SMG understands that the development, launch and ultimate success of a new product or service offering can present innumerable challenges. Often an idea or concept has already been born and needs to be evaluated. In other cases, the desire for organic growth in the form of brand extension is the catalyst. In either case, solid marketing research can provide the difference between success ad failure.

SMG provides market research and analysis capabilities that help clients to dramatically increase their level of insight into of customer needs—then respond with informed, targeted top-level strategies. For a diverse list of clients, SMG has provided a greater understanding of their customers' product needs, pricing constraints, distribution channel preferences, and brand perceptions—whether the customer is a consumer shopping in the retail aisle or an industrial purchaser placing a product or system order.

SMG’s market insight services allow client businesses to quantify customer behaviors and needs in a highly detailed manner—providing real-world information that results in a fact-based strategic plan. Customer intelligence provided by SMG has the power to impact every area of the business—from product development plans and supply chain improvements to marketing and communications initiatives.

By selecting and implementing a custom-tailored set of research services for each client, SMG can help to answer such essential questions as:

      What are the features of a new product that will most impact the purchase decision?
      How do customers perceive the brand?
      How well does the brand extend into new categories?
      What are the unmet needs of current customers?
      What customer segments are buying the products?
      What price are customers willing to pay for specific features?

Our clients often view the markets they serve as unique and mutually exclusive subsets based on the products purchased or channels utilized. Customers, whether they be consumers, manufacturers or other BtoB designations, make their ultimate purchase decisions based on their attitudes toward the channels, brands and products they encounter. By applying several research methodologies, SMG can help to identify attitudinal segments of a customer and prospect population. We also help align product offerings to those segments and identify gaps or unmet needs that may represent opportunities.

Our approach to segmentation begins with a detailed assessment of our client’s entire book of business, the products offered at each price point level as well as the channels of distribution currently being used. We then will make a customized recommendation for defining segments of that market. Our goal is to find differentiating characteristics of each segment that can be exploited to efficiently target products or services where they are most likely to be accepted.

Of all the many parameters involved in marketing, brand name and all that it communicates is potentially the most powerful. Understanding how customers and prospects perceive your brand and all that it connotes is critical. Strong brands will command higher price-points. SMG applies several research techniques to precisely measure brand equity for our clients, including.

      Brand Perception
      Awareness and Usage
      Competitive Mapping
      Price Sensitivity
      Brand Extension

At the core of any measurement of Brand Equity, SMG utilizes trade-off methodologies such as conjoint and discrete choice to understand the role that brand plays in the customer’s ultimate decision and how the key brands are positioned relative to one another. The ultimate measurement from this type of study is a quantification of the price point differential a particular brand enjoys compared to similar products offered by others.

A basic component in any marketer’s toolkit is an understanding of how satisfied his customers are and, more importantly, how likely they are to remain loyal. Many research firms offer some form of customer satisfaction research. We feel that what differentiates SMG in this particular application is our belief in some basic tenets.

• Satisfaction can not be measured in a vacuum. It is critical to obtain competitive benchmarks in order to fully exploit the findings of this kind of research.
• Satisfaction is only one component of customer loyalty. Measuring other attitudinal components such as intention to stay and likelihood to recommend, enhance the power of the analysis of customer satisfaction.
• Key drivers of Satisfaction / Loyalty must be identified. By breaking your product or service down into it’s salient components and measuring each, we can identify those that are most strongly correlated to overall satisfaction. This allows the development of action steps that will be efficient as well as effective.
• Satisfaction should be monitored over time. Any measurement of satisfaction / loyalty should be part of a marketing program to measure, implement initiatives and then measure again.

Anyone who deals with the general public must have a means for measuring the volume and flow of foot traffic in and around their space. SMG has applied innovative techniques for both retailers concerned with specific stores or aisles and for urban planners who have larger areas of concern. In either case, the unique combination of the not-so-simple task of counting traffic combined with intercept or observational research sets SMG apart.

To maximize its clients' level of consumer insight, SMG has developed an exclusive research and analysis tool that helps both manufacturers and retailers understand how consumers actually shop for products in the aisle—as well as their perceptions of the shopping experience.

Unlike other research tools—such as cash-register data, consumer panels, and household surveys—Eye Con combines hard purchasing data with videotape analysis and one-on-one consumer interviews in the retail environment. This capability enables clients to understand not only how customers think about the purchasing process, but also how they actually behave when they're shopping in the aisle.

Eye Con builds on the information that manufacturers and retailers already have—and adds a critical component: an objective observation of the decision-making process, as it happens, in the store aisle. SMG complements this quantitative analysis with qualitative input from individual consumers—providing a depth of insight unmatched in the retail or consumer products industries.

In a typical Eye-Con study, GMT videotapes consumers as they shop, noting such important factors as what time they're shopping, how many products they touch, their interactions with store personnel and promotions, and how long the decision-making process takes. After consumers leave the aisle, SMG conducts intercept interviews which focus on specific aspects of consumers' behavior.

After data has been collected, SMG analyzes all videotapes and consumer surveys—noting any discrepancies between reported and actual behavior—and helps clients to translate them into meaningful actions for the entire business. With its consulting focus, SMG is able to create a direct link between the results of an Eye Con research study and the top-level priorities of the business—a capability that is unavailable from a traditional market research firm.

The science of politics is one that very few traditional market research firms are well-suited to address. SMG’s professionals have had years of practical experience in this area. We have helped many candidates in races of all kinds to identify issues that will resonate with voters and to develop strategic approaches to them. We also help to assess the competitive landscape of each race and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each participant. We understand the need to provide reliable insight into subsets of a constituency. Assessing the relative impact of party affiliation, key issue affinity, geography and a whole host of demographic variables is the key to providing our clients with the means to develop effective tactics.

We have worked with some of the most prestigious political consultants in the business and we’ve worked directly for candidates vying for a local or county government position. In either case, SMG provides a level of service that is unsurpassed.

Many companies view marketing and sales as an intuitive process-one that doesn't lend itself to detailed study or rigorous analysis. But SMG has developed a unique market insight capability that uses quantitative analysis-as well as technology tools-to help clients realize significant growth in sales and market share by studying and capitalizing on their best growth opportunities, region by region.

SMG's geographic penetration analysis is a highly effective way for clients to plan for growth beyond their regional strongholds, as well as to expand their existing product offerings and distribution channels. Using detailed geographic market penetration data transforms marketing and sales planning into a logical, information-based process, instead of an intuitive activity shrouded in mystery-and characterized by constant second-guessing. Client organizations can make lower-risk marketing and sales investments, because they are acting on facts-not conventional wisdom or intuition.

A typical SMG geographic penetration analysis assignment begins with a look at current sales levels for a client's entire product line, in every market that the client currently serves-whether these markets are international, North American, or focused primarily on the 3,000 counties in the United States.

Then SMG works side by side with the client's marketing and sales team to create a demand profile for each of these regional markets, based on current industry sales and market conditions in each unique geographic area. This data is used to develop comparative performance ratings for all markets-for example, across all 3,000 US counties-measuring the company's current penetration in each against the total market potential.