Whether you’re B2B or B2C, a single rule applies across the board: always remember that you’re selling to people. Every solid marketing strategy centers around understanding the habits, actions and expectations of real people–how they buy, how they perceive your brand, and how your brand appears in their daily lives.
Quantitative research is helpful, but it can only reveal so much. You might discover that 70% of a 10,000-person sample prefer your brand over your competitor’s. But what’s going on with the remaining 30%? Knowing the personal stories of even a few of those detractors will help you understand how to shift their perception and their actions.
Getting to those stories isn’t always easy. And once you do, how do you make sense of all your customers’ thoughts, opinions and perceptions? How do you dig deeper to discover relevant insights that inform the way you do business? How do you turn information into results?
That’s where the power of partnership with Big Squirrel comes in.
The Private Nature of Public Opinion
What makes your customers fall in love with your brand? What do they find unattractive or even distasteful? People often only share their personal truths about your brand and products once they are out of your sight.
Surveys are constructive, but might not provide enough flexibility for accurate self-expression. Focus groups reveal more, but ultimately, they’re an inorganic social environment where customers often adapt their thoughts and feelings to achieve group unity. These quantitative research tools are useful but can trap you in the mindset of seeking out patterns, when what you really need is to reveal core truths.
Getting to these truths takes in-depth, individualized studies of your brand and your consumers. It takes a team of modern-day cultural anthropologists who know what look for and how to ask the right qualitative questions that reveal the most informative answers.
The Secret to Sales Success
The secret to sales success is found in the small picture. Not only should you know what your consumers desire inside and out, but you must get comfortable with what aggravates them and causes loss of brand loyalty. Getting to the innermost truths of why consumers buy and how individual mindsets are changing delivers the insights that drive sales success. Herein lies the true secret to shifting customer behavior.
The only way to reveal these underlying truths is to capture individual stories and spend time closely identifying cultural insights. These and other key behaviors will lead you toward more effective brand management.
Deep Immersion Reveals Human Insight
Your brand is always perceived in an infinite number of ways, amid a dynamic ebb and flow of consumer opinion, cultural trends and changing economics. The world is never still. Big Squirrel’s ethnographic approach allows us to observe your consumer in their natural habitat, as they engage with your brand in real time. We have developed a unique toolset that gives consumers the opportunity to share genuine thoughts about brands and products. This feedback often delivers unexpected but profound discoveries.
Deep immersion and ethnographic observation allows insight to emerge naturally, not through forced data sets or forgone conclusions. By looking beyond the data, we see your consumers as humans. We mine personal stories from your consumers’ experience to help you realize a deeper understanding of the trends that fuel a shifting market. These discoveries help you optimize your brand strategy to gain a competitive edge.
(Unflinching) Honesty is the Best Policy
Are you ready to examine your brand with unflinching honesty? To explore the forces driving culture today? To dig into the subconscious reasons people might defend or abandon your brand?
Our qualitative experts customize every inquiry to help you see your brand from multiple unique perspectives.
Whether you’re looking to redefine your brand, sharpen your marketing strategy, understand a cultural nuance, or get ahead of a buying trend, we’re ready to collaborate for your success.