Methods and concepts · how the research is done

Four proven methods. Most engagements begin with a conversation.

Power Decisions uses four proven marketing research methods. Most engagements include one-to-one Kinetic Depth Interviews, ideally face to face or remote. The other tools join when your marketplace traits call for them.

Further down: the decision tools that decide which research is worth buying in the first place.

Method one · the default

Kinetic Depth Interviews

Dynamic one-to-one, peer-level interviews that go beyond the traditional depth interview. A well-crafted interview plan takes the place of a questionnaire, so each one plays out like a conversation and turns up far-ranging, unexpected intelligence, research information and ideas.

A voice recorder, an open blank notebook and a cup of coffee on a worn wooden table

Discreet, efficient and custom-tailored. A study might be five high-level CIOs or thirty frontline users across global teams.

B2B Depth Interviews, in detail

One-on-one, in-depth conversations that surface subconscious objections, unmet needs and ideal use cases, then synthesize the qualitative data into executive summaries that guide your go-to-market roadmap. These are not surveys or soundbites. They are thoughtful, expertly guided dialogues.

The interviewers specialize in reaching key decision-makers, technical influencers and skeptical prospects, and they know how to ask the second and third question, the ones that lead to pivotal insight. Each project ends in a tightly constructed executive brief, not a data dump.

Use them when you want to:

Identify the real reasons behind slow adoption or churn
Understand how customers frame the problem your solution solves
Validate or refine personas based on real behavioral insight
Explore white space opportunities in new verticals
Shape enterprise sales strategies with firsthand buyer language

Method two

Online Forums

An actively moderated, multiple-day research process. Forums suit executives, managers, B2B buyers and the other hard-to-reach audiences a checkbox survey never gets to. Done well, they also capture the language of the buyer: not only what decision-makers value, but how they say it.

What makes a B2B forum work

Recruit for role, decision-making authority and experience, with screeners that probe context and not only credentials.
Segment by mindset, stage in the buying journey or problem orientation, which often beats firmographics alone.
Moderate to disarm guarded, overly professional participants early, then guide the group with probing, non-leading questions.
Design the discussion guide on two levels, strategic objectives and tactical flexibility, so a golden thread can be followed without derailing the session.

Method three

Competitive Intelligence

A range of tailored primary and secondary information gathering activities, and the analysis that follows. The mix is tailored to the question in front of you.

Method four

A quantitative component

When the study calls for views, purchase behavior, experiences and buyer attitudes from a larger, perhaps more diverse audience, a quantitative phase is recommended. In the published Micron study, for example, the interviews came first and a larger phone and phone-to-web phase followed.

Conversational techniques

Rigid questionnaires and predictable exchanges offer no gain.

B2B conversational research

The techniques blend storytelling with semi-structured dialogue to reveal emotional drivers and purchase rationales. They are well suited to uncovering unspoken needs and testing whether a message resonates. We define the target market, hold emotionally interactive conversations to map pitfalls and pain points, and use what comes back to chart buying patterns and emotional triggers.

Buyer journey interviews

A buyer journey interview studies how a customer actually reaches a purchase, from pain points to decision-making factors. Every decision point is mapped, capturing the step-by-step experience of your ideal customers. That clarity helps you discover positioning options, communicate better and remove friction from the sale.

How positioning options are found

Concept development

Staged testing: develop first, screen later.

Concept testing research evaluates advertising concepts, ad themes and appeals, new product concepts, pricing, brand concepts, brand names and positioning strategy. The firm builds precise concept statements for development, testing, screening and segmentation.

Its own words: the concept testing philosophy is what differentiates it from many other market research firms. Testing outcomes spawn creativity, so creativity is built into the process.

Begin loose

Concept development comes first, and screening comes later.
The mindset is exploratory, starting with qualitative depth interviews among target audience members.
Concept statements address both tangible attribute clusters and emotional appeals.

Widen

From first depth interviews, the work moves to larger-sample, time-extended depth interviews, often online, which allow repeated respondent interaction and concept incubation. A hybrid design then blends that qualitative mode with quantitative concept ranking to refine development and measure appeal.

Test for realism

Screening favors smaller samples across multiple waves over one large wave. And because a full read on appeal needs maximum realism, online surveys have a strong advantage: they carry a variety of exhibits for advertising, product, brand and strategic positioning concepts.

The Decision-Research Matrix

Branding. Pricing. Products. Targeting.

The decisions you face drive your research requirements. Before any study begins, the four decision stages are examined with you to find the most useful way marketing information can help. They become a pathway for recommending market intelligence, surveys or focus group studies.

The process is a practical collection of models, action-producing thinking steps, developed over years of consulting with SMB B2B manufacturing and business-to-business channel clients.

B2B Decision Mapping

A fast start to powerful B2B strategy.

Mapping a decision is much like what happens in a war room: resources are inventoried, targets identified and action ordered, in real time, with everyone alert. The goal is to capture opportunities that strengthen competitive advantage.

Thin decision

One real choice: go with A, or no go. Quick when risk is low. The trap is passing on B2B brand share growth because nobody built stronger options.

Robust decision

Two or more real options, A or B or C, created by understanding buyer behavior and customer preferences deeply.

The decision pathway, narrowing at every stage

i.
Scan for opportunities
Opportunity generation is the starting point. The scan can cover markets, channels, technology, process innovation or other areas, and its job is to produce many possibilities.
ii.
Turn them into A, B, C options
Opportunities become strategic options through the A-B-C model. Building options takes real work: analysis, research and creative thinking.
iii.
Refine with new intelligence
Options are sharpened as new strategic intelligence arrives.
iv.
Run them through the Decision Filters
The refined options are evaluated against the selection criteria developed in the Decision Filters. Then someone chooses.

The 8 Key Questions

Think First.

The Key Questions are a shortcut to faster, smarter decision making. They were built from prior work with decision makers. Moving through them together, decision makers reach clarity, save time and budget, and avoid paying for intelligence they did not need.

They are tools, like tools in a tool shed: each one has to be applied on its own terms to a product launch, an advertising theme or a new brand positioning strategy. Use them to think first. That is the best path to opportunity discovery that grows your brand and your profit margins.

Ask Thomas to walk you through them

Marketing Intelligence Platform

Three forms of intelligence: Ideas, Data, Drivers.

Product development is a sequential decision process, a series of decisions and not one. The platform matches each stage with the right creative or research method, so attention goes to the precise decision at hand.

Ideas

The creative side. The 360 process illuminates, clarifies and adds to your existing bucket of growth ideas, and concept work generates new ones, tested in stages and refined as the evidence comes in.

Data

Useful information about products, segments, pricing and brand positioning, gathered where needed through a quantitative phase.

Drivers

Your management preferences and unique drivers, and the emotional drivers and purchase rationales that buyers carry into a decision. Conversation is the instrument that reaches them.

Which methods apply varies with the product type, how far it departs from other products, the investment and risk involved, and the cost of seeding it in the marketplace. Product research works best when it is integrated with R&D and technical design, with market input at each design stage so that innovation lines up with demand. See New Product Concepts.

Not sure which method fits the decision? Start with a call.

Typically Thomas Brown can offer some immediate, valuable ideas on the first call, then tailor an engagement plan to your goals, assumptions and situation.

Call 415-328-7927 Request a proposal