Are you doing enough research?

The Proof Point

The TL;DR

Today, we're all about research—audiences, customers, markets, you name it. No fluff, just the raw truth.

Amanda Natividad (SparkToro), MJ Smith (CoLab), and Evan Huck (UserEvidence) talk about research (or lack thereof) for many B2B companies.

What’s working in B2B marketing:

CREATIVITY + CUSTOMER INSIGHT

Research needs to validate creative ideas. Hear how these three avoid marketing myopia.

What’s not working in B2B marketing:

INCONSISTENT RESEARCH Research isn’t a one-off activity. Don’t fall victim to the trap of institutional knowledge.

The key takeaways:

1. Understand the full scope of audience influences: B2B marketers should move beyond simple demography and firmographics to include the broader context of what influences their audience, including peers, competitors, and societal trends.
2. Blend creativity with customer insight: Although creativity is vital for differentiating your brand and marketing efforts, it needs to be backed by solid customer insights. B2B marketers should leverage research to validate creative ideas, ensuring they are addressing the real needs and challenges of their customers.
3. Utilize a mix of research methods: A combination of quantitative data and qualitative insights is crucial for a well-rounded understanding of your customers. Advances in technology are enabling richer qualitative insights at scale, but marketers must also look for the non-obvious insights that come from in-depth, tailored research conversations.
4. Consistent research is key: Research is a continuous process. B2B marketers need to stay on top of changes in customer behavior, industry trends, and underlying motivations by making research an ongoing practice.
5. Democratize access to customer feedback: In many organizations, customer feedback becomes siloed within certain departments. B2B marketers should advocate for democratized access to customer feedback across the organization to allow for diverse perspectives and to gain a broader understanding of customer needs and challenges.

The things to listen for:

00:00 Intro

05:27 Frequent research ensures institutional knowledge remains accurate

09:11 Audience research: interviews, surveys, content consumption

10:38 Balancing creative risk-taking in marketing

16:07 Be specific

19:22 B2B marketing relies on assumptions, which are often boring

20:15 Identify the correct target for potential sales

26:12 Use cross-functional customer engagement for better insights

27:14 Scarcity of customer feedback presents challenges for companies

34:20 AI-driven insights

37:35 Summarizing caller data to identify recurring pain points

42:10 Acquisition brought strategic MBAs, but lacked practicality

43:00 Closing