Marketing Primer for Market Researchers

Advanis has been thrilled to welcome a number of new team members in the past two years. Coming from a variety of backgrounds and educational experiences, not all new insights professionals have been exposed to modern marketing and strategic planning terminology. Here’s a primer of some of the terms we encounter, and what they mean for planning insights research. 

• JTBD (Jobs To Be Done) The fundamental need that a consumer has which is triggering a potential buying decision (People often buy things because they find themselves with a problem they would like to solve. With an understanding of the “job” for which customers find themselves “hiring” a product or service, companies can more accurately develop and market products well-tailored to what customers are already trying to do.” Clayton Christensen) see https://jobs-to-be-done.com/what-is-jobs-to-be-done-fea59c8e39eb
• RTB (Reason to Believe) The proof and reasons why consumers should trust a brand mission, promise, or other emotional appeals. By having strong RTBs, the brand builds its reputation within the market. (see https://moxiesozo.com/dictionary/reason-to-believe-rtb/) 
• GTM (Go to Market strategy)
• TAM Total addressable market or TAM refers to the total market demand for a product or service. It’s the most amount of revenue a business can possibly generate by selling their product or service in a specific market.
• CLTV (customer lifetime value) is the expected value of future cash flows from the total duration of a relationship. As more companies move to subscription or SaaS models, this metric takes on greater importance. It is often measured along with customer churn, which is an evaluation of customer cancelations/unsubscriptions/defections.  
• UX/UI User Experience / User Interface  The user experience (UX) is what a user of a particular product experiences when using that product.  (see: https://uxplanet.org/what-is-ui-vs-ux-design-and-the-difference-d9113f6612de)
• Customer Journey: The multitude of experiences and touchpoints as customers move through a purchase and advocacy cycle (see: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/from-touchpoints-to-journeys-seeing-the-world-as-customers-do)
• Buyer Persona: A buyer persona is a profile that depicts your ideal customer based on real data of your existing customers and market research. Buyer personas help humanize the ideal customer you are trying to attract, which helps you understand them better and pick the right marketing strategy to convert them.
• Segmentation (demographic, behavioral, values or attitudinal):  Market segmentation is the process of dividing a broad population into subgroups according to certain shared factors.
• Thought Leadership: A “thought leader” is someone who is seen as an expert in a specific field; they’re capable of introducing new ideas and influencing other people in the industry to make certain decisions or take certain actions. Thought leadership, or thought leadership marketing, is the process of developing your expertise and leveraging that into leadership over others. (see: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/359058) 

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