What does it take for a brand to stay on top of current events, narrative trends, and shifting sentiments?

Now more than ever, it’s essential for social brands to listen to their communities and to stand for something. But how do you listen? And what do you listen to? With so much being talked about at any given moment in any given community, how can a brand successfully identify a relevant “pulse”? How can you pay attention to and react to what matters most?

The Marketing Lab at BYU Marriott is different from any other marketing consulting agency. For starters, we’re a student-run organization, and have members in their final years of both undergrad and MBA programs.

We regularly work with dozens of top brands and offer valuable market research services at a competitive cost… combining “your business, our students, real impact.”

But there’s something else that makes the Marketing Lab different, too.

With so many ways to segment the market, it can be easy to feel lost amid the plethora of techniques! You might be asking yourself, “Should we segment by age? Geographic location? Lifestyle?” Segmenting in these ways isn’t necessarily wrong, but there might be a stronger approach that will allow you to feel like you have hit the segmentation bullseye.

The holiday season is known as a time of giving—giving to friends, families, employees, coworkers, and the community. We’ve all heard some form of the adage about how the giver of the gift benefits as much as the receiver of the gift—and perhaps nowhere is this more true than in the realm of corporate social responsibility.

Not all days are created equal in the marketing world. Some days, like Super Bowl Sunday and Black Friday, have the power to create ripples in culture and consumption across the nation.

October was a busy month for members of the Marketing Lab! As though midterms and starting new client projects wasn’t enough, several lab members also jumped at the opportunity to demonstrate their marketing prowess in a handful of case competitions.

Last week, we shared 5 tips to help companies get the most out of their interns. This week, we wanted to turn the tables and pass on some of the lessons we learned over the summer to the rising class of future interns.

As we shared experiences and talked about some of the things we learned throughout our summer internships, we were quick to identify the ways our employers helped us (and them!) get the most out of our time. Whether they did things well or could have used some improvements, we identified 5 best practices companies can employ to get the most out of their interns—and to help them have a solid internship experience, too.

To the delight of the entire world, the 2021 Marketing Lab Labby awards were presented on April 14th. Here are some of the most prestigious, resume-building awards.

Being the moderator of a focus group presents unique opportunities and challenges. The role takes practice. Let’s have a brief overview of what a focus group typically entails, then we’ll discuss three important skills that will help you be successful as a moderator.

Meet the 2021 Marketing Lab leadership!

Too often we see companies make promises that aren’t actually kept. It sends consumers scrambling and companies often don’t jump to fix the problem. Instead, companies should follow three key steps to ensure they avoid this cycle.

We see brand love around us every day in the clothing we wear, the technology we use, and the food we eat. In a world full of beautiful brands with incredible qualities, how does a consumer commit to one and find brand love? Do consumers commit by “following their heart?” Do they take some brands out for dates? As a brand, how can we earn consumer love, engagement, and loyalty? Here are a few tips and tricks to increase brand engagement and loyalty.

Due to the length of the pandemic, we believe that certain habits have shifted while new ones formed and are now common. Those Brands and companies that can best adjust with these new & shifted consumer habits with have a higher probability of winning as a company/Brand in the marketplace.

You’ve sent out a marketing survey, and people are starting it, but not finishing it. Or, you can tell that people are straight-lining answers, or just clicking through the survey without answering (if someone took 30 seconds to finish your five-minute survey, sorry, the data is worthless).

What could be wrong with the survey? Here are some things to look for.

We recently reached out to Scott Varner, a recent Marketing Lab alumnus to see how his career is going. He is currently a Senior Consultant at Clozd, a Management Consulting company that focuses on serving B2B solution providers.

We recently reached out to Maddie Jacobs, last year’s marketing lab president, to see how her first year post-MBA has been. She and her husband recently relocated to Indiana for her job at Johnson & Johnson. She is currently part of the US Hip(pest) Marketing team, a role within J&J’s Medical Device Orthopedic Company, DePuy Synthes. Maddie is in her first rotation in their two year Marketing Leadership Development Program. Here’s what she had to say.

First, from the buyer’s perspective (which is the perspective almost anyone can relate to as we’ve all bought something at some point while working with a commissioned salesperson), what’s desired? A buyer wants to:

- Know they seller has their best interests in mind

- Know the solution/product they’re investigating solves their need

- Know the solution/product they’re investigating fits in their budget

- ...and here’s the big one...FEEL like they can trust the salesperson

Think about the things you’ve gotten from Amazon. If you’re like me, it’s a strange mix. Now, try to remember the brands of the things you purchased. Again, if you’re like me, Amazon wanderings rarely involve brand consideration. Electronic accessories, stationary, storage containers, anything made primarily of plastic, blankets, socks, etc.; I typically have no idea what brands I’ve purchased and now own. All I know is that the reviews were good and the price was right.