Marketing Zoom Conference

[CalmSea]

@SLSD, thanks for sharing your experience. After reading what went on during this "Marketing Zoom Conference", I have the impression that it is aimed neither at improving services, nor at keeping existing loyal clients. It seems that the aim is on how to attract new clients.

[Dunnedg]

58 minutes ago, CalmSea said:

It seems that the aim is on how to attract new clients.

Whilst pi55ing off the ones they already have😂.

 

[SLSD]

1 hour ago, markham said:

SLSD,

 

What I am hearing is that these consultant-questioners are more interested in marketing messages and dress codes than in substance which is, after all, what both intuitive and authentic service means eg by way of examples, by seasoned luxury sector cruisers. And there was no ad hoc conversation to draw ideas from this group, some of whom were undoubtedly prepared and eager to share their ideas. And why was that? Who knows what the brief was. I just hope you feel your time spent was worthwhile. If not, well, that’s a shame… Further, I hope there is followup, and that you and others are included for their views, hopefully on a broader range of issues.

 

In any case, thank you for participating in the session and telling us about it.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

 

I agree with you Markham.  Was it worth my time?  I was paid $200 for the hour so it wasn't a total waste.  I was very disappointed that there was no Ad hoc conversation.  Participants (including me) tried, but were asked to only speak when called upon to answer a question.  

 

By the way, the dress code was brought up by one of the participants in an attempt to have a conversation.  Several others chimed in.  It was the most lively part of the experience.  

Edited August 2, 2023 by SLSD

[Critically Cruising]

FWIW, I received an invitation to do an online (non-zooom) survey for SB.  Much of the questioning was about marketing "messages" and themes, not about actual product or delivery.  So the topic thread about "Marketing" is spot on.  It was not about the cruise experience.

 

I too got shown collages of photos, and questions such as "which photo best represents a luxury cruise?"  And to rank and rate various marketing slogans.  I saw lots of photos of people doing watersports and "active" excursion type stuff, so that might be a direction they are contemplating.

 

And at the end, I got a "thank you for participating".  Not even a "have a drink in the bar on your next Seabourn cruise".  Congratulations on the $200.

 

 

[SLSD]

1 hour ago, Critically Cruising said:

FWIW, I received an invitation to do an online (non-zooom) survey for SB.  Much of the questioning was about marketing "messages" and themes, not about actual product or delivery.  So the topic thread about "Marketing" is spot on.  It was not about the cruise experience.

 

I too got shown collages of photos, and questions such as "which photo best represents a luxury cruise?"  And to rank and rate various marketing slogans.  I saw lots of photos of people doing watersports and "active" excursion type stuff, so that might be a direction they are contemplating.

 

And at the end, I got a "thank you for participating".  Not even a "have a drink in the bar on your next Seabourn cruise".  Congratulations on the $200.

 

 

I answered the same survey you did.  It was after answering the questions on that survey that I received an email asking me to participate in the zoom conversation.  We were shown the EXACT same photos as were on the survey!  There was really nothing more in depth.  I was surprised by that.  

 

At first, I could not get my camera to work for the Zoom call.  I was given aa few minutes to get it  to work.  Without being on camera, I would not be allowed to join in the conversation.  Fortunately, I was able to get my camera turned on.  

 

It was a somewhat interesting group in that the other woman in the group made it quite clear that she had lived all over the world and been everywhere.  She had no need for excursions and little interest in them.  She changed her tune toward the end of the conversation, extolling the virtues of special excursions offered on Viking ships.  The host never introduced a topic about excursions---but this is another area where the brave participants tried to turn the conversation to what they would like to see in terms of excursions on SB.  Everyone wanted better excursions and smaller numbers of people on the excursions.  This was not really a topic the host wanted to talk about, but she couldn't exactly ignore what was being said. 

 

There was an unseen observer for this Zoom conversation--  not on camera, but represented by a rectangle which said "Observer".  

[cruiseej]

14 hours ago, Joc123 said:

6 participants seems a very small sample. 

 

Six is a good number if you want to have a chance to ask a number of questions and hear from everyone. A larger group makes it hard to have any semblance of a conversation, and quieter participants may not get heard from often.

 

What you don't know is how many focus groups they had. It's unlikely it was just this one. Probably 3 or 4.

 

12 hours ago, SLSD said:

I was a bit puzzled about the narrow scope of the questions.  One of the questions was about the idea of intuitive service vs authentic service. 

 

It seems clear this was a marketing focus group. They wanted to probe what resonated with members of the group, and where there was confusion or negatives in messaging. 

 

As you and others have said above, this was not a guided listening session by Seabourn executives to hear from customers about what they don't like, or how they think Seabourn could make things better. This was a marketing focus group to help them fine-tune their marketing messages, or to decide whether to offer or promote certain services. They likely required your camera to be on because someone wanted to watch facial reactions and attitudes as questions were asked and other users replied. In a non-Zoom setting, a focus group can allow for a bit more interaction and discussion, but that can be hard on Zoom where people can talk over each other. Good focus groups are based on some key things the moderator wants to probe, but allow some wiggle room for interesting discussion which can be illuminating for the company; bad focus groups have a moderator stick to a rigid set of questions and clamp down on much group interaction or distance from the topics. It sounds like yours was somewhere in between. 

[Vineyard View]

2 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

 

As you and others have said above, this was not a guided listening session by Seabourn executives to hear from customers about what they don't like, or how they think Seabourn could make things better. This was a marketing focus group to help them fine-tune their marketing messages, or to decide whether to offer or promote certain services. They likely required your camera to be on because someone wanted to watch facial reactions and attitudes as questions were asked and other users replied. In a non-Zoom setting, a focus group can allow for a bit more interaction and discussion, but that can be hard on Zoom where people can talk over each other. Good focus groups are based on some key things the moderator wants to probe, but allow some wiggle room for interesting discussion which can be illuminating for the company; bad focus groups have a moderator stick to a rigid set of questions and clamp down on much group interaction or distance from the topics. It sounds like yours was somewhere in between. 

I totally agree with you. I might add that they wanted to provide the message back to SB that they, hired marketing survey organization, were presenting to SB what was proven that it was what SB customers asked for. I also see another side of the coin, and maybe I am a cynic, but I was in sales and marketing nationally for my career. I hear in this stream from SLSD,  that possibly this group has already determined their agenda on their presentation to SB as to what will improve the aspects that SB customers are looking for. I understand controlling the message to an extent that it does not go off the rails.  But you have an audience of only six people. Why would you not want to understand and ask,  just one thing, from those six people, what would be the most important future continuation, or change of behavior, or policy by SB? They only wanted answers to the the subject matters they determined were most important, rather than put on listening ears as to what you six might think. JMO 

[cruiseej]

4 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Why would you not want to understand and ask,  just one thing, from those six people, what would be the most important future continuation, or change of behavior, or policy by SB?

 

Why? Because answering that question wasn't the goal of the focus group. They were probably trying to test whether marketing 'A' or 'B' resonated better with longtime customers. Or, would it be positive, neutral  or negative to existing customers if they do 'X'.

[Vineyard View]

Just now, cruiseej said:

 

Why? Because answering that question wasn't the goal of the focus group. They were probably trying to test whether marketing 'A' or 'B' resonated better with longtime customers. Or, would it be positive, neutral  or negative to existing customers if they do 'X'.

I agree with you. Do that. Ask those A & B questions. Then ask the one open question to be sure as a focus group that you truly are on point with what customers feel is important. If you miss that, then your feedback is diluted in value. 

[Critically Cruising]

Suffice to say, they missed an opportunity.

 

 

[connemara]

9 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

I agree with you. Do that. Ask those A & B questions. Then ask the one open question to be sure as a focus group that you truly are on point with what customers feel is important. If you miss that, then your feedback is diluted in value. 

Perhaps.   But in the actual event the moderator had to struggle to finish in the one hour time frame promised to the participants.   And allowing each participant to respond to a question as open-ended as that would have taken significantly more time.

 

Cruiseej  is spot on in his/her assessment.

 

Con

[SLSD]

I am a bit disappointed that Seabourn was only interested in marketing rather than their customers' experiences.  However, enough was said outside of the A and B marketing goal that messages will be received.  

Edited August 3, 2023 by SLSD

[2SailingNomads]

The title was marketing not tell us what you object to or want to see improved so no surprise here.  

[SLSD]

5 hours ago, 2SailingNomads said:

The title was marketing not tell us what you object to or want to see improved so no surprise here.  

Actually, that is just the title of my thread.  The actual title had to do with preferences.  

[SLSD]

To be specific, we were told that it was a zoom conferences about Luxury Cruise preferences.  The word marketing was not used.  It was obvious, by the end of the conference that it was indeed all about the best way to market their cruises.  They wanted to know which photographs were more appealing to us.  

Edited August 6, 2023 by SLSD

[cruiseej]

On 8/3/2023 at 11:47 AM, SLSD said:

However, enough was said outside of the A and B marketing goal that messages will be received.

 

I hope so, but…  maybe yes, maybe no. If a company was hired to test some marketing messages in a focus group, it's quite possible that the comments not relevant to their task will not make it into their report to their client. 

[SLSD]

6 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

I hope so, but…  maybe yes, maybe no. If a company was hired to test some marketing messages in a focus group, it's quite possible that the comments not relevant to their task will not make it into their report to their client. 

I am hoping that the unseen "observer" was someone from Seabourn.  

[cruiseej]

17 hours ago, SLSD said:

I am hoping that the unseen "observer" was someone from Seabourn.  

 

If it was, it was probably a marketing person, not the operations executive you would wish it was.