Earlier this year Brandwatch put out a report called The Marketer of 2022 that looked at some of the skills marketers will need in order to succeed this year. Much of it was based on a survey completed by respondents from Brandwatch’s network of corporations and organizations and while the sample size (63) is small there were nevertheless some interesting nuggets for insights professionals.

The report’s focus is decidedly on the digital end of things, in keeping with Brandwatch’s emphasis on the concept of digital consumer intelligence, which it defines as efforts that enable “organizations to adapt to a fast-changing world by connecting decision makers to strategic insights derived from a combination of real-time online data, customer data and marketing intelligence.” 

But I was happy to see that, in a section on other methods of data-gathering that were mentioned by survey respondents, nearly all of the approaches mentioned were qualitative: in-depth interviews, focus groups, in-person, phone, webcam. Others included user-journey tracking technology, word-of-mouth and community platform information-gathering (forums, social media groups, etc.).

In the early months of the pandemic, Quirk’s readers who responded to our annual survey for our 2020 Q Report and client-side speakers at our virtual events that year cited numerous anecdotes of the insights function suddenly being discovered by their entire organization, as if some of them never knew that such a department existed. As the whole world tried to adjust to a horrible reality, these new friends were desperate for information on what the pandemic would mean for their customers, their industry and their organization. Researchers of course were happy to oblige and many reported a welcome improvement in their function’s internal standing, as if it suddenly dawned on their coworkers that, hey, this whole marketing research thing is kind of a good idea!

While the pandemic spurring newfound notoriety for researchers was great, what wasn’t so great was the virus’s impact on in-person research. The focus group shops and interviewing facilities pivoted as best they could and I’m guessing it has been a long journey back to anything resembling normal. But the fact that marketers in the Brandwatch report saw fit to single out so many in-person/qualitative research methods as having value is certainly a good sign. 

And it’s not just that small group of marketers who feel that way. In session after session at our three Quirk’s Events last year, speakers talked of their internal clients calling for all forms of qualitative to add color and nuance to the data streaming in from the various digital consumer intelligence rivers. It’s the need to find the why and the so-what.

Making sense of all the data

The Brandwatch study also asked respondents about the resources or tools to best support insight generation and again, bearing in mind the small sample size, the presence of search and social data analysis tools atop the list isn’t surprising, given the rise of omnichannel. But close behind is data visualization tools, a result that also jibes with marketers’ oft-repeated cries for help with giving shape to and making sense of all the data they now have access to.

(Speaking of cries for help, in a similar vein elsewhere in this issue, Bob Passikoff draws from his firm’s study of what keeps CMOs up at night to explore the ways that marketing research and insights departments can supply the data and information to answer CMOs’ vexing questions and help them sleep a little more soundly.)

And to a question about the challenges their teams are currently facing, nearly 40% of Brandwatch respondents cited “lack of insight into the customer journey/experience” (tied with “difficulty predicting the future” – is anyone finding that easy?!). Again, in their case, the customer journey they’re most likely referring to and concerned about is predominantly a digital one but as with the other information needs highlighted in the report, I think this is another opportunity for research to come to the rescue!