InSymbols
MARKET
RESEARCH AND TRAININGS
Key Market Indicators
and
Cultural Insight
Semiotics
and
Meaning Management
Thinking in contexts. Your brand or product is a part of a culture net. Meanings constructed in minds of your consumers is what matters at the end...
Do you really need to understand true motives, true reasons, true feelings hidden beneath the surface? You will obviously not get them in group discussions. You might have some chances in one-to-one situations, if you possess the expertise, the special training and the empathy.
The same is with experts. They know. They are wisdom holders. They might tell you...or not. Depends on how you ask, what effort you make to understand their business in an advance. If you do, information you gather is priceless.
The best source of information is to observe people, to see what they actually do, instead of relying on what they say they do. People do lie, sometimes unitentionally and subconsciously, perhaps it should not be called a lie.
To be with them, to share their lives, to see their reactions and interactions in natural surroundings, to absorb their environment is the best source of information. One exposure to it is worth hundreds of interviews.
FGDs
In-depth Interviews,
Experts Interviews
User Experience Design
Telling a good story is a one of the biggest challenges all brands face today. How to tell a good story? Not an easy task.
The task requiring above all to understand the core meanings of your product (not brand) in a given culture and simultaneously to understand how your brand fits into your consumers' lives. It requires to find out how and in which aspects your brands' meanings enrich your consumers, how your brands make their lives more funny, more pleasant, more valuable, more meaningful. And thirdly, it requires a knowledge of how to transform, how to materialize those key brand meanings into signs and symbols understandable, relevant and attractive to your target group via marketing communication. These answers can be answered by cultural research. More about cultural research, its benefits and basic principles at my blog: http://luciatrezova.blogspot.sk/
Blogs, Forums and Socia Media Analysis
People talk and talk and write - enormous amount of texts. Some matter more, some less. How to analyze them? How to extract core meanings, valuable opinions, important attitudes, how to evaluate their impact? And how to influence it? Discourse analysis is the answer. By discourse analysis you will uncover not only what people say, what can be provided by a software, but also why they say it - how they legitimize their reasons, how they justify it. Discourse analysis can discover how to influence and change the attitudes of people, how to change their opinions, especially of those governing the discussions and having the impact.
Studies previously performed by a state, government agencies, chambers of commerce, trade associations, by academy and non-government not-profit organizations are usually low-cost source of a key know-how and knowledge. Therefore, they should be the first source of information. However, it requires some time to gather them, to organize and analyze them, it requires a knowledge of a local language and the knowledge of relevant local sources. But still, it is the most efficient source providing a basic culture understanding and a key market and society overview . Do you need core information? Contact me! No additional costs, just my time.
Ethnography
Methods
Usability is about human behavior. It recognizes that humans are often lazy, get emotional and not willing to overcome barriers and obstacles. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi investigates the "optimal experience," revealing what makes an experience genuinely satisfying: a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience a deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. This is the experience you want to create for you consumers while dealing with your brand or with your company services.