Marketing Research ● Consultancy ● Training
MARKETING STRATEGY
"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Marketing teams need a clear strategy based on a good understanding of the market to be successful.
Guided by evidence-based marketing theories and up-to-date thinking of marketing academics, we design and execute strategic consumer studies that lead to growth.
Books or articles about the marketing strategy process almost always start with research. Marketers need an accurate understanding of their competitive environment. Making decisions based on assumptions can be much more costly than the cost of a market research project.
We can help verifying and creating successful strategies by asking consumers the right questions and rigorously analyzing the data. The end result is a clear understanding of the category that helps to define the best course of action to achieve brand growth.
Every product category has its own characteristics. Therefore we do not believe in one-size-fits-all research designs when it comes to brand strategy research. We start the project design by discussing your challenges, your existing knowledge and gaps, and the characteristics of the category.
Strategy building requires a holistic view and therefore we will integrate relevant internal and external data to get a complete picture (market size/trends/shares, prices, promotions, distribution).
A complete strategic analysis includes four main components:
1. Consumer understanding
2. Market analysis
3. Brand measurement
4. Marketing mix evaluation
CONSUMER UNDERSTANDING
Strategy needs to be based on a good understanding of consumer behavior. We find out what motivates people and how that drives their decisions.
Products and services serve to fulfill a hierarchy of goals in people's lives. This goes deeper than the obvious immediate usefulness. We create an understanding of the goals that a product category can serve.
Emotional and rational involvement with purchase decisions varies greatly across product categories. Knowing the level of involvement in your category is crucial in understanding how consumers make purchase decisions.
A person's goals, involvement and brand preference are not stable. They can differ strongly per usage occasion. We therefore split needs and behavior by occasion type.
Your market may consist of several types of consumers, each having different needs and behaviors. A consumer segmentation helps to develop a different approach per target segment.
MARKET ANALYSIS
Strategy research requires a holistic analysis. Consumer research is only part of the puzzle. We will include market data you already have and collect external data to add to our analysis.
We will use available data in market size and trends to quantify growth opportunities and to make sure that your strategy makes business sense
We also include other relevant market data in our analysis and reports, such as prices, promotions and distribution information about brands in your market.
BRAND MEASUREMENT
It is important to know how consumers perceive your brands. Acting based on assumptions is dangerous.
The framework we use in our brand tracking studies measures brand equity (the overall brand strength in the mind of consumers).
We also uncover what people know and think about your brand and what are the most dominant associations they have with your brand. We compare this to competing brands to show you how your brand is currently positioned.
For high frequency categories, we also find out what brand repertoires people use and your brand's role in this.
MARKETING MIX EVALUATION
Marketing strategy must be translated into effective marketing mix plans. It is important to learn from current marketing executions of your brand and your competitors, to help you optimize your planning.
We can evaluate brand communication such as TV/online commercials, online display ads, billboards to understand the impact of your communication.
Quick brand linkage is important in advertising and in-store. Can consumers identify your brand through your logos, slogans, characters, celebrities, sounds, colors? We test your distinctive brand assets at short exposure.
Price strategy is often overlooked, but has a large impact on business profitability. We can test how consumers respond to price changes and provide the sales effects of different price scenarios.
