104: Understanding What Customers REALLY Want – Lessons Learned from Flawed Election Polls

The Heart Of Marketing

The 2016 POTUS election created a firestorm among advertisers; so much so that the new whisper on the street is that advertisers are missing the mark.

What's the mark, you might ask?

Why, it's Middle America -- that mark! Advertisers have always targeted coastal elite as their consumer of choice. Those folks who walk Michigan Avenue, Rodeo Drive and 5th Avenue with disposable income for luxurious products, you know, all the gorgeous people who inhabit the nation's largest metropolises.

Today? After the election that brought the U.S. Donald Trump? NOT SO MUCH.

Advertisers are definitely in a hot spot spiral without a connection to the new mainstream -- those consumers who live and breathe the fresh air of small-town and rural America. That's the new consumer, and advertisers haven't a clue how to relate with them.

While Jayme Soulati heads down about three rabbit holes this episode, John Gregory Olson shares his professorial approach to what's happening and why voice of customer is so important with which to align.

For sure the main point emanating from this episode is 'Get Local.' Advertiser? You're gonna have to do just that and that goes for brands, companies, businesses and the like that want to better understand the new mainstream.

Collect your data. Plot some inference. Draw conclusions. And revamp the strategy. It's the only way to get in touch with the new normal.