Qualitative audience research and the understandings that emerge from it often are missing ingredients in developing programming strategies and content for Digital Out-of-Home (OOH) networks. Yet contextual research can give Digital OOH strategists and content creators, network owners and operators, and advertisers the most human and dependable guidance.
By Kent Hodder & Jim Cahill
Fire. Aim. Ready. By its nature, the entrepreneurial process is neither linear nor always logical. So it’s not uncommon to get the order of things wrong — at first. But when the endgame is building a viable business there should be a powerful motivation to get the order right.
So it has been with Digital OOH networks, which exhibit classic entrepreneurial characteristics: hot technology, competing standards, high-stakes finance, numerous false starts, and finally, a bumpy landing at what could be the threshold of legitimacy.
Audience-centric Content
From our perspective, “ready” and “aim” are all about audience needs and content relevance. And in the fire-aim-ready approach that dominates Digital OOH, audience and content have been — however unintentionally — low priorities. For Digital OOH to take its place among more established media, qualitative research is crucial to ensuring that audience-centric content comes first.
“Knowing the audience is key, and that’s not just enumerating how many there are. It’s delving into their needs, habits, attitudes and information consumption — all in context.”
— Hodder & Cahill |
To be sure, there’s plenty of good content. Yet the modest performance of many networks and failure of others suggest that there is inadequate alignment between business objectives and audience expectations. The widespread embrace of social media, in which audiences own the conversation, adds to the challenge.
Knowing the audience is key, and that’s not just enumerating how many there are. It’s delving into their needs, habits, attitudes and information consumption — all in context. Because when the message isn’t engaging, relevant or actionable, all the intent to communicate and the technology behind it won’t bridge the gap.
Guiding and evaluating a fluid medium in a dynamic environment requires a research approach that goes in-depth and up close. Qualitative audience research is neither prescriptive nor entirely descriptive. Rather it is contextual, and when conducted properly, it adds a human face and voice to audiences, whether they are shoppers, students, transit users, health club members or others. With genuine insights into how they behave, interact, and receive and use information, it’s possible to craft more authentic ways to communicate with — and not just to — them.
Holistic Approach
To better understand the power of qualitative research, it’s important to appreciate its sheer flexibility. First, no single approach fits all circumstances, although there is a tested and reliable toolkit on which to draw. Tools differ by research objective, audience, type of network, research setting, and even geography and season.
That flexibility extends to the field where the research takes place. Qualitative research draws on observation and interviews conducted by specially trained practitioners, creating the flexibility to follow the commentary of the respondent, and because of that, to follow the learning in real time. In qualitative studies, participants lead researchers to discoveries outside a set of pre-determined assumptions, surfacing answers that can be both expected and unexpected.
| “Metrics only tell you if content is performing within a defined framework. It will not tell you if it is content the audience desires or how to make it more effective from a viewer’s perspective.” — Hodder & Cahill |
Digital OOH networks differ across environments and purposes, sitting at varying points of development. Some have gotten the green light in theory, yet there is no programming strategy or actual content in place. Many existing networks might not be performing as well as possible and can benefit from fresh insights. And then there are the networks — or the ideas of networks — that need validation to be launched in the first place.
Across all scenarios, it is possible to learn through a holistic approach: for example, by observing shoppers, sales people and traffic patterns, and combining those observations with in-depth interviews to get at the heart of what is important to these people in their various roles. It’s possible to then leverage that knowledge for a network pilot and then go back on location to test and refine the concept prior to full launch.
By no means is this a slight to quantitative data gathering and analysis. When measuring Return on Investment (ROI) and optimizing content for sales lift in retail settings, for instance, hard data is crucial. Ideally, qualitative research and quantitative research augment each other. But understand that metrics only tell you if content is performing within a defined framework. It will not tell you if it is content the audience desires or how to make it more effective from a viewer’s perspective. Qualitative discoveries add texture, richness, refinement and focus to quantitative assessment.
The current economic and marketing climate demands that we maximize every investment. Qualitative research builds a foundational understanding of audiences and communications that gives ROI assessments even more power.
In part two of this article, we will discuss when to use qualitative research and how to apply learnings from it.
Kent Hodder is CEO and executive creative director of Minneapolis-based Met|Hodder, with expertise in content strategy and creative development for television, digital out-home-home, online and mobile platforms. For more than seven years, Met|Hodder has developed and launched innovative Digital OOH networks, and created and managed content for them. Common to all the company’s work is the smart use of content to drive promotions and marketing objectives. To contact Kent Hodder, email: Kent@methodder.com.
Jim Cahill is president and founder of Burnsville, Minn.-based Marketing Roundtables, a pioneer in exploratory in-store research with more than 20 years of experience uncovering shopper behavior in context. Marketing Roundtables has conducted 75,000 in-store interviews across hundreds of studies to successfully identify consumer behavior and expectations that help leading CPG brands and retailers understand how consumers interact with marketing initiatives and products in the retail environment. To contact Jim Cahill, email: JCahill@marketingroundtables.com.