Steve Rappaport, Knowledge Solutions Director, Advertising Research Foundation, recently wrote The ARF Listening Playbook, a follow-up to The Online Advertising Playbook.

In the above video, Steve talks about why he decided to write the book and shares some of the insights from his months long research project.

The internet, high speed access, and the “conversational Web” of blogs, forums, social networks like Facebook, Twitter, communities and wikis, have put word-of-mouth online. People are talking about and sharing their problems, experiences, likes and dislikes, life in general …and desires about brands with friends and strangers.

Advertiser, marketer and agency interest in mining these conversations to generate new consumer insights has exploded. “Listening,” Advertising Research Foundation President Bob Barocci says, “is a singular opportunity to tap into the brain of the newly empowered consumer.” As with every new development, professionals have questions. Two frequently asked are: what is listening, and how do brands use listening to achieve marketing goals and do research? To answer these questions I conducted interviews with listening experts; consulted or developed over 35 case studies; and analyzed over 70 vendor offerings.

What is Listening? A Definition

Listening is defined as the study of naturally occurring conversations, behaviors, and signals, that may or may not be guided, that brings the voice of people’s lives in to the brand.

This definition means to convey several key ideas. Firstly, that listening is concerned with what people say, how they act and how they react on the “inside.” Secondly, listening brands have responsibilities to people, they must be extraordinarily perceptive, respectful, and become their advocate. Lastly, brands and customers are in a learning relationship over time; both improve when each listens and responds to the other.

You’ll notice the definition does not restrict conversations to online sources – they happen everywhere. Neither does it reference research methodology, tools or techniques. Decisions about where and how to listen should be determined by the project, brand, customers and expertise of those involved.

Why Brands Listen

Brands listen to learn more about their customers and prospects by understanding the natural, rich, unfiltered word of mouth around their products and services. Interviews with experienced listening practitioners and researchers told us their brands listen in order to:

  • take the customer’s pulse;
  • get deep insights into what consumers say, and learn about their wants, unmet needs and challenges;
  • integrate the voice of the customer into traditional research;
  • redefine relationships with consumers and bring their voice into the brand;
  • understand shifts in consumer perspectives on lifestyle, category or issue;
  • understand context and reasons why.

Importantly, the experts linked their statements to taking some type of branding building action grounded in the insights developed from their work. They mentioned adding services or features, creating new content, improving products, assessing the impact of marketing and advertising, and monitoring brand health more effectively, for example. For these leaders, listening is not a nice-to have, but a must-have tool for brand success.

Brands Use Listening to Achieve Marketing Objectives and for Research

A review of 35-plus cases reflect an extraordinarily wide range of business objectives achieved, in part, through listening research and leveraging the insights generated. Listening is used to:

  • discover new customers;
  • initiate new product development and a culture of innovation;
  • shape and sharpen messaging;
  • improve existing products;
  • maintain sales momentum;
  • drive brand growth;
  • rebrand or reposition;
  • tackle public policy issues;
  • manage reputation;
  • manage brand health;
  • provide customer care;
  • increase loyalty and customer value.

Listening research is used for many of the same purposes as traditional research, and frequently in conjunction with it.

  • profile and evaluate new customers;
  • detect early signals of shifts in markets and customers by analyzing conversations;
  • segment customers;
  • add context and rich insights to complement structured methods like surveys and other forms of “asking” research for purposes like product positioning;
  • test concepts;
  • co-create products;
  • discover and evaluate new brand attributes and features;
  • develop and test messaging, to make tactical changes in-market, or handle crises;
  • craft customer engagement strategy;
  • assess competitor strategy and marketplace actions (household product;
  • detect problems and identify opportunities for customer care;
  • generate insights that extend brands, build a vibrant community and increase loyalty.

Listening experts we interviewed stressed certain advantages over traditional structured or qualitative research, namely:

  • speed and timeliness – guidance can be acquired in days or weeks, not months
  • flexibility and course correction – changes can be made quickly if the research isn’t being productive or if new avenues should be explored
  • the ability to frame research in consumer terms, not researcher language
  • listen to and analyze unfiltered conversations
  • answer questions researchers did not think to ask
  • large sample sizes, and
  • cost advantages – although these need to be evaluated on a case by case basis

Listening’s potential will be shaped by the willingness of brands and companies to organize around listening in order to place and keep the “human at the center.” Doing so will require people with new skill sets who can scale mountains of data, return with penetrating insights that make a difference, and tell a compelling story that motivates listeners to act with the mutual interests of brands and their communities uppermost. As listeners, brands need to be humble and learn constantly.

Purchase
The ARF Listening Playbook: