The gridiron, a camera, and marketing

The importance of Marketing Research stems far past the base interaction

s most people consider with customers within conducting a business. Within marketing, it is important for all to remember that brand customers aren’t merely the individuals who purchase their product for their leisure—customers are often partners, businesses, and even employees. Marketing research could be the bridge that connects brands to a side rooted in evolution and profit for the company. Understanding the background of each subject or partner you may be dealing with could be the main factor in terms of how much success is seen within that specific campaign.

One way I could relate to this is through personal experience. As a creative storyteller, my job is to capture moments and develop them into timeless pieces of content that not only market an individual or brand—but ultimately create a connection between the viewer and the subject. During my time as a freelancer, covering the lives and stories of ambitious high school football players, I learned how to market properly within a space that consisted of numerous demographics. When working with high school athletes, you need to market to more than one

person—the athlete, the parent, and maybe the program/coach. While I developed campaigns, I had different structures and attraction methods that I would use solely for each different group of people that I’d be dealing with. The athletes/kids themselves would just want to see the flashy elements I would use within my work that would make what they were doing on the field stand out even more. Considering those factors, I would use trendy music and visual effects that enhanced their abilities and personalities. The parents were more interested in how I would build their child’s platform in order for more schools to get eyes on them. For that, I would reach into my previous background as an athlete and mention the connections I’ve developed over the years as well as an email list I would use to send out each player's videos to collegiate coaches. For the coaches/programs, I would ensure that I would curate content at all levels associated with the program to create a synergy within my work that allowed future athletes to see themselves in the form of the current athletes.

Without knowing, I created some sense of buy in from each level that I marketed to. Essentially, the idea is that you cannot market to one group the same way you do to another. This comes into play when companies are working with different forms of marketing such as B2B, B2C, or even Business to Employee marketing. Studying your consumer is where it begins.