Navigating the Maze Together
Many small-business owners and entrepreneurs have echoed a similar sentiment to me over the years: “We’re just a small team, without the luxury of a hefty budget for primary research.” These words, I’m sure, resonate in the minds of numerous business leaders who, despite recognizing the profound impact of market research, find themselves constrained by the belief that meaningful audience research is invariably tied to exorbitant budgets. Right? Sounds familiar? Does the below sound familiar, too?
- I don’t know where to start.
- I have so many burning questions where do I begin?
- I need to have a better grasp on my competition. Were do I start?
- We know everything about our customers. (If that’s age, gender, region, how much they purchased, and other basic info, then you’ve neglected the most important thing to know about your customers, which is why they are your customers).
If you are any or all the above, then this is for you. Especially if you’re a startup and trying to find the right type of ground to stand on during the rocky journey of startup life. Everyone needs guidance to meaningful and actionable Holy Shit Moments.
Hi if you don’t know me. My name is Waleed Nesyif and I help clients uncover their WHYs through our research solutions. (It’s good to have you here 🙂).
Let’s answer the first big question here: Cost-Quality Dilemma in Audience Research
Research can be expensive. Very expensive. It can feel like quality and price are joined at the hip – and while sometimes that’s the case, it doesn’t always have to be. A brilliant boss once said to me, “I’m not rich enough to afford buying cheap products.” Wow. That stuck with me. I’m here to say this point of view applies to audience research, too. But doesn’t need to be the case in every instance.
Guiding with Empathy
Embarking on a research journey is no small feat. There’s a subtle, yet crucial difference between making a survey and conducting research that unveils transformative insights.
A veteran strategist once shared a nugget that sticks with me, “There’s a brief, and there’s briefing. They’re not the same.”
This demonstrates a similar distinction between just writing questions and creating a survey versus designing research that genuinely leads to uncovering the insightful truths about consumer behaviour. It’s the difference between, “yeah, no kidding” and “holy shit, we never thought that.” The latter demands a level of expertise that isn’t always readily accessible to every startup, despite being critically needed.
Babies Are Babies
No matter how much empathy we have, newborns don’t break any speed records. If a startup is like a newborn, we don’t expect a baby to sprint before they can crawl, right? There are a kazillion of research tools, technologies and methods out there. They’re meaningless without the right experts, direction, strategy and delivery. So, as a startup you find yourself stuck. You see land, but you just don’t have the energy (resources) to swim ashore. So you tread water, and that doesn’t get you to where you need to go in time. And, sadly, our professional empathy (I’m talking about vendors, and professionals holding the keys to transformative skills and tools you need) often halts when it demands backing by tangible action or financial investment.
Great, how are you different you might ask, and I’m glad you did.
Our Northstar
In my work, I made a conscious decision to align myself with companies that do three things. They…
- Recognize and honuor our roots upon achieving success. We have been where you are and refuse to forget that.
- Disrupt the industry by making their collective expertise accessible to everyone – not just big organizations.
- Invest in the future of companies by teaming up on their path to success.
I’m lucky enough to have found a home with all of this (and more) when I joined Cashew.
Money Where Our Mouth Is
Talk is cheap. At Cashew, we live up to it. If you’re a business navigating the unknowns of understanding your customers, we’d love to talk. We’ve got solutions, expertise and secret weapons. Let’s navigate this maze together.
Maybe you don’t know where to start.
Maybe you have burning questions.
Maybe you’re thinking about your competition.
Maybe you’re a research nerd like us.
We should put our heads together.
We can share our work. Demonstrate our super-powers. Chat through gaps in understanding. Casual, no pressure, just teamwork. One chat could open doors you didn’t think were possible.
“We’re all working together; that’s the secret.” (Sam Walton)
Let’s chat Navigating the Maze Together
