Brand Central Station’s over thirty-five years’ experience in marketing and branding includes conducting several in-depth marketing research and analysis projects for clients in a wide variety of service and commercial sectors.

Whether you need a survey of existing customers or a nationwide study to determine the size and scope of a specific market opportunity – Mike Bawden and BCS’s research partners are able to deliver.

Market Studies

Thinking about entering a new market or extending your current brand to address the needs of a younger or older target demo? Brand Central Station can conduct a market assessment that will identify the size and attitude of the audiences you need to reach.

Our market assessment will identify key issues and obstacles that lie in your path and provide recommendations on how best to overcome them. Additional work can be performed to help identify the most effective messages and communications channels – important information in preparing a marketing communications plan for a new product launch.

Secondary Research

Looking for specific openings in a new market or with a new audience? Brand Central Station can leverage its existing research subscriptions and sources to pull together a wide array of information from outside sources without having to conduct more expensive, primary research.

Secondary research is a great way to start an investigation into a new market or perceived market opportunity. While it often leads to more questions (better informed and better constructed), it also can provide a helpful framework for further evaluation and decision-making.

Focus Groups

A primary research option, focus groups give brand managers and corporate leaders a sense of how consumers and other stakeholders might feel or react to certain marketing messages or initiatives. 

Mike Bawden has extensive experience organizing focus groups for clients (on the local, regional and national level) and has served as a focus group moderator for facilities located throughout the midwest.

Following a meeting with the client, Mike will draft a moderator’s guide which will include all of the essential questions that need to be answered. During the group, a visual/audio recording will be made and transcribed. Following the groups, Mike will use the information collected to prepare a summary report and recommendations for client consideration.

Focus group costs depend greatly on the number of groups, locations and range of subject matter to be covered. It typically takes 2 weeks to prepare an estimate for client review and 4-6 weeks to conduct the focus groups (including participant screening and tabulation of the final report).

Surveys

Brand Central Station can write and conduct online surveys for clients in a matter of days or work with research centers to conduct phone or intercept interviews to large audiences over a wide area.

Omnibus surveys can also be conducted via Brand Central Station and one of our research partners. These surveys are nationwide studies where the brand’s questions are included with a number of other questions from other brands. Responses are tabulated and shared so brands are able to get a regional/national representative sampling on certain key issues.

One-on-One Interviews

Maybe the most insightful work in the research arena comes from conducting in-depth, one-on-one interviews with key customers and stakeholders. This information can be very important in formulating longer-term plans for brands and their relative expansion or diversification.

Do you have questions about your brand’s future that need answering? A research project may be just the thing. Let us know what you want to know and we can go from there.