsessively researched and has integrated into her business, enabling her to create the best brand she can. 

👉 The modern drinker is someone who is in the moment; someone who abandons rituals and remains their true self, rather than their artificial self. Ila has tapped into this, overcoming old rituals and making it a point to say ‘we’re not anti-alcohol, we’re pro moderation and advocates for information’. At Parch, they want people to make their own informed choices and grant them the ability to make them. She admits that they’re not quite there yet, they’re only just beginning to really talk to liquor stores.Listen Now!

bCast - https://bit.ly/3ACsRBz

Apple - https://apple.co/3gsuA31 

Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3B0lVy6 

Youtube - https://bit.ly/3KYAHtd 

RSS -  https://bit.ly/3AFrUs6 
And connect with the host and guests here:
Darshan Mehta on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshan--mehtaIResearch Website - https://iresearch.comIla Byrne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ila-byrne-228283Parch Spirits: https://www.linkedin.com/company/parchspiritscoGetting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Luca Popovac, Senior Executive, Abhilasha Sinha of Open Secret, Laura Beavin-Yates, Stephen Griffiths of Level 2, Kristin Luck or ScaleHouse, Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business, Nicolas Zeisler of We’re Doing CX Wrong and How To Get It Right, Pricilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing, Brooke Sellas of B Squared Marketing and Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience.

Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes: 

• Changing the Direction of Customer Experience with Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive
• Innovation, Curiosity, and Being Human with Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret
• [Greatest Hits ] Emotions & Consumer Behavior with Laura Beavin-Yates
  
  

If you are interested in joining Getting to Aha! as a guest, please complete this form

In this Greatest HIts episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret, a food and beverages provider that believes un-junking your diet can be fun and eating healthy can be tasty! They delve into her widespread, diverse career journey in numerous industries (education, healthtech, consumer tech); the drive of innovation, curiosity and learning to be human; and what failure really looks like.

On top of that, Abhilasha is also a Mentor at the Founder Institute and was previously the Chief of Staff at Hike, the Vice President of Strategy and Operations at Elucidata Corporation, and an associate at Innosight. She’s been featured in various interviews and podcasts, including Women Who Build and Network Capital, where she discusses her career and journey to Harvard Business School and life after graduation.

Listen out for what this Harvard graduate has to say about the world of Insights!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 Abhilasha has worked across numerous industries: education, healthtech, and consumer tech, and now she’s working in the ecommerce food and beverages space. She says the goal behind all of these careers is to look at how technology or business models can be delivered in a new way to the consumer. For example, education has been done for years upon years, but how do you scale it to the most remote parts of a country? How do you make it so your food and beverages brand reaches the right amount of people and appeal to the consumer? With each industry comes a different challenge, and that’s the connection between these industries.

👉 When asked whether it was innovation, curiosity, or learning what it means to be human that drove her in all of her roles, Abhilasha says that it’s likely a combination of all three. She says she enjoyed finding connections between the products and the consumer, and this, in turn, provides fascinating consumer insights which can lead to incredible, innovative things for a business. 

👉 Failure comes in many different forms. Some might say it’s not reaching your goals; some might say it’s not trying; and others may go as far as to say the real failure is not learning from your mistakes. Abhilasha agrees with this, for her motto is to learn from your failures. She recalls a time she built something that didn’t really solve a problem for a user, but she doesn’t think she failed because she learned from it and adapted!

👉 Open Secret started off as a brand that did everything: sweet, savory, beverages. Eventually, however, they realized they weren’t really competing with smaller niche brands, and were instead competing with the larger ones. Their aim is to give people the tools to make ‘better for you’ choices across the board so that they can stick out compared to the bigger companies. 

Listen now!

bCast - https://bit.ly/3ACsRBz

Apple - https://apple.co/3gsuA31 

Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3B0lVy6 

Youtube - https://bit.ly/3KYAHtd 

RSS -  https://bit.ly/3AFrUs6 
Episode Resources

• Abhilasha’s LinkedIn
• Open Secret
• Founder Institute

Getting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Luca Popovac, Senior Executive, Abhilasha Sinha of Open Secret, Laura Beavin-Yates, Stephen Griffiths of Level 2, Kristin Luck or ScaleHouse, Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business, Nicolas Zeisler of We’re Doing CX Wrong and How To Get It Right, Pricilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing, Brooke Sellas of B Squared Marketing and Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience.

Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes: 

• Changing the Direction of Customer Experience with Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive
• Innovation, Curiosity, and Being Human with Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret
• [Greatest Hits ] Emotions & Consumer Behavior with Laura Beavin-Yates
  
  

If you are interested in joining Getting to Aha! as a guest, please complete this form

In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Joe Lazer, Head of Marketing at A.Team. They get into Joe’s aha! moment; why storytelling is so, so important; why you need to make sure people resonate with what you’re putting out there; and how our shorter attention spans have impacted the way we market.

Joe is the Head of Marketing at A.Team, the first team network of world-class product builders, coming together to build what's next for top companies. He is also a Contributor at the Fast Company, reporting on key issues in the tech industry. In 2018, he wrote Storytelling Edge: How to Transform Your Business, Stop Screaming Into the Void, and Make People Love You. Prior to this, he worked at Contently as the Vice President of Marketing, where he led editorial efforts, including running The Content Strategist, The Freelancer, and the print magazine, Contently Quarterly. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 Storytelling without emotion means it isn’t really a good story. The key to great storytelling is a genuine sense of rising tension and conflict. Joe cites the latest Apple advertisement as an example of this - it’s intense and the viewers are on the edge of their seats. It’s what gets an audience to engage with a brand’s story and gets them to watch anything a brand posts for more than the first two seconds. Humans love stories with conflict and tension, so if you’re creating an advertisement or a marketing campaign, try to keep that in mind.

👉 There is a hell of a lot of content out there, and the entire concept of tension at its core has changed. Viewers have become accustomed to quick cuts within storytelling to keep your mind addicted and engaged. It’s rare to find any mainstream content nowadays that really takes its time and lets the audience sit in a certain feeling; they’re constantly fighting for attention. Joe even talks about how it’s a huge issue in children’s content, how there’s an algorithmically addictive content machine that’s constantly competing for childrens’ brains. It’s slightly worrying, and with TikTok and other social media platforms, it’s only getting worse.

👉 The first three seconds of your content - especially short-form content - is the key to getting your audience engaged. You need to keep them interested, so if you have conflict or tension, if you have people present in the video, along with some sort of action, then you’re on the right track. You just need to ensure the rest of the video is engaging enough for them. Start asking yourself what you could be doing differently, and what storytelling techniques you could use to your advantage. Never be afraid to experiment.

👉 Reach is important when it comes to your marketing content, but does it resonate with your audience? There’s no use trying to reach thousands of people if the content you’re trying to reach them with is, at the end of the day, not very good content. All people want is to feel something, and as a marketer, you owe it to the audience and to yourself to provide that.

Listen Now!

bCast - https://bit.ly/3ACsRBz

Apple - https://apple.co/3gsuA31 

Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3B0lVy6 

Youtube - https://bit.ly/3KYAHtd 

RSS -  https://bit.ly/3AFrUs6 
And connect with the host and guests here:
Darshan Mehta on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshan--mehtaIResearch Website - https://iresearch.comJoe Lazer on LinkeIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-lazer-lazauskas-8b442026/ A.Team - https://www.linkedin.com/company/ateams/ Getting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Luca Popovac, Senior Executive, Abhilasha Sinha of Open Secret, Laura Beavin-Yates, Stephen Griffiths of Level 2, Kristin Luck or ScaleHouse, Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business, Nicolas Zeisler of We’re Doing CX Wrong and How To Get It Right, Pricilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing, Brooke Sellas of B Squared Marketing and Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience.

Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes: 

• Changing the Direction of Customer Experience with Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive
• Innovation, Curiosity, and Being Human with Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret
• [Greatest Hits ] Emotions & Consumer Behavior with Laura Beavin-Yates
  
  

If you are interested in joining Getting to Aha! as a guest, please complete this form

In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Brooke Sellas, Founder & CEO of B Squared Media. They delve into Brooke’s aha! moments, her journey into digital marketing and social media management expertise. They discuss building brand loyalty, taking negative feedback, converting Negative Nancies to super fans, using social media to connect with customers and improve conversion rate, and using augmented reality in social media marketing. 

Brooke Sellas is a digital marketing consultant specializing in done-for-you social media management, social media listening, customer experience, and community & customer care through social media. She is a social media speaker and Companion of The Marketing Companion podcast. Brooke is also an adjunct lecturer at the University of California, teaching a digital marketing 1.0 certification course, and she is currently working on releasing a book titled “Conversations That Connect.” 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 Seek out negative feedback. If all the feedback you get from people is positive, you would have no incentive to change as everything already appears perfect

👉 If you take the time to listen to, understand, and work on easing customers’ pain points, developing brand loyalty among customers will be a piece of cake

👉 A lot of brands find it difficult to apologize or accept wrongfulness. Whereas, if they can just be open, authentic, and transparent, it will be easier to gain the trust and loyalty of consumers 

👉 Like every other kind of relationship, the relationship between brands and customers thrives on reciprocity and trust. Brands can successfully create a strong bond between their customers and business by moving past cliches and fact-based information to communicate opinions and feelings

👉 “Nearly everyone's in a camp of facts. Very few are in the camp of opinions and feelings. So if you want to differentiate, if your strategy is stagnant, this is where you have to go to — conversations versus campaigns”

👉 Customer-centric conversations should come first. Campaigns can then be a supplement to that

👉 To connect with your customers, understand your own brand values, figure out how you can connect your values with the values of your audience, and then use conversations to have topics and themes around these values through opinions and feelings

👉 Use social media to build loyalty and relationships at scale and on an individual level

👉 Customer care does not begin post-purchase. It starts right from conversations had around your brand even before your product is purchased

👉 Use KPIs to track your business and social media goals. Develop a social media strategy. First, know your social media goals and how they tie to your business goals. Then come up with KPIs that will help you meet those goals. Benchmark them, write monthly goals, and keep track of whether or not you meet those KPIs

👉 Focus on getting engagement on socials rather than accumulating followers, as this helps with easy conversion

👉 It’s not about the number of posts you make; it’s about the quality

👉 The higher peer-to-peer recommendations about a product are, the higher the share of voice on social media

👉 Identify your customers and tailor your content to their interests

👉 Use social listening to mirror your customers. Avoid corporate-speak and use words or phrases used by customers for content marketing and brand messaging

👉 “If you truly want to focus on CX, social media and social-led customer care should be a part of your budget…”

👉 Look at what's happening on socials. Understand how much of it is acquisition and how much is about support. Then make a plan for meeting people there and make sure that your response times are as fast as possible

Listen now!

bCast - https://bit.ly/3ACsRBz

Apple - https://apple.co/3gsuA31 

Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3B0lVy6 

Youtube - https://bit.ly/3KYAHtd 

RSS -  https://bit.ly/3AFrUs6 
Getting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Luca Popovac, Senior Executive, Abhilasha Sinha of Open Secret, Laura Beavin-Yates, Stephen Griffiths of Level 2, Kristin Luck or ScaleHouse, Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business, Nicolas Zeisler of We’re Doing CX Wrong and How To Get It Right, Pricilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing, Brooke Sellas of B Squared Marketing and Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience.

Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes: 

• Changing the Direction of Customer Experience with Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive
• Innovation, Curiosity, and Being Human with Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret
• [Greatest Hits ] Emotions & Consumer Behavior with Laura Beavin-Yates
  
  

If you are interested in joining Getting to Aha! as a guest, please complete this form

In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Alex Charlton as they unveil the importance of harnessing the power of customer insights to drive business success and the potential of AI in improving research processes and running effective marketing strategies. They also touch on the balance between human intelligence and AI, as well as the possible future of artificial intelligence in consumer insights.

With more than two decades of expertise in data storytelling, market research, and strategic consulting, Alex is an influential leader in the technology, media, and telecoms industry. He currently holds the roles of SVP of VERVE North America and the SVP of Technology, Media, and Telecoms at VERVE. Previously, Alex was an Independent Consultant at True Stories, Founder and Consultant of Craft - Human Intelligence, as well as Founder of Essential Research.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 Reflecting on his professional journey in marketing and consumer insights, one of Alex's aha moments was from a project for Microsoft Advertising and LVMH aimed at helping the world's leading luxury group understand the world of digital advertising. Alex believes that such projects bring a mix of excitement and doubt, questioning your capability to deliver for these giants. However, these types of challenges shape you and push you to learn, adapt, and grow. Just remember, when it comes to big industry clients, you must acknowledge and leverage their expertise but also bring some fresh and valuable insights.

👉 For Alex, successful client partnerships rely on three elements: mutual respect, continuous communication, and openness. Don't forget that your clients possess deep insights into their business, so you have to value their expertise. Also, effective collaboration isn't just for major projects; it involves the client at every step. Moreover, openness is key to building trust and reinforcing the shared goal with the client.

👉 Many companies rely heavily on data, often missing the why behind consumer actions. The challenge for consumer insight professionals is to filter through this data, distinguishing real insights from noise. Your primary goal shouldn't just rely on data collection but on specific client questions. While the human natural curiosity may tempt you to delve into every discovery, remember that true insights occur when you connect relevant data points to a client's needs.

👉 Alex believes that AI's rapid evolution can be daunting. However, businesses can and should leverage their power to process vast and complex data sets, like analyzing thousands of product reviews from platforms like Amazon and IMDb, as VERVE does. Moreover, you can use AI for large-scale brand and communication analysis to identify new market opportunities for your clients. But remember, it's not only about AI. In the end, human intelligence remains at the forefront, and combining it with AI gives you massive opportunities.

Subscribe Here!

bCast - https://bit.ly/3ACsRBzApple - https://apple.co/3gsuA31 Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3B0lVy6 Google - https://bit.ly/47Y0LkpYoutube - https://bit.ly/3KYAHtd RSS -  https://bit.ly/3AFrUs6 
And connect with the host and guests here:

Darshan’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshan--mehtaiResearch Website - https://iresearch.comConnectQik Website - https://www.connectqik.comAlex’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandercharlton VERVE Website - https://www.addverve.com Getting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Luca Popovac, Senior Executive, Abhilasha Sinha of Open Secret, Laura Beavin-Yates, Stephen Griffiths of Level 2, Kristin Luck or ScaleHouse, Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business, Nicolas Zeisler of We’re Doing CX Wrong and How To Get It Right, Pricilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing, Brooke Sellas of B Squared Marketing and Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience.

Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes: 

• Changing the Direction of Customer Experience with Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive
• Innovation, Curiosity, and Being Human with Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret
• [Greatest Hits ] Emotions & Consumer Behavior with Laura Beavin-Yates
  
  

If you are interested in joining Getting to Aha! as a guest, please complete this form

In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Gail Conn, CEO at PhiPower to discuss the importance of customer insights for business success; the best practices for designing effective surveys, and what to avoid; and the importance of staying open-minded in your data analysis. 

Gail is the CEO of PhiPower, a market research consultancy that works with big name organizations, such as Apple and Disney, who need nuanced information to inform their business decisions. Prior to this, she was Co-Founder of MindClick, an online market research company, and a Senior Account Executive at Yahoo. She is also a volunteer Worker Bee Extraordinaire at Big Sunday. As a psychiatrist for business, Gail has provided consultation, marketing, and strategy for major corporations.

We can’t wait for you to hear what she has to share with us!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 Surveys are boring, and participants completing a boring survey will not be engaged and share how they really feel. You need to create a storyline through your survey, but keep it short and snappy. Add in images and audio to keep your participants engaged. Gail describes creating a survey where each question builds upon the previous one, but is short in itself, and in the end the participant has made their perfect advert. If a respondent isn’t engaged in the beginning, they are just going to keep clicking through for speed.

👉 Gail shares her top tips for developing a quantitative survey. First - understand your sample, if the right people are not doing your survey, it does not matter what you ask. Second - work with people who know how to write a good questionnaire, that way you can ensure it will be engaging. Third - keep it short, people don’t have the attention span for a long questionnaire. Designing it in the best way will produce the best results for a corporation.

👉 With so many tools for creating them, there is now an overabundance of surveys out there. Thus, it is crucial to be distinct in your survey. With tens of thousands distributed daily, you don’t want yours to get lost in the ether. Gail’s team never repeats a survey, each one is unique, to combat this problem. Part of the job of a survey writer is to keep engaging your people, and keeping it insightful to the group, otherwise there’s no point in doing the service.

👉 Market research is really structured curiosity: learning about your customers through observing and asking questions. Ultimately, you are trying to understand what is driving their decisions, getting a glimpse into their subconscious. But they’re human beings, they’re complex, there are so many conflicting factors affecting their decision making, so you need to be open minded in understanding the data. Look for the hidden, seemingly unrelated factors. 

Subscribe Here!

bCast - https://bit.ly/3ACsRBzApple - https://apple.co/3gsuA31 Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3B0lVy6 Youtube - https://bit.ly/3KYAHtd RSS -  https://bit.ly/3AFrUs6 
And connect with the host and guests here:
Darshan’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshan--mehtaIResearch Website - https://iresearch.comConnectqik Website - https://www.connectqik.comGail on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gailconn/
PhiPower Website - https://www.phipower.com/ Getting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Luca Popovac, Senior Executive, Abhilasha Sinha of Open Secret, Laura Beavin-Yates, Stephen Griffiths of Level 2, Kristin Luck or ScaleHouse, Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business, Nicolas Zeisler of We’re Doing CX Wrong and How To Get It Right, Pricilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing, Brooke Sellas of B Squared Marketing and Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience.

Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes: 

• Changing the Direction of Customer Experience with Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive
• Innovation, Curiosity, and Being Human with Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret
• [Greatest Hits ] Emotions & Consumer Behavior with Laura Beavin-Yates
  
  

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In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Katrina German as they delve deep into the realms of digital marketing, underscoring the crucial roles of inclusivity, ethics, and accountability. Katrina sheds light on the dual-edged sword that is social media: its unprecedented power in connecting individuals and championing pivotal causes, and its potential detriment to mental health. She passionately advocates for mindful and limited usage, offering invaluable tips for striking a balance. A fervent believer in the internet's promise to drive positive change, Katrina underscores the need for ethical guiding principles and a chorus of diverse voices to navigate its future.

Katrina German is the Founder and CEO of Ethical Digital, a company that is changing the trajectory of the Internet through inclusive digital marketing, strategy, research, training, and certification. An accomplished entrepreneur, she has won numerous awards such as CBC Future 40 Under 40, YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Entrepreneurship, Startup Canada Prairie Award for Innovation, and the prestigious International Women in Tech award for "Women in Communications''. Katrina is passionate about using technology to solve problems and make the world a better place, and is dedicated to increasing diversity in the technology industry and ensuring that the Internet is a positive and inclusive space for all.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 One of the most significant concerns surrounding digital marketing and social media is its impact on mental health. Research conducted by Ethical Digital has shown a clear correlation between social media use and anxiety, depression, self-esteem issues, and sleep problems. This has led to a growing awareness of the need for individuals to be conscious of how their online experiences affect their well-being. Katrina emphasizes the importance of limiting social media usage and being mindful of the reasons behind one's online presence. By understanding why we use social media and ensuring that it aligns with our personal goals and values, we can create a healthier relationship with these platforms. Additionally, she highlights the need to consider the impact of social media on children and the importance of guiding their online experiences to promote positive mental health.

👉 Diversity is a crucial aspect of digital marketing that is often overlooked. While women are active users of social media platforms, there is still a lack of representation and inclusion in the creation and development of digital marketing strategies. Only a small percentage of technology companies are founded by women, and even fewer receive funding. This lack of diversity limits the perspectives and experiences that shape the digital landscape. Katrina believes that increasing diversity in the technology industry is essential for creating a more inclusive and ethical Internet. By including more diverse voices in the decision-making process, we can ensure that the products and services being developed meet the needs of a broader range of people. This, in turn, will lead to more innovative solutions and a more equitable digital space.

👉 Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a significant role in shaping the human experience online. Algorithms analyze vast amounts of data to make predictions and recommendations, but they are not without their ethical challenges. Bias can be inadvertently introduced into AI systems, leading to discriminatory outcomes. It is crucial to address these biases and ensure that AI is used in a way that is fair and inclusive. Katrina emphasizes the need for diverse perspectives in the development of AI systems to prevent the perpetuation of bias. By involving people from different backgrounds and cultures, we can create AI systems that are more representative and ethical. 

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bCast - https://bit.ly/3ACsRBzApple - https://apple.co/3gsuA31 Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3B0lVy6 Google - https://bit.ly/47Y0LkpYoutube - https://bit.ly/3KYAHtd RSS -  https://bit.ly/3AFrUs6 
And connect with the host and guests here:Darshan’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshan--mehtaiResearch Website - https://iresearch.comConnectQik Website - https://www.connectqik.comKatrina’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinagerman Ethical Digital Website - https://www.ethicaldigital.ca Getting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Luca Popovac, Senior Executive, Abhilasha Sinha of Open Secret, Laura Beavin-Yates, Stephen Griffiths of Level 2, Kristin Luck or ScaleHouse, Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business, Nicolas Zeisler of We’re Doing CX Wrong and How To Get It Right, Pricilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing, Brooke Sellas of B Squared Marketing and Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience.

Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes: 

• Changing the Direction of Customer Experience with Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive
• Innovation, Curiosity, and Being Human with Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret
• [Greatest Hits ] Emotions & Consumer Behavior with Laura Beavin-Yates
  
  

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In this Greatest  Hits Episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive. They discuss why businesses need to change their way of thinking when it comes to customer experience; why businesses need to be more straightforward with their customers; and how to make customer experience the key driver of your decision-making

Luka is a Senior Customer Experience Executive of a leading agribusiness and food ingredients processor who proudly connects with customers and rural communities, delivering value through both innovation and expertise! Prior to this, however, he was the Head of Customer Experience at Mcdonald's (a fast-food company that needs no introduction), and was also a National Customer Experience and Capability Manager at Volkswagen Group Australia for eleven years! 

He’s a passionate person who fully believes in the customer experience, something that becomes evident right away during the episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 Like many other in customer experience, Luka first started off in digital marketing. He claims he saw customer experience as a tactical thing, something you do to help customers when things go wrong. It was when he was presenting to stakeholders that he realized: the customer experience needs a shift and a change in direction in everything they do. The thing is, everyone has their own definition of what customer experience really is, but for him, it’s the concept that helps the company orient towards truly serving the needs of its customers, not just making sure people are well trained. It starts all the way at the mission and vision of the company. 

👉 Yes, your customers are important and you need to ensure that your employees are interacting with them appropriately and to the best of their ability, but something you need to ask yourself is this: are you doing the right thing by your employees? If they’re not happy in their roles, if you’re not setting them up for success or paying them right, then they will get burnt out, which means they won’t be able to provide excellent customer experiences.

👉 A lot of companies still don’t understand how to approach customer experience properly; they tend to get stuck in the analytics and numbers of it all, that somehow they can measure a customer’s happiness through data, but that’s not true. You need to go all the way back to the mission and vision of the company - What do you stand for? What’s your purpose? Where do you want to go and how do you envision your customer persona? If you can figure this out and use customer experience as the number one key to your decision-making, the rest should fall into place.

👉 You need to strive to understand the customer; you’re never going to understand them a hundred percent, but you need to develop a deeper understanding of them through the experiences they’ve had. Usually, customers are striving for something that is not often done in the corporate world: balance. In fact, customers are looking for strong values in a company, whether that’s through the environment, good employee relationships, a focus on customers - anything. You can’t just give vague statements that somewhat allude to particular values, you need to get specific.

Listen Now!

bCast - https://bit.ly/3ACsRBzApple - https://apple.co/3gsuA31 Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3B0lVy6 Youtube - https://bit.ly/3KYAHtd RSS -  https://bit.ly/3AFrUs6 
And connect with the host and guests here:
Darshan Mehta on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshan--mehtaIResearch Website - https://iresearch.comLuka Popovac on Linkein - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukapopovacGrain Crop Website - https://www.graincorp.com.auGetting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Luca Popovac, Senior Executive, Abhilasha Sinha of Open Secret, Laura Beavin-Yates, Stephen Griffiths of Level 2, Kristin Luck or ScaleHouse, Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business, Nicolas Zeisler of We’re Doing CX Wrong and How To Get It Right, Pricilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing, Brooke Sellas of B Squared Marketing and Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience.

Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes: 

• Changing the Direction of Customer Experience with Luka Popovac, a Senior Customer Experience Executive
• Innovation, Curiosity, and Being Human with Abhilasha Sinha, Chief Growth Officer at Open Secret
• [Greatest Hits ] Emotions & Consumer Behavior with Laura Beavin-Yates
  
  

If you are interested in joining Getting to Aha! as a guest, please complete this form