When developing a strategy it is often valuable to gather as many perspectives as possible. No one individual can easily predict the problems that might arise to impede the strategy, and the skills that new minds bring to planning make for strategies that are dynamic and flexible. The more voices that contribute to a strategy, and the more experienced those voices are, the stronger the eventual project will become.
The Strategic Counsel has experience in spades. They are based in Ontario and Alberta and have been providing quality research since 1995. They have a reputation for quality and accuracy – a reputation that has made them the exclusive source of political polling for both CTV and The Globe and Mail. It’s a company with pedigree as well, given that its founder, Allan Gregg, worked as a communications strategist for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada for over a decade before founding the company. He brings the same skills that made that made him famous in Canadian elections to the business sphere.
The Strategic Counsel has risen to a place of prominence by performing excellent market research. In addition to their political polling, they perform non-political opinion polls and other types of market research as well. Their techniques range from focus groups and anthropological research to household surveys and moment-by-moment audience response, meaning that they’ll have the right tool for any presented research question. These techniques can easily fit research needs across the political and business spectrum.
The need that the Strategic Counsel feels is felt by marketing departments in every company. Focus groups, for instance, connect marketing departments to specific bases and assist in defining consumer priorities and values. Since those values and priorities drive purchasing decisions, it is essential for marketing companies to have the most recent and accurate data on consumer attitudes. This is true whether one is determining the sweetener for a dairy product, designing new styles of luxury furniture, or deciding key phrases of a piece of legislation.
What sets Strategic Counsel and its contemporaries apart from basic pollsters is much more than sophisticated toolsets. Strategic Counsel prides itself on applying veteran insight to their research models. Building those models involve both quantitative and qualitative methods, which, when mixed with their interpretation, can yield detailed critiques of projects as complex as advertising campaigns and overall creative direction. Such elements are often crucial to the success — or failure — of a new company campaign.
Modern business demands that companies remain intimately familiar with their clientele in order to succeed. It’s an easy task for small-town businesses, but a challenge for companies that span nations or the globe. The Strategic Counsel bridges the gap, connecting businesses with the voices of their clients, and proving that market research has a massive role to play in the future of business.
Read more from Ronn Torossian:
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Ronn Torossian’s Professional Profile on Muck Rack
Ronn Torossian on Business Insider