Stakeholder Research
What’s going on in your stakeholders’ minds and lives?
If your organization wants to maximize its impact, gut-based decisions are unacceptable. So, you collect data left and right. And you peruse them relentlessly. Because statistics keep assumptions at bay. Right?
Well, not necessarily. Reality is more complex than that. Hard data is crucial to every decision-making process. But it never tells the whole story. And it doesn’t confirm whether you’re asking the right questions in the first place.
Even the most detailed statistics are generalizations. They reduce people’s unique voices, stories, and experiences to numbers.
You can have a pile of data and still lack the answer to the most crucial question of all:
“What’s going on in the minds and lives of the people we want to reach?”
Data doesn’t show you the language people use, the underlying challenges they struggle with, and the doubts that keep them up at night. Statistics don’t tell you anything about the friction that lives beneath the surface: the unspoken concerns or dissatisfaction that might become a problem further down the road.
That’s the information that makes or breaks your policy, program, initiative, strategy, or organizational change.
Counterintuitive as it may sound, data-driven decisions are still gut-based decisions. They’re just very refined ones. You’re drawing conclusions from hard facts, but you’re missing the key “factor:” the human being behind them.
If you truly want to make decisions rooted in reality, you can’t just rely on statistics. You need in-depth interviews with the people whose lives your policy, program, strategy, or organizational change affects.
Why in-depth interviews?
Qualitative research comes in many forms. Why opt for in-depth interviews over, say, focus groups?
First and foremost, focus groups can be really useful. But people behave very differently in a 1:1 conversation than they do in a group setting.
Put people in a room together and you’ll quickly see how group dynamics, conformity, and dominant voices shape what gets said. And, more importantly, what doesn’t.
In a 1:1 setting, people get the space to be themselves. Especially when the interviewer knows how to ask the right questions and create an environment where it’s safe to open up. There’s room for nuance: the individual can articulate their views, thought process, and hidden concerns. That’s how you get to the core of a person’s experiences, worldview, needs, and challenges.
One methodology, four options: which type of stakeholder research will help you maximize your impact?
Through in-depth interviews, I uncover what’s going on in the minds and lives of the people you want to reach. I dive into their needs, challenges, behaviors, experiences, motivation, and language.
The result: a clear understanding of how to align your approach with their reality.
Stakeholder Alignment Research
Who is it for?
Organizations that want to ensure a transformation, new direction, or policy lands.
What insights will you gain?
Is there any resistance among stakeholders? If so, where is it coming from? What’s going on beneath the surface? How do you align your message with the language your stakeholders speak? What approach will get people on board?
Why is this useful?
You get to adjust your approach before you launch anything. You’ll know what keeps your stakeholders up at night, how they articulate their concerns, and where the real friction sits. You’ll also understand how to communicate in a way that gets through. That will help you minimize resistance and keep your initiative on track.
Target Audience Research
Who is it for?
Organizations that want a sharper understanding of what drives their customers, clients, candidates, or other stakeholders.
What insights will you gain?
What are your target audience’s real needs, doubts, and challenges? What language do they use? How do you reduce friction?
Why is this useful?
No more guesswork. You’ll know what’s going on in the minds and lives of the people you want to reach. You’ll understand the language they use and know how to communicate with them more effectively. And you can translate all of that directly into your strategy, services, products, or positioning.
Impact Research
Who is it for?
Organizations that want to assess the impact of a policy, initiative, or program. Impact Research is valuable at various stages: before launch (to optimize your plans), when the project is running (to course-correct where needed), or upon completion (to evaluate results).
What insights will you gain?
What real-world signals and patterns are not captured in your data? What drives the people you want to reach or serve? What’s holding them back? Do they have any additional needs you aren’t aware of?
Why is this useful?
You can respond to people’s current needs, concerns, and challenges. If you’re just starting out, you can build your approach around your stakeholders’ reality. If your program, policy, or initiative is up and running, you’ll find out what it’s truly doing for the people it’s meant for in real time. This will allow you to adjust where necessary.
Ecosystem Scan
Who is it for?
Organizations that need a quick, clear picture of a complex field, network, or stakeholder landscape. An Ecosystem Scan can be useful before launching a new initiative, entering into a partnership, or kicking off a multi-stakeholder process.
What insights will you gain?
How do key players in your field feel about a particular issue? What are they experiencing right now? Where do interests, tensions, and potential bottlenecks lie? What’s driving the dynamic between the parties involved?
Why is this useful?
When you’re well informed, you can get off to a flying start. You’ll be aware of real-world challenges, concerns, and opportunities. And you’ll know what to watch out for before you enter into a partnership or implement a complex process.
How will you receive research findings?
We always start with an intake session to establish which questions you want answered and how you’d like to receive research findings.
You can choose from the following options:
- A report summarizing key insights
- A strategic communications framework
- A 1:1 strategy session to go through the findings together
- A workshop to turn the insights gained into concrete next steps
- A set of audience profiles or personas
It’s possible to opt for a combination of the above (for example, a report and a set of audience profiles).
Please note: interviews often surface insights you didn’t ask for but that turn out to be essential. If that happens, I will of course share these insights with you.
Who am I?
Hi, I’m Annalisa Koukouves. In the past 16+ years, I’ve worked with more than 200 organizations and hundreds of CEOs, founders, communications professionals, and artists across the globe.
In-depth interviews, built around a human-first and strategic approach, have always been at the core of my work.
I’ve interviewed a wide range of audiences as part of:
- Strategic communications projects
- Storytelling projects
- Organizational changes
- Social impact initiatives
- Organizational culture programs
- Target audience research
- Employer branding strategies
- Articles and in-depth artist profiles
- Documentaries
Besides hands-on experience, I have an academic background in anthropology and sociology. So, I’m trained to listen to what people say and don’t say.
When I interview someone, I don’t just see the person in front of me. I pay attention to their cultural, social, and historical background. I understand how profoundly that background shapes the way they think and move through life. And I can put their language, frame of reference, and behavior into a broader context.
I always take time to understand the person I’m talking to. I don’t like to think of someone as ‘the other.’ I believe people just have different frames of reference. My experience and expertise allow me to set mine aside when I interview people. That’s how I make room for theirs… and uncover what statistics alone will never show you.
Testimonials
“Annalisa asked sharp, in-depth questions, which helped us get to the bottom of things. It was more than we had dared to hope for. Besides being honest and thorough, Annalisa is also very warm and accessible. I really enjoyed working with her.”
– Linda van Zanten
Marketing and communications consultant
European Consumer Centre
“Annalisa asks the right questions. You can tell when people have a lot of experience in a particular field. Annalisa radiates a certain level of expertise, which someone can only reach by frequently working on projects like these.”
– Simone van den Nieuwenhuizen
Marketing and communications manager
Joanknecht
“Annalisa has the talent to empathize. She can quickly immerse herself in a topic. What I find very powerful is that she can turn the fragmented information we provide into a coherent story. It’s as if we put a dime in the jukebox and it plays us an entire song.”
– Cornelis Bonnet
Managing director
Texas Digital Europe
“Annalisa is a professional who brings a lot of enthusiasm and energy to everything she does. She’s also very easy to work with. During an in-depth interview, she clearly mapped out the objectives, target audience, mission, and vision of a client of ours who operates across the globe. She contributes ideas across the board, including local and global visibility strategies. We’re very happy with the final result, and so is our client! Working with Annalisa has been a great experience, and we look forward to a long-term collaboration.”
“It took us a long time to find someone who could not only capture our tone of voice, but who would also proactively contribute ideas and understand our vision. We’re very happy that we found Annalisa. She is always well prepared, she knows how to ask the right questions, and she is not satisfied until we are.”
– Dagmar Ingelse
Sales marketeer
Triggre
“Annalisa is smart, analytical, thorough, sensitive, punctual, and passionate. She also has integrity. She can put herself in the shoes of an interviewee, is genuinely interested, has empathy, asks follow-up questions, and turns a story into a solid, well-structured piece. Given her vision of SEO and visibility, she is invaluable to us.”
– Barbara Vos
Co-founder and storyteller
Make Marketing Magic