Communications Architecture
When you talk to your customers, what are they actually hearing?
Beacon's experts will create a targeted study according to the questions that you want answered. The sections below include examples of questions asked by our clients and the insights we provided to help them make sound business decisions.
Do you need a new tagline or logo?
| CLIENT NEED | To provide sound evidence of the effectiveness of new marketing tools. |
| BACKGROUND | An IT hardware firm was exploring a variety of brand and positioning options, including taglines and logos, which would represent the firm's solidity, dependability, and trustworthiness. The firm asked Beacon to test the various options and provide sound evidence of those that would lead to increased interest from potential customers. |
| BEACON'S RESEARCH | Beacon surveyed IT executives and managers from selected industries involved in purchasing or recommending information availability and data protection products and services. Research tools that we used included MaxDiff analysis. |
| HOW WE HELPED | In addition to determining the branding strategies, logos and taglines which were most salient, Beacon's statistical models also uncovered key elements of each communications mode that would compel action and entice prospects to want to learn more about the company. |
| CLIENT NEED | To find out if the client's new marketing tools reflected its new marketing priorities. |
| BACKGROUND | New taglines and brand strategies were contemplated by this Beacon client, a creator of enabling hardware platforms for such diverse markets as travel, hospitality and banking. The company was deeply concerned that its current, more traditional, image would hinder its consideration as a provider of best-of-breed solutions. |
| BEACON'S RESEARCH | Beacon used virtual focus groups to engage audiences located in far-flung areas of the world to determine the impact on changing to a new brand image with a restyled logo. |
| HOW WE HELPED | The research showed that the company didn't need to design a new logo to accompany its new brand strategies. Beacon's research clearly showed that a new logo would actually be counterproductive to the company's desire to also show stability in the face of change, extensive mergers & acquisitions, economic downturn, and the like. |
Which alternative messaging strategy should you employ?
| CLIENT NEED | To identify the best ways for the client to promote itself in a new market sector. |
| BACKGROUND | A health insurance provider wanted to consider new markets for its ambitious attempt to garner market share and continue to grow its traditional business with new consumers. |
| BEACON'S RESEARCH | Beacon conducted a quantitative survey by phone with potential consumers. Within our quantitative research methodology, we also used leverage analysis. |
| HOW WE HELPED | Beacon's research showed that the insurer had "permission" to enter the new geographic market. Moreover, a demographic segment that the company had previously written off as unsuitable turned out to show a surprising amount of interest in the concept. The research also revealed key value proposition elements that would be highly influential to each targeted demographic segment. |
What attention-getting product benefits should you feature in your marketing communications materials?
| CLIENT NEED | To find out which product relaunch messages would also help to rebuild trust in the client's services. |
| BACKGROUND | An IT hardware manufacturer was entering the marketplace for fault-tolerant computing platforms and needed to identify which of its product benefits should be highlighted in its marketing materials. |
| BEACON'S RESEARCH | Beacon conducted quantitative research and analysis to compare the salience of each of the ten elements in the company's go-to-market messaging strategies. Tools that we used included MaxDiff analysis. |
| HOW WE HELPED | As a result of the analysis, this technology marketer's messages were honed and optimized to focus attention on three of the ten elements of its formerly diffuse value proposition. The analysis further highlighted which elements were most likely to appeal to those who already held the vendor in high regard. |
When you speak to your customers, what words should you use to communicate with them most effectively?
| CLIENT NEED | To find out which product relaunch messages would also help to rebuild trust in the client's services. |
| BACKGROUND | A large enterprise software vendor needed to find ways to relaunch its multiple products in the emerging Business Services Management (BSM) market sector. At the same time, however, the firm was also working diligently to distance itself from an image of being a commodity solution provider with a poor track record for customer service. |
| BEACON'S RESEARCH | Phase 1: Beacon conducted a series of in-person focus groups in North America, the UK and Germany to gain considerable insight into how senior IT managers look at a range of Service Management solutions, what phrases are used, what modules or application fit or don't fit under the BSM umbrella, and other topics. During the sessions, Beacon employed webstreaming so that members of the product development team throughout the world could view the sessions in real time. Phase 2: Follow-up quantitative analysis with senior IT managers around the globe confirmed the focus group findings. During this project, we worked with our trusted strategic partners GMG Insights and MM-EYE, as well as Able and ReRez. |
| HOW WE HELPED | The focus groups insights were invaluable in helping to shape messaging strategies, as well as how the client could most effectively position itself as a trustworthy and mainstream supplier of BSM solutions. The follow-up quantitative results also enabled Beacon to create a robust BSM maturity model and a coherent adoption path of various BSM modules. |
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