How I helped a market research consultancy look as big as their ambitions
Learn how a strategic and analytical approach to branding and messaging transformed their perceived size, built client trust, and opened doors to larger opportunities.
Overview
Main goal:
To transform the consultancy’s perceived size and capabilities from boutique to mid-sized in order to attract larger projects
Key outcomes:
Elevated the consultancy’s perception to align with medium-sized firms, increasing client confidence and referrals.
Improved messaging consistency across all touchpoints, enhancing brand clarity and differentiation.
Revamped the onboarding process and website, leading to a smoother client experience and stronger first impressions.
01.
The Problem: Perception Holding Back a Growing Consultancy
About my client: Experts Without the Recognition They Deserve
My client is a market research consultancy delivering actionable, market insights across multiple industries. Despite their expertise and success, they struggled to break free from being seen as a small boutique agency.
Their Challenges: Misaligned Perception, Missed Opportunities
Clients underestimating their capabilities, viewing them as a small boutique agency.
An unclear value proposition that failed to communicate their unique strengths.
Inconsistent messaging across touchpoints, diluting their brand.
A website that didn’t reflect their credibility or expertise.
02.
The Solution: Data-driven approach to reveal new opportunities
To address the challenges and reposition the consultancy effectively, I recommended a comprehensive approach grounded in both qualitative and quantitative research. This ensured that the strategy would be rooted in real client insights, market dynamics, and the consultancy’s unique strengths.
Key analysis steps included:
In-depth interviews with 6 key clients to get context-rich feedback about their experiences. Their answers highlighted pain points and opportunities for improvement.
Validation survey, delivering 20 responses. This data validated the trends identified in the interviews.
Competitive analysis that included a review of the positioning and messaging of key competitors to benchmark industry standards and identify opportunities for differentiation. This helped uncover gaps and areas where the consultancy could stand out.
Visual positioning map
Some of the findings:
Clients reported confusion during the onboarding process, citing unclear timelines, roles, and communication.
Clients saw the consultancy as a niche, boutique firm, raising doubts about their ability to handle large-scale or multi-country projects.
Many clients struggled to articulate why they chose the consultancy over competitors.
The website did little to communicate their expertise or credibility. It lacked case studies, testimonials, and clear service descriptions, failing to inspire confidence among prospective clients.
03.
Building the Branding Strategy: Translating Insights into Action
Only after I had a thorough understanding of how the consultancy stood, I started the branding strategy.
This included defining their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), creating a Value-Benefit-Feature framework, and developing a messaging framework to ensure consistency across all touchpoints.
Some of the deliverables:
Identified their top client types by industry, decision-maker role, and project size.
Created detailed profiles that included pain points, decision-making criteria, and desired outcomes.
As part of their feature-focused messages, I emphasized their unique research methodologies, bespoke reporting capabilities, and the expertise of their analysis teams.
Within the messaging framework, I outlined and operationalized their process, providing prospects with a clear and structured view of how they work.
04.
Execution: Aligning Perception with Reality
With a clear plan in place, I guided the implementation of the branding strategy. This included improving the website, redesigning the onboarding process, and launching a targeted communication plan to reshape client perceptions.
Some of my improvements:
As part of website recommendations, we worked together on showing their expertise across industries and geographies.
Simplified navigation to ensure potential clients could quickly find relevant information.
Improve the company profile, including the biographies of key people
Introduced a structured onboarding process with clear steps, roles, and timelines to enhance the client experience.
Started a client welcome sequence for the new leads to create a professional first impression.
04.
Final thought: Growth Takes Patience, Trust, and Resilience
This transformation wasn’t just about implementing a few quick fixes—it was a deliberate, thoughtful process that required patience and trust from the client. Change of this magnitude can be challenging, especially when it involves examining fundamental perceptions and making significant shifts in messaging, branding, and internal processes.
While elements of the process could have been trimmed down, the client’s willingness to embrace a comprehensive approach paid off. Their resilience and commitment to truly fueling growth by better serving and understanding their existing client base laid the groundwork for sustainable success.
The key takeaway from this project is that sustainable growth requires patience, trust, and a commitment to the process. Quick fixes rarely deliver lasting results, but by listening to clients and addressing their needs, businesses can turn their client base into a powerful growth engine. Resilience and a long-term perspective are essential to unlocking opportunities, as is a strategic approach grounded in data and insights. When companies embrace these principles, they lay the foundation for stronger branding, improved client trust, and the ability to achieve their growth ambitions.