Rebranding, Data Mining, and Zoom Fatigue

SHIFTING SMALL BUSINESSES INTO HIGH GEAR – OCT 29, 2021 – This blog reviews research from Dennett Consulting Group studies and others that can improve your marketing. If you have specific research questions, please let us know and Dr. Lougee will investigate it.  

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS BETTER? – My friend Peter Sage runs a very popular daily blog https://peterwsage.blogspot.com/ on politics and current issues. In a recent post he was focusing on how all big tech companies are mining a ton of data about you (get rid of Siri), so they can target their marketing. I was wondering how many small businesses are doing the same thing, so they know more about their customers? Not many from our experience.

It doesn’t take a ton of money to do small business customer research. For example, most small businesses today have a customer email list. What they don’t have is a research effort to reach these customers, thank them for their business, and respectfully ask for information so they can serve them better. We can easily set up a email customer study. The cost? Less than you think. If you want help learning about your customers, give us a call.

META – REBRANDING AWAY FROM TROUBLE – Rebranding can be a great marketing strategy. We often help marketing firms with independent research on a brand image prior to rebranding. But as people have pointed out, Facebook’s new name Meta appears to us as an attempt to change the subject from the Facebook Papers, a leaked document trove that clearly shows that Facebook brand was harmful to many people and society.

As marketing consultant Laura Ries shared in a recent media story, the name change is like what BP did when they rebranded to “Beyond Petroleum” to escape criticism that British Petroleum was destroying the environment. “They can’t walk away from the social network with a new corporate name and talk of a future metaverse,” stated Ries. Lesson here: It is critical to do independent brand research before you take the step to change. We can help.

ZOOM FATIGUE IS REAL – Sick of Zoom meetings? Our research shows that they will be around even after Covid. However, women and newer employers are more likely to feel drained and lacking energy following a day of virtual meetings, according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in August. The degree of fatigue isn’t affected by the amount of time spent in virtual meetings or the number of meetings attended.

But having one’s camera on during meetings all day—versus having it off—does make people feel tired. Researchers offer several reasons why women suffer more. Women, who tend to be judged more harshly both in terms of their behavior and their appearance than men, are likely to spend more time thinking about how they look and focusing on whether they appear attentive enough on screen. This takes up greater cognitive resources and mental energy and is more tiring. Also, the likelihood of children interrupting is greater for women than men, which can cause anxiety.

EYE ON THE FUTURE – Doing research doesn’t always involve doing original research (your own studies). Just as important is secondary research – just staying aware of what is going on around you. For example, many of our clients are in the lodging/hospitality industry. I wonder how many understand the implications to their business with the announcement that Hertz just ordered 100,000 Tesla cars, a move aimed at making sure electric vehicles will comprise more than 20% of the company’s global fleet.

So, what are you doing to make sure your hotel/lodge/inn has electric charging stations in the future? With 98% of visitor traffic to Southern Oregon being by car (stats from our current DMO website study), it’s time to start developing the power sources needed by your future guests.