The marketing and research partner landscape

A quick guide to the types of partners in the landscape—and what they do best.

Partner category
Example
What they do
When & why to leverage
Recruiting panel
provider
Centiment
Buy survey responses for a study your team can design and analyze
Provides targeted respondents; your team retains responsibility for the research design and interpretation
Custom boutique
market research firm
Bixa Research
Decide which audience, message, feature set, experience, or price is right
Connects qualitative and quantitative evidence to a high-stakes business decision
Large global agency
Ogilvy
Develop and execute a global brand platform or integrated campaigns with $500k+ budgets
Brings strategy, creative, production, and global activation together. Less emphasis on research, more on campaign development
Software / product
development company
Vention
Design and build an MVP, software, or AI product based on the results of market research
Supplies product, engineering, QA, and delivery capability
Research database or
government source
Statista; U.S. Census
Bureau
Publish credible, already-published market statistics
Faster and less expensive than collecting new data when existing data answers the question
Brand or creative
agency
Cargo
Turn audience insights you already have into an ongoing brand system and marketing assets Note: Often sub-contracts to vendors like Bixa for up-front market research
Translates insight into brand experiences, campaigns, and creative execution
Performance
marketing agency
AdVenture Media
Group
Manage PPC campaigns and optimize media spend
Specializes in paid media management, landing pages, and campaign optimization

If you’re a marketing leader and your team is trying to understand its customers (or decide which customers to target)

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Before You Bet on It | Decision Flowchart

Before you bet on it

Research for the decisions you can't afford to get wrong.

Use this flow chart to identify the kinds of high-stakes decisions where custom market research can help before you commit.

What decision are you making?

Before you
build it...

Do you need to know what people actually need, want, or will use?

Market research can help you validate product-market fit, understand unmet needs, prioritize features, and test concepts before development.

COMMON RESEARCH METHODS
Customer interviews
Concept testing
MaxDiff
Conjoint

Before you
launch it...

Do you need to know how buyers will respond before you go to market?

Research can help you refine positioning, messaging, audience targeting, and launch strategy before you invest in rollout.

COMMON RESEARCH METHODS
Audience research
Message testing
Survey research

Before you
price it...

Do you need to understand what people will pay—and what tradeoffs they'll make?

Research can help you identify acceptable price ranges, model willingness to buy, and evaluate packages, tiers, or feature bundles.

COMMON RESEARCH METHODS
Van Westendorp
Gabor-Granger
Conjoint

Before you
rebrand it...

Do you need to know whether your audience will understand, trust, or connect with the new direction?

Research can help you uncover perceptions, language, motivations, and reactions to new positioning or creative territory before a rebrand goes live.

COMMON RESEARCH METHODS
In-depth interviews
Message testing
Brand research

Before you
enter a new market...

Do you need to understand how local buyers differ before expanding?

Research can help you localize product, positioning, pricing, and go-to-market plans using evidence from the audience you're trying to reach.

COMMON RESEARCH METHODS
Market-entry research
Segmentation
Buyer journey research

Before you
kill it...

Do you need to know whether weak performance means “sunset” it—or “fix” it?

Research can help you understand unmet expectations, customer behavior, and remaining demand before discontinuing a product, feature, offer, or campaign.

COMMON RESEARCH METHODS
Churn interviews
UX research
Concept testing
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If your decision is high-stakes, customer-dependent, and expensive to get wrong, you're a candidate for custom research.