Quirks Marketing Research Review recently wrote an article about how to increase survey respondents satisfaction. Surveys can help to give the smart marketer a heads up on what your client and prospect really want and need. Surveys can be used to gather all sorts of market data such as customer demographics, likes and dislikes, customer satisfaction and much more.  I highly recommend that if you are not using surveys in some form or another (digital, hand-written or by phone) you are missing out on information that can take your business to a new level fo success.

Here are the 10 tips Quirks shared:
 
1. Make surveys engaging and convenient
2. Avoid complex questions
3. Limit questions to 50 words or less
4. Avoid long lists of rating questions
5, Avoid open-ended questions
6. Avoid repetitive questions
7. Advertise accurate survey times
8. pay incentives (prizes) promptly
10. Pre-test surveys thoroughly
11. Get feedback on surveys

I would only disagree with number 5. Sometimes a person needs the option to expand on a response and having an open ended question makes that possible. You might have an open ended question but make it an option to reply thereby not annoying those really want to offer feedback but who don’t have or want to spend a long time doing so.

About accurate survey times, the article states that respondents don’t mind taking longer surveys as long as they know how much time they will take.  This is good to know when you need more in-depth replies.

You can read this and other articles online at http://www.quirks.com/. While there, you can also request a FREE subscription (if you qualify).

While you’re at it you can grab a FREE copy of eMarketing ~  300 page textbook aimed at tertiary education students, business owners and marketers who want to get ahead in online marketing. It has everything from the facts to case studies and study questions around each eMarketing tactic. Go to http://www.quirk.biz/emarketingtextbook/download.

About Quirks: Quirks brings you the possibility to find market research companies, facilities, jobs, articles and more options. Click on this link to access the site`s directory, articles and reviews. Check out Quirks Today!

In continuation of part one and two of gathering marketing research with surveys, I did want to mention that whenever the words FSA are used, replace them with your company name and take the ideas and run with it.  Many, if not all of these suggestions can be uses in most business situations.

Here is Jim’s reply to the survey:

Without prior knowledge of how we currently “market” the Florida Speakers Association, what do you think are the most effective ways to spread the word about our organization?   It depends on who we’re marketing FSA to, and why. If it’s to people who hire speakers, the website is probably the best marketing tool we have. It could be improved by adding articles of interest to those who hire speakers — “how to hire a speaker”, “why a professional speaker?”, “why use a local speaker?”, “how to get the most benefit from your money”, etc. Also by adding search engine-friendly meta-tags. The new “professional member showcase” will also help.

If we’re marketing to the local community to get them to join, we should have a “statement of benefits” that declares all the benefits of belonging to FSA. And we should trumpet those benefits at every opportunity — at meetings, via the newsletter, in ‘new member’ packets, etc.

If we’re marketing to the local community to get them to come to our events (but not necessarily get them to join FSA), we need to have a “statement of benefits” that states specifically what people will get out of coming to the meeting. And then trumpet those benefits through press releases, flyers, and our on-line newsletter.

For example, a lead paragraph in the current newsletter about Bob Pike says “The purpose of a presentation is for the audience to leave impressed with themselves, not intimidated by the speaker. In this session you’ll learn audience involvement techniques that you can apply to groups of 5 or 5,000 – whether you are delivering a 45-minute keynote, a 90-minute breakout session, or an all-day workshop. ”

Now compare that to “Have you ever given a presentation that was a dismal flop? Do you give great sales presentations, but nobody buys? Do you wonder why audiences aren’t demanding that you come back to speak to them again and again and again? Bob Pike is a master at audience involvement and in this presentation he will……”

To put it in a nutshell, effective marketing is emotion-driven. Compare the emotional level in those two paragraphs. That’s why we get such good responses at our meetings — when we “sell” from the platform, we have a lot of emotion.

Who do you suggest we contact (media) to “spread the word?” There is a South Florida Media Guide that is published yearly. (published by the South Florida Chapter of Women in Communciations.) We should buy that; that would be a good start. 

Two more excellent resources to jump start your marketing research!

As you will discover when reading these tips, many of the ideas are still very much relevant.

Here’s a recap of the the three questions asked in the survey:

1. Without prior knowledge of how we currently “market” the Florida Speakers Association, what do you think are the most effective ways to spread the word about our organization?            
2.  Who do you suggest we contact (media) to “spread the word?” Would you be willing to share your media resources of help the Marketing Task Force locate those resources?
3.  What marketing/Public Relations program would you suggest to help FSA increase                             membership and attendance at meetings?

Gayle said:

1. Word of mouth is always best of course, however, we need to get some articles done on us in the local papers, do some community programs (r-tv) and send out press releases with success stories.

2. If a speaker does not have their own resources yet, there should be a list on line that could help us.  If not, the reference librarians could point us in the right direction.

3. Each program needs to be marketed with its own USP.  What are they really going to get out of it?  What benefit will they derive by attending?  For example, I am sure there were many people who got more out of “our panel” than many of the speakers at meetings, because we were giving real, practical tips.  

And Sally replied:

1. Probably connecting with Toastmasters is the best bet.  Next I think we should hook
up with groups of published authors and appropriate writers associations. Another way is to have members go through some kind of training or informational session about how they can appropriately reach the professional and trade associations to which they belong.  These are groups that hire speakers on a regular basis.

2. We could keep a scrapbook of copies of articles that were either written about us in newspapers and magazines or in which we were quoted.  This book could be available to members at all meetings.  In that way, a member could contact as a referral an appropriate newspaper or magazine writer and our marketing people could contact them about FSA.  For TV and radio appearances, members could write up a page about their experience and the appropriate contact. We could also offer special workshops and training specifically geared to media people.  In that way we could help them and make contact with them at the same time.  I would definitely be willing to share my media resources.

3. I think we could increase membership by having one meeting a year devoted to bringing guests.  That day the program could be run by members making presentations about how FSA particularly benefited them and their careers.  We could have all kinds of membership perks on that day.  To increase attendance, I suggest more networking time during each meeting.

Maybe each time we could have a roundtable time set up by area of expertise, location of business, by some kind of speaking skill like openings, closings, stories, etc., by the different aspects of the speaking business, or by speaker resources like photographers, printers, business plans, etc.

Stay tuned for part three tomorrow.

One of my first initiatives as the chairperson was to gather information to understand the issues our members faced so that we could properly promote them and the organization. So I created a very short email survey which I then sent out to the 97 members who were on our roster. 26 members responded!  (Not a bad rate, by most standards).

Even though these members responded based upon a specific industry (speaking professionally) many of the ideas shared can be transferred to almost any service business and even product sales companies.

Over the next few days I am going to post their responses here. Some of the responses were very similar in theme so they will be combined to give you a better picture of what can be done to market your own small business.

The three questions in the survey were:

1. Without prior knowledge of how we currently “market” the Florida Speakers Association, what do you think are the most effective ways to spread the word about our organization?            

2.  Who do you suggest we contact (media) to “spread the word?” Would you be willing to share your media resources of help the Marketing Task Force locate those resources?

3.  What marketing/Public Relations program would you suggest to help FSA increase                             membership and attendance at meetings?

Here are two responses:

David replied:

1. I think it would be very helpful to approach professional organizations. Having done a national newsletter for the business side of medical practices, and knowing a number of lawyers, I can tell you that professionals of all kinds must market themselves very hard, and speaking is one big way for them to do it. They don’t want to become professional speakers, but they do want and need to learn how to speak professionally.

2. in many respects, I still am the media, so I don’t want to be put in a position of putting my fellow journalists on the spot. However, to pursue the point I made in question #1, it wouldn’t hurt to do articles for professional magazines and newsletters about how to speak more effectively or related topics.

3. To elaborate on my answers to questions #1 and #2, I would suggest doing articles for the publications of local professional organizations: doctors, lawyers, engineers, dentists, accountants, etc.

Ruben  shared the following:

The first thing I want to say is that I am a novice in the area of marketing and am just getting started in my journey as a professional speaker. Here are my initial thoughts on the subject:

1. The most effective ways include:
• Current  members sharing their experience with others who might be interested in and potentially benefit from being a member.

• Mailing a free sample of the monthly newsletter to individuals who could benefit (writers, lawyers, performers, executives, salespeople, and anybody who is in the public arena etc)

• Inviting other like-minded associations to participate in one of the Saturday meetings.

• Advertising in local business journals, local magazines, and any other publication that reaches the public sector interested in speaking, educational presentations, and to-the-point information.

2. An interview through NPR (National Public Radio) and Local public relations companies.

AS YOU CAN SEE, these are all great suggestions and can be implemented rather inexpensively and quickly. My suggestion is to review these ideas and see how you can adapt them to your own marketing efforts. BTW, I love surveys! You will notice throughout the year that I post a lot of information about surveys. The most important part of gathering the information is to then DO SOMETHING with it once you know the answers.

Read my article: And the Survey Said for Ten Tips to ensure a successful outcome for your survey.