Qualitative Research
Knowledge is power(ful): cliché, yes, but very true. Uncovering more about what motivates an audience—their behaviors, passions, beliefs and perceptions—gives brands the knowledge that powers strategies to further strengthen marketplace positioning.
Qualitative research gives a brand insight into how an audience perceives and engages with it, which informs how a brand develops its business as well as how to anticipate and predict trends and consumer patterns. We do this by entering the world of the consumer. We engage in direct conversations with audiences and immerse ourselves in their experiences through their words and their view. We treat them as individuals—as collaborators, not respondents—to uncover authentic truths.
Focus Groups
Deep perspectives through group discussions uncover directional insights. Focus groups offer a personalized approach that allows clients to understand their brand in the context of audiences’ lives and uncover genuine connections.
As a PR research agency, we organize focus groups of any size to meet at a central location—even online—to explore a variety of topics focused on the brand’s research objectives. We leverage a robust recruiting process to secure excellent candidates for focus groups, ensuring that you get the best, most-relevant strategic insights for your brand.
In-Depth Interviews
Sometimes the perspectives of the masses come one at a time. Individual interviews offer a personal approach either face-to-face, by phone or via online video calls. This individualized approach also allows respondents to elaborate on their answers, leading to more relevant and detailed results. This is especially useful related to exploring topics that may not be suitable for group settings.
In-depth interviews can be a great resource for various types of strategies, including media relations. By recording conversations, using visual prompts and getting to know respondents, brands can be assured of gaining a better understanding of the research results, which can help businesses sculpt products or services and sharpen communications strategies.
Ethnography Studies
Watch and learn. Ethnography studies are observational in nature and do not include direct conversation with consumers. Instead, researchers observe consumers to better understand how they shop, how they use a product, how they navigate their environment and much more to gain valuable and authentic insights into consumer behaviors. Ethnography studies can also be video based in which researchers will engage a consumer, soliciting their participation in the study by self-capturing how they do something on video and sharing it to the researchers. These can often be “day-in-the-life” perspectives as well.
The core focus of ethnography studies centers on securing unbiased behavioral insights that can inform multiple areas of strategy such as product design, packaging (including size), shelf placement, messaging and brand presence in the environment, just to name a few.
Retail Safaris
It’s a jungle out there. Get prepared with insights—no pith helmet required. Retail safaris are in-store observational studies with three core areas of focus: consumer interaction with your brand(s) specifically; in-store placement and shelf presence, including with respect to competitor brands and an examination of the brand and its competitors’ in-store shopper marketing tactics. Insights garnered from Retail Safaris help empower your brand with actionable, retailer-specific insights that you can leverage for communications strategies, elevating shopper marketing tactics and even for informing interactions with retail buyers in order to provide your brand with the optimal opportunity for growth.
