So why do we say we now know what marketers are thinking?  The way we get to understand the benefits being offered is to ask “think and feel” questions, rather than focusing on what people are doing.  This is because the way people are wired means that firstly someone has a thought; this translates into a feeling which then leads to an action.  If we can understand how someone is thinking then we can reasonably accurately predict what he or she are going to do.  This gives the best quality, future proofed insight, wrapped up in neat market research.

Marketers are clear what they think are the strengths that enable them to get things done; it is teamwork, communication, enthusiasm, passion and integrity.  These are the things they identified as being strong in the organisations they work for, and which they encounter on a daily basis.  Where they think their organisations struggle is in innovation/creativity, particularly the way they deal with problems and in terms of their efficiency. 

The efficiency issue, which they have, are related to the focus in the organisation.  Businesses tend to focus on profit, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, although sometimes it can become counter productive, particularly in some departments.  In the Halo work we have done over the last four years we have seen numerous examples where the drive for profit has sent the organisation in a direction far away from its original purpose. Why is this?  There are not too many customers, or staff for that matter who are committed to making your company rich, but people do like to feel that they have made a difference, and if they are a customer are keen to realise the benefit they bought your company’s service for in a tangible way. 

Now think about it, which company is going to be the most successful?  One, which has everyone, focussed on profit, or the one where they are focussed on the benefits the business provides, be they tangible or intangible?  All our work has shown that the profitable businesses are the ones who align themselves behind the benefits they sell.  Yes, they measure profits, but the main focus is an alignment behind the core business they operate.  In these organisations staff stay and the customers are loyal.

Most marketers feel their work has changed enormously in the last two years.  For freewheeling marketers this probably feels good.  Also most marketers have a good idea of the vision they are aiming to meet in their work.  This is high, and shows that the marketers who completed this survey are out of line with much of UK Plc, where the figure is nearer 50%.  This lines up perfectly with the other finding we have, that says that those who have a clear vision of what they are trying to achieve enjoy their work more. 

On average, about 60% of people say they have a good day at work on most or some days, whereas in the marketer’s survey everyone said they do.  The reason this is important to know is that happy people deliver a better service, produce more accurate work, stay longer in their roles and suffer less sickness.  Looking around at your department what would you say the score is in your office?  The key to improving this score is to have a clear, shared goal and a way of seeing or measuring how close you are getting to that goal, using measures that are benefits based rather than transactional.  Remember the mantra, measure transactions and you get busier, measure benefits and you get better.  The people who did this survey are measuring benefits and it really shows in their work satisfaction.

However there are two key improvements which marketers would like to see in their organisations and those are:

• A direct link with new product and service developments to the true needs of the customer
• A process which directly links the marketer’s activities with improvements to profit and the offer being made to consumers

This again underlines the need to measure the benefits being offered.

The final key question we asked was about the values which were key to marketers.  Here they were directly in line with everyone else we have conducted Halo research with.  The key value is integrity.  We summarise integrity as “doing what you say you are going to do”. The dictionary is more prosaic, it says “adherence to moral principal; honesty”.  If our results are a reflection of what people are looking for then there is huge market waiting to be tapped by UK Plc, but from what we see there are few organisations bidding to take that market.  Marketers are in an excellent position to do something about this, and to help influence their organisations to respond to this call for integrity.  It has come out as the top value every time we use the Halo survey, yet the gap between what people say is their key aspiration and what is available to them seems to be widening.

So what is the answer?  I think there is a two-fold solution to this. Firstly we all need to have realistic expectations. I used to use a design agency that had a sign up which said “cheap, quick, good, choose any two”.  I chose ‘quick’ too often and now use another option instead. Secondly, when we buy products or services we could make a personal commitment to integrity and ruthlessly give feedback to our suppliers whether they deliver or not. What this means is being a much more hands-on consumer, being more selective and careful when and who we buy things from, including checking references and sources.

In the end the payback will be massive, but it can only work if more of us live by our own code of integrity and more rigorously enforce this code on our suppliers and ultimately ourselves and our lives.  So there you go marketers, crack the integrity code and watch the customers flow in. If anyone feels they are successfully doing it already then I would love to hear from you.

By Alison Bond

Alison Bond has twenty years market research experience. She has worked successfully with many top organisations, encouraging them to completely rethink the way they interact with customers. Alison is a director of ABA Research Ltd, the company she started in 1994, and of The Halo Works Ltd a new business offering a low cost online tool to enable organisations to deploy Halo Measures. www.thehaloworks.com

She is the author of Direct Hit, the textbook on direct marketing, and the Definitive Handbook of Direct and Interactive Marketing. Her latest book is on consumer insight and was commissioned by the Market Research Society and published in 2005. Alison has recently been appointed Assistant Course Director and visiting fellow for the Masters Course at CSEM - Centre for Sustainable Management, a partner of Middlesex University.