At Make Us Care we have three main angles to our research projects. The first is understanding the business and the brand we’re talking about. The second is understanding the customer. And the third is understanding the market and the category in which the brand operates. This approach helps us ensure that our clients stand for something different and can communicate in a way that isn’t the same as everyone else.
Before you get started: Here are some things you might want to know before starting a research project.
Our first step is to hold workshops with our clients to understand their business, their market, and their relationship with their customers. We want to get a clear understanding of who they are, what they stand for and what they want to achieve. At this stage, we also speak to key stakeholders within the business to get more detailed insights into their view of the business and to understand the culture of the business and the customers they want to target.
We then take everything we’ve heard from inside the business and write a research script which we take to talk to the brand’s customers to validate, or even disprove, the information gathered from the client and their key stakeholders. We have open and honest conversations with 15-20 customers that last 30 -45 minutes to understand what they truly care about.
Finally, we need to understand the competitive landscape so that we can make responsible decisions. This understanding is critical in deciding how far we want to go from the market. Going too crazy or not doing enough can alienate the brand from its competitors. We help our clients make conscious decisions that help them stand out for the right reasons.
After gathering all the insights from both the brand and its customers, we create what we call a ‘Care Map’. This is a clear diagram that shows all the areas where the brand, customers, and market overlap. This helps us identify key insights for the creative phase of the project, where we develop the brand or the campaign itself. From there we then use the ‘Care Home’ messaging framework to write the brand stories and help inform all brand communications.
In summary, an effective research project involves understanding the business, the customer, and the market, and using the insights gathered to develop a ‘Care Map’ and the ‘Care Home’ messaging framework. These steps will help us ensure that our clients stand out for the right reasons and communicate effectively with their customers.
To get a better understanding of our process read ‘Our research guide’