Originally published in the Calgary Herald on Aug. 27, 2024.
Data may be considered the new oil, but if you don’t know how to use it to your advantage, it’s unlikely to fuel much success.
“Data is useless without context and an idea of how to act on it meaningfully,” says Tim Olafson, co-founder of Stone-Olafson, Calgary’s most prominent research consulting firm.
Indeed, Olafson excels at helping organizations sift through data to uncover those ‘eureka!’ moments.
“Our job is to take data and bring it to life so our clients can see around the corner of what might come next.”
This is especially important in today’s rapidly changing environment, where constant change is the norm.
“We’re at our best for clients when conditions are most uncertain.”
Stone-Olafson’s job is to provide understanding and clarity about what’s changing, and what their next step should be, Olafson says.
In turn, clients not only keep pace, they set the pace, developing products and messaging that resonates with their audiences, positioning them as leaders in their respective fields.
“Our clients are not thinking about yesterday,” Olafson says. “They’re thinking about next week, next month or five years down the road.”
That’s not to say the past is unimportant. After all, a great amount of the data and insights that Stone-Olafson leverages are based on clients’ past performance and their respective customers’ past behaviour.
“We use that to be able to tell them, ‘This is what your clients are saying and doing, this is where market conditions are going and this is what you need to do to meet your customers’ needs today and in the future,’” Olafson says.
The result is that clients develop products or messaging campaigns that genuinely engage their target audience.
“We help them create products or messages that basically show their customers, ‘This is how we meet your needs.’”
None of that occurs without extensive testing of messaging beforehand.
“That way, we know when a campaign comes out what the market reaction will be,” Olafson says, adding that it’s all about helping clients understand what comes next. “If you do the deep research and hard work up front, then those dollars clients are spending will be all the more effective, getting the right message to the right people at the right time with the right, desired effect.”
This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commerical content division, on behalf of Calgary Economic Development.