Archives

In the past week, a  new answer/search engine, Wolfram|Alpha, was launched.  Brought to us from the folks that make Mathematica software, the website declares it is  ”Making the world’s knowledge computable [in our] ambitious, long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.  You enter your question or calculation, and Wolfram|Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and growing collection of data to compute the answer.”

In other words,  the objective is to be able to produce a “report” of all the world’s digital, computable information with one concise search.   At this point, they’ve got a nice working model, but the information in the engine isn’t as good as it will be in the future.  For instance, when I put in “Hippopotamus and African Elephant,” I got much more info on the Hippo than the Elephant because it’s a species (silly me).  I just love the visual tree created that shows the relationship between the two animals.  (Click here to take a peek.)

Will Wolfram|Alpha eventually include encyclopedia-style information?  There is some debate on this.  Currently, it doesn’t, but this first step is a good one and I’m excited about its potential.  As soon as I got the “report” concept of what this engine was trying to do, I had visions of being able to type in a question and having a full report generated – facts, figure, prevailing point of view, dissenting views, bibliographies where I could learn more, etc.  This would leave me more time to think about what I was learning.  I believe the general public would be excited too.  For years I’ve been hearing consumers complain about how hard it is to find things online, how much time they spend looking for information, how results are often not related to what they’re searching for, etc.   Information overload…managed.

At the same time, consider the work being done by Erik Hersman and the Ushahidi website, where the content of cell-phone text messages, sent during a crisis (earthquake, terror attack, etc.), are being analyzed for content so that news can be shared with the rest of the world much more quickly.  I encourage you to take a few moments and listen to Erik’s speech at TED:  click here to listen.

Putting the two ideas of fact and language-based computable data together, it’s easy to see how businesses will be able to use the newer engines to get a quick read on things like customer satisfaction, new product launches, and so on.  And it could be done globally or locally.  In short, this evolution in our access to knowledge will allow us more time to analyze information and to subsequently develop better plans, ask better, more nuanced, questions, and more.   Exciting times!

“Reset.  We’ve been hearing that term in the news and elsewhere a lot lately.  It took me a couple of weeks to figure out what was bothering me about the “reset” idea in the context of marketing.  Sure, in tough economic times, we tighten our belts.  The recent Time magazine cover with the red “reset” button entitled “The End of Excess:  Why this crisis is good for America” really brought this point home.

Yet, the subliminal message of the “reset” concept is that we can press the (magic) button and we’ll get out of this mess.  As the Time article says:  “[W]e just have to teach ourselves to buy and borrow in moderate, healthier ways.  The new America must be about financial temperance, not abstinence.”

And that’s where the marketing perspective becomes critical.  How do companies capture their share of market dollars in this more temperate climate?  Two truisms will continue to be in play:

First:  Consumers won’t change their attitudes and/or behaviors unless they have a compelling reason for doing so.

Second:  Consumers will continue to be motivated in the purchase decision process by “value.”

Classically, the value equation has always been a derivative of the relationship between benefits and price.  The Time article supports this traditional idea, even as we move into a new era  “We don’t need to turn ourselves into tedious, zero-body-fat, zero-carbon-footprint ascetics, but even after the economy recovers, deciding to forgo that third car or fifth TV or imperial master bathroom or marginally cooler laptop will come more naturally.”

If people are more conscious about living within their means, products and services will need to recognize that consumers may be placing less value on what others think and more value on how they see themselves and what’s important to them.

If “household spending pies” get smaller (because consumers are deciding to save more or they simply have less to spend), consumers only have one of two ways to respond:  spend less on everything or give up spending as much (or at all) in some areas in order to continue spending at past levels in areas of higher importance.

It’s the trade-offs that consumers are likely to make in this era of “financial temperance” that are of greatest interest to me and, I believe, to businesses in general.  I thought of three fairly different sectors to use as an example of why marketers need to be exploring beyond traditional segmentation approaches when looking for a way to pull themselves out of this economy:

Out-of-home entertainment. Theme parks, movies, theater, concerts.  Consumers cutting back in this area might decide to go less often and/or might trade-down from a more expensive option to a less expensive one (e.g., theme parks to movies, major theater productions to local theater).  Typical value mindset might include such things as:  “I work hard and I deserve to play at times.”  “It helps me forget my worries.”  “It’s a small treat – less caloric than an ice-cream cone.” “It keeps me in touch with popular culture.”  Consumers who never placed much value in this area might opt for in-home entertainment instead.

Private schools/education. An area where there’s really no good way to “cut back,” unless the decision is made to send one child to private school and one to public.  Typical value statements might include:  “Nothing is more important that giving my child every advantage.”  “My child has a special need and private school is the best way for that need to be handled.”  ” It was hard enough when both of us were working, but now, there’s just no way to send him to private school.”  “Being together in our house is more important than where he goes to school.”  “My parents were paying for private school, but now that the stock market is down, I can’t take any money from them for this.  They need the money to live on.”

Nutritional supplements. Vitamins, minerals, herbal  and non-herbal supplements, homeopathic remedies.  Among those who had taken supplements before, the mindset associated with cutting back might include not taking the suggested amount of a supplement (“I’ll take two vs. four”), not taking as many products as they had before (“I’m not sure if that one was working or not, so I’ll give it up”) or they might try a less expensive brand.   This is an interesting category, because among those who hadn’t been taking supplements before, there are likely at least two groups we’re seeing being discussed who might take supplements:   those who value keeping themselves in shape might proactively start taking supplements during these harder times and those who may try a supplement rather than making an expensive trip to the doctor.

On their own, these are interesting insights.  However, again, it’s the inter-relationship between these mindsets that are of interest, especially during this “reset” period.  Hypothetically, we can see in this extremely simplified example how consumers’ personal values may play a role in resetting their purchase behaviors.

Whatever your industry, now is a very good time to look at your consumers and immerse yourself in how they’re making trade-offs and market choices in their lives.  Explore how their personal values can impact your business and the value equation supporting it.

“Resetting” isn’t as easy as pressing a button, but for those who make understanding their customers and prospects a top priority, “resetting” is likely to be a very good thing.

Any thoughts?