All Signal. No Noise.
Data used to be a scarce resource. Today, it’s everywhere. 21st-century businesses face the challenge of amassing, organizing, and analyzing multitudinous data streams to produce clear and actionable insights. It is as much about weeding out the bad and misleading data as it is about harnessing the good data. Organizations need robust processes in place to effectively separate the signal from the noise. At Greater Divide, we are tenacious advocates for a data-driven approach to business decision-making. Combining traditional marketing research with leading-edge data science techniques, we provide our clients with the information they need to move their businesses forward.
Traditional Marketing Research
The world is changing, but the ability to conduct methodologically sound research is as vital to business success today as it has ever been. In fact, in this new world of “on-demand data,” the risk of misinterpretation and bias has increased dramatically. For instance, as appealing as it sounds to use Twitter to track a brand’s upswings and downswings, we must keep in mind that only one in four Americans use Twitter. And, as much as we believe it is a good business practice to pay attention to customer complaints and service issues, we need to recognize that only listening to our most vocal customers might not help us understand our core buyers. At Greater Divide, we believe in traditional marketing research approaches that place an emphasis on sample quality and consistency. We use methods such as discrete choice testing, brand and product tracking, segmentation, and qualitative interviews to help our clients succeed in the marketplace.
Leading-Edge Data Science
It is said that a data scientist is someone who knows more about computer programming than a statistician and more about statistics than a computer programmer. This unique skill set is becoming increasingly valuable in today’s economy. Leading brands such as Walmart, Amazon, Warby Parker, Electronic Arts, and others have entire divisions dedicated to data science. Many marketing research firms, however, are behind the curve when it comes to incorporating data science into their business practices. Not us. We view data science as a necessary part of the research process and we actively seek out opportunities to include leading-edge data science techniques in our client engagements.
Data Harmonization
It is too risky in today’s marketplace to rely on isolated pieces of data to make important business decisions. At Greater Divide, we believe in providing our clients with a holistic view of the market — one that combines multiple streams of data using different methodologies and data sources. We refer to this process as data harmonization and have found it to be a powerful way for companies to streamline and optimize their decision-support systems.