Ethnography, a research method long used in social sciences like anthropology, has gradually crept into various disciplines of design, but has only recently begun to be formally adopted by marketers. It is especially useful in product design. Because so much of digital brand marketing crosses over into the world of product design, ethnography has proven to be a powerful method to gain a deeper understanding of target audiences in order to deliver value to them. This article aims to provide a brief overview of ethnography and how it can be used to increase the success of your digital brand marketing programs.

Marketing research is quickly evolving like most other aspects of marketing communications, thanks to new online technologies and services emerging in the market place. Do you pursue traditional research methods such as focus groups or direct-mail surveys? Or do you implement some new methods utilizing social media tools? Perhaps a combination of the two? Every case is unique with its own set of challenges and opportunities. What is important in every case though is planning. So let’s discuss how to create a sensible research plan.

When Rhythm Interactive engages with clients, we typically look at many facets of their business to determine the best solution to meet their needs, however, there are generally two important topics we focus on. They are business goals and customer needs. These two pieces to the solution puzzle are often the most difficult to make fit and work together. In our findings, clients typically know what they want, but have no clue as to what their customers’ needs really are (although they usually think they know).

Social media has forever altered the way we communicate both personally and professionally. The purpose of this article is not to persuade you into using Social Media, that seems to be a no-brainer at this point. What we are here to discuss is how you monitor social media campaigns to determine successes, failures and places to improve performance.