Can A Small Market Research Firm Help A Big Tech Company?

Market research has proven itself to be an indispensable and critical tool in helping companies identify their audiences and achieve their marketing goals.  As with any tech company, market research groups can come from small or large firms.  You might be inclined to go with a larger market research firm because of the common adage “Bigger is better,” but you just might be surprised by what a smaller market research group can accomplish for you and your big tech company. 

What makes smaller market research firms different from their larger counterparts?  What are the advantages of working with a small market research group?  Off the top of your head, you might think that cost-effectiveness is the main reason.  But it goes well beyond that.  Here are three good reasons why partnering with a small market research firm benefits your big tech company:

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One Team from Start to Finish

From the initial sales meeting to the project’s conclusion and implementation of recommendations, you’ll be interacting with the same team throughout.  With a larger company, you might need to work with different teams for every phase of the project, and you might find yourself having to repeat yourself now and then, especially with the nuances of what you want or what the project needs.  There’s also a risk that certain details and preferences might be overlooked or don’t get passed on as you switch from one team to another as you move through the phases. 

Not only is there a seamless transition between stages of the projects with one team, but Cascade Strategies also employs veterans of the industry who bring to the table a potent combination of well-rounded skillsets and experience.  Not only are they able to effectively understand your preferences and ideas no matter which phase of the project you’re in, but they also can oversee and recognize the effects of those concepts in the grand scheme of things or when they would come into play. 

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Better Communication and Responsiveness

With a smaller but experienced team, communication lines are much more open with members empowered to act or resolve issues when the opportunity arises.  A project might encounter delays with a larger firm of multiple teams due to miscommunication (“I wasn’t informed”) or hindrances resulting from the division and distribution of roles and responsibilities (“Not my job”).  Thus, a smaller team might also be more available and receptive when it comes to assisting a client whenever they raise a question or concern. 

One team alone holding a meeting might slow down the overall progress of others working on the project, so just think of the impact if multiple groups need to take time off for discussions and calibrations.  The time multiple teams take for meetings can be time used by a smaller team for revisiting ideas and scenarios until a “breakthrough” is achieved. 

You might also find a smaller team is more invested in the project, hence the clearer communication and quicker responses.  Multiple teams might be handicapped with multiple projects going on at the same time and the need to meet deadlines.  A smaller team might handle more than one case study at once, but given that they’re overseeing the whole thing from start to finish, there exists a passion to get everything done right, and seeing the client and team’s visions come true no matter how big or small a project is. 

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Culture

Speaking of passion, you might find a smaller market research firm having a more “can do” attitude and approach to your project.  Not only that but at Cascade Strategies, we continually push the limits of what can be done and achieved with a project to reach that “breakthrough” that you might not have otherwise found had you gone with a different market research firm.  A larger market research company on the other hand might be hustling to come up with conventional or simplistic ideas for you just to meet deadlines and deliverables.

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Big Tech Company Case History

Take for example an academic software transformation project Cascade Strategies completed for a large global producer of industrial software.  We conducted depth interviews with worldwide universities to develop a working hypothesis that would help formulate an implementation roadmap.  We recruited academic decision-makers as respondents from a list provided by the project’s Software as a Service (SaaS) project director and supplemented by our panel.  The interviews lasted roughly 45 minutes, with four in each of 16 countries for a total of 64 in-person depth interviews.

The study resulted in a working hypothesis with not one, not two, but three important premises, chief of which revealed that the respondents can be divided into the following two groups: the Elite and the Rank & File.  The former are respondents from universities with a sophisticated preference towards the software provided to the students and typically have greater-than-average resources as well as uniform policies regarding software acquisition.  The latter came from academic institutions demonstrating a pragmatic and single-task-focused approach to providing software to the students, and they often don’t have the full resources or uniform policies for software acquisition. 

The second premise was that industry partnerships create pressure for constant advancement and higher sophistication of the software used for teaching, especially in the pursuit of true industrial replication.  The third premise was that the pace of change is overwhelming for the Rank & File — too much for them to manage without guidance and assistance from the industry itself.  Software makers who showed themselves willing to support academic institutions in this way we called “Industry Guides.”

Based on these three premises, our working hypothesis was that the software providers should clearly and publicly demonstrate equal concern for the Elite and the Rank & File when it comes to SaaS products and programs.  This can be achieved with the re-introduction of product tiers, offering rudimentary beginner-level products such as simple tutorials and help functions as part of efforts to nurture at a basic level and push for industry partnerships, helping drive the Rank and File towards gradual sophistication in the software they use for teaching.  Additional research into the needs and wants of the Rank & File could also lead to the creation of broad-based communications programs as well as specific single-university special programs aligned with these efforts.

This case history is one of many examples showing how our market research firm has consistently helped big tech companies for over three decades.  From dramatically increased sales to award-winning marketing campaigns, we help big tech companies accomplish their goals and resonate with their target audiences with the valuable and actionable insights produced by the high-level and quality market research we provide.  It’s not only our passion but also the high level of human intelligence and imagination we apply that adds a deeper value to the insights we derive for your project outcome. 

If you would like your brand to break past ordinary bounds and achieve true excellence in its next campaign, contact Cascade Strategies today and find out how we can help you.