Secondary Research Firm
Finding the Best Information in a Sea of Knowledge
Hiring a secondary research firm to validate your findings or discover new secondary sources can pay off in spades.
With an estimated 2 billion websites, an estimated 1.8 million articles published across 28,000 journals every year, and nearly 130 million different books placed into circulation, there is a near-limitless supply of information in the world. With all that information floating around, it can be hard to narrow down your searches to a specific subject, much less find credible information on said subject. Utilizing publicly provided information is just one of the many great benefits of the internet, but without any quality control, you could risk spreading false information, damaging your reputation, and possibly endangering your very own customers. Sometimes, hiring a secondary research firm to validate your findings or discover new secondary sources can pay off in spades.
At a secondary research firm like Innis Maggiore, the nation’s leading positioning ad agency, we filter through secondary sources to provide the quality control and perspective this information requires. And if secondary research is already collected, reported and available for consumption – why not save or reallocate the time and resources that could be spent on marketing and sales efforts? In the right hands, secondary research can provide the same level of information that primary research like focus groups and interviews do.
Secondary Research is Integrated into our Appreciative Discovery® process
At Innis Maggiore, we utilize secondary research as a part of our Appreciative Discovery® process.
Our Appreciative Discovery® is critical to helping your team find and/or focus on your organization’s most meaningful and differentiated value proposition. Why?
- First, we do our best work when we work alongside our clients. We like to get to know your company almost as well as you do, know your customer base, and know the inner workings of your company. The Appreciative Discovery® helps our clients [re]discover that single most powerful idea around which all their marketing should revolve.
- Second, we get to know your industry and most importantly, your competition. This can be direct competitors or just competitive ideas (such as choosing not to do something). From the biggest players to the tiniest of niches, getting to know your industry will help us maximize the success of potential marketing campaigns.
- Third, the most important aspect of marketing your company is your position. Unless you’re in a virgin industry (not likely), you need to answer a very important question: Why should prospects choose you over the competition? By differentiating your company from your competitors, we can help you craft campaigns that gain you reputation and market share.
Knowing your Research Question – and the Best Sources for It
As with any research process, the very first step is narrowing down your research question.
At Innis Maggiore, we walk our clients through every step of the research process, including finding out exactly what it is you want to research. Answering the right questions is the difference between great research versus research that can lead you down the wrong path with catastrophic consequences. We review secondary sources such as:
- Published Literature, including academic journals, books, and trade publications.
- Government Publications, which are statistics and reports published by government agencies and international organizations.
- Industry Publications such as those from the trade or industry associations.
- Online Databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, EBSCO, and many more which document peer-reviewed digital academic journals.
- Market Research Reports containing data on the companies and products of an industry published by market research firms.
- Company Reports such as annual reports and financial statements that give information about an organization within your industry.
- Social Media and Online Sources like blogs and forums across multiple social media platforms that can give individual perspectives on topics related to your research question.
Each source gives different types of information, and depending on what you want to research, each source could provide you with more valuable information. At a professional secondary research firm like Innis Maggiore, we comb through all available sources we can find to get the best information based on what question you seek to answer with your research. And we only do the right research to get you headed in the right direction.
Why Invest in Secondary Over Primary?
Conducting a study for yourself and gathering your own data is always the best way to gather reliable information, so why would you even bother with filtering through thousands of sources to find similar data?
For starters, despite how it may sound, secondary research is substantially faster than conducting your own studies. There’s no need to create surveys, find focus group participants, or conduct interviews. The data is already compiled – it’s just a matter of collecting it. This frees up both your hands and ours, which allows us and our clients to focus precious time on projects that move the organization forward. Additionally, it saves money that would typically go toward marketing and sales activities.
The internet and the exponentially growing amount of information on it are accessible to everyone that wants or needs to conduct research, making it the ideal choice for students, independent researchers, or limited-budget organizations. We like to focus on peer-reviewed sources when conducting our research, as the credibility of these sources is much stronger and can sometimes even offer a greater historical perspective on a topic by analyzing information and data that spans years or decades.
On a limited budget or on tight time constraints, properly vetted secondary sources can provide data that is just as powerful and valuable at a fraction of the cost of primary research. Secondary data collection and analysis should be entrusted to a secondary research firm like Innis Maggiore.
Contact Us
Cut Through the Filler Content with a Secondary Research Firm. Find the cold hard facts without the hassle, the cost, or the time. Reach out to Innis Maggiore today.