360° Stakeholder Perceptions Research

In the life of an organisation, there are times when a 360° view of stakeholder relationships becomes essential. Developing or positioning a brand, preparing for change, and planning communications  – all of these can be made more successful if you can predict how your audiences will react.

Marketwise Strategies’ 360° Stakeholder Perceptions Research can draw together detailed insights from all of your key stakeholder groups including:

  • Customers and potential customers
  • Employees, applicants and volunteers
  • Board members
  • Suppliers
  • Partners and collaborators
  • Investors
  • Opinion-leaders and influencers, locally, nationally and internationally.

Clients

In the public sector, and for many environmental and other sensitive projects, stakeholder consultation can be crucial. Whilst for businesses, taking an organisation-wide ‘rain check’ can reduce the risks of misplaced spend and provide a firm foundation for decisions. Organisations who come to us for customer and stakeholder research include:

  • Universities – seeking a firm base upon which to plan their communications with staff, students, employers and others
  • Regeneration agencies – tracking understanding of their core offer and perceptions of their economy, among clients and intermediaries
  • Tourism bodies –tracking perceptions of their region or sub-region and seeking insights into their perceived market positioning
  • Registered social landlords – ensuring that they stay true to their values in a changing environment
  • Other large organisations seeking to align their growth strategies with the right presentation and communication of their brand (recent clients include a major port and a large passenger-transport company).
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Working together

From board members to ancillary staff and from customers to senior management, we will work with you to identify the most effective methods and the most relevant samples to develop a dialogue with each of your stakeholder groups.

Online communities, mobile phone surveys and other ‘new’ tools can make an important contribution to stakeholder research, but they are not right for every audience.  Tried and trusted methods such as depth interviews, focus groups and workshops still have an important contribution to make. 

After meeting you to clarify your needs, we will work with you to develop a cost-effective qualitative, quantitative or mixed methodology, that brings together the most appropriate combination of tools to carry out your consultations sensitively and efficiently.

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Getting the best from stakeholder research

Whatever the methods, we believe that the best outcomes happen when participants  

  • Find it easy to take part (right method, right audience, right time)
  • Feel confident about confidentiality
  • Know that this is more than a ‘paper exercise’ – i.e.  participants believe that their responses are important and will be acted upon
  • Find it enjoyable – so that responses can be creative and open
  • Understand when and how they will hear about the results.

 

To discuss research among your own stakeholders, call Jacquie Potts or David Bain on 0191 2614426, or complete the email response form on our Contact page.