Market Intelligence Services
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The world’s best marketers closely follow and study the behaviour of those that use their brands. This leads to insights and knowledge that enables not only product development, but also relevant and compelling messaging. You too need a window on your customers behaviour, how they use your brand and how they engage with your competitors. These are the insights that you need to guide your thinking and business management. Knowing your customer is essential and you cannot rely on happenstance info gathering or random surveillance of news reports. You need a plan and a deliberate strategy to inform your team. This plan is an integral part of your brand management process. This is the essence of market intelligence – knowledge that gives you the edge.
Noted Thinking is Ebony + Ivory’s intelligence specialist. It’s our way of giving you access to the best in class original information. Noted thinking operates as a division of Ebony + Ivory and provides a range of services from Brand and Business Strategy development to Brand persona creation and big data predictive modelling.
Marketing Intelligence is our speciality and we gather information and insights from wide-ranging sources including primary research and literature reviews. We gather, dissect, distil and codify information from diverse sources giving you the heads up on your customers, your competitors and the markets in which you play.
Noted Thinking methodologies include:
• Strategic Conversations: We talk to business leaders personally. We engage at a conversational level to unlock insights and build a comprehensive view of the market landscape. Conversations build trust and authentic feedback. We open doors to your key clients, competitors and sector leaders to bring you insights that are otherwise unobtainable. It has been said that “strategy is conversation” and this bears out the essence of Strategic Conversations. Talking, is the seed of future plans.
• Online surveys, Consumer Panel and Community research: We provide a top-drawer online survey platform that allows you to rapidly distribute questionnaires and receive feedback directly to your computer or mobile. Watch as the results build and make decisions immediately. Alternatively, build your own community of customers, suppliers or staff members and engage with them as frequently as you please for immediate feedback on issues that are important to you and them alike. Which is the better headline? Should we have the event in Pretoria or Cape Town? What is the better colour for the new brand icon? Get answers immediately and cost effectively.
• Database analysis: You have a database? That’s a good start. Is it clean? Comprehensive and consistent? Can you use it? We will fix it. We clean, re-order, re-assign and provide usable consistency. Your database is an asset and you need to manage it effectively. This is where we can help.
• Qualitative research: Focus groups, brainstorming, video intercepts, store exit intercepts and many more. We go to where the action is and engage with your customers, your market and talk to them spontaneously on-sight. Look in wardrobes, look in kitchen cupboards, travel in taxis, go to the spaza, visit a hair replacement specialist… we have done it all in the name of “intelligence”. This style of real-life immersive observation and engagement is so valuable bringing your market to life in your boardroom.
Many have asked “what is competitive marketing intelligence and what are the benefits of marketing intelligence?” Now we can show you. The essence is actionable information across products and services as well as the contingent marketing thereof. The problem is that actionable information is often presented in a way that is not easily understood and does not translate directly into a step by step plan. We do this for you not only by simplifying market intelligence research but also communicating via non-technical market intelligence reports. This gives you the confidence to move ahead with a little more assurance than you otherwise would have. And ultimately, it’s that incremental assurance and knowledge gained through market intelligence analysis that will give you and your brand the edge.
It’s a competitive world out there, staying in-touch and ahead of the game in an ever-changing market is key. Marketing Intelligence and marketing research enables businesses to better cater to their customers and informs their brand strategies, as well as marketing and sales strategies, in a more directed, informed way.
You can now start your marketing intelligence and planning with our strategically-strong and tactically-smart intelligence, research, media and creative campaigns.
Ebony + Ivory – your intelligence, marketing and media partner of distinction.