Miriam Alexander’s niche qualitative research firm, Go Deep Strategy, specializes in developing and executing qualitative research that helps companies create new products, build powerful brands, communicate effectively with consumers, and capitalize on emerging trends. Alexander and her team handle every stage of the research process, from designing the research project, through recruiting participants and conducting the actual fieldwork, to analyzing and reporting the results.
In short, Alexander and her team ask the hard questions that help businesses overcome their challenges.
“In my experience, these questions generally fall into three categories,” Alexander says. “First, we help businesses understand what consumers think about super emotional topics that are difficult for them to talk about. Second, we talk to businesses that require a high level of technical specialization or complex understanding — things like engine oil additives, asset management, multinational enterprise insurance, or IT management — with ease and facility. Third, some businesses aren’t sure what the key questions should be. In those cases, we help define the critical issues and explain why they matter.”
The making of Go Deep Strategy
Alexander founded Go Deep Strategy in 2017 after realizing that every company she would work for would want her to sell and bring in clients.
“I figured I may as well sell for myself, exercise autonomy, and choose the kinds of work I do,” she says with a laugh. “It wasn’t until I started my business that I realized I’m a crappy employee — I’m much happier doing my own thing.”
Previously, Alexander had been so successful as a freelance consultant that she was able to support her son as a single mother. This experience gave her the confidence she needed to start and build her own business.
“The fact that I had done it before with expenses hanging over my head is what gave me the courage to go for it,” she remembers.
Alexander also credits her philosophy major at Wellesley College for her success. “Philosophy taught me how to think, as well as how to think critically and meaningfully,” she explains. “That education has played a huge role.”
Go Deep Strategy’s savvy approach
Alexander and her team at Go Deep Strategy bring their savvy business acumen to both B2C and B2B companies of all sizes.
“In one case, we helped an asset management company understand the value of brand image with investors and financial advisors,” she says. “We were able to provide guidance around optimizing communication – which brand equities to emphasize and why, as well as the kinds of topics, tone, and tenor that resonate with different audiences.”
In another case, Go Deep Strategy spent time with streaming viewers to help their client most effectively merchandise their content. “In an ‘all you can eat and constant churn’ streaming world, value is viewer-defined by either the amount of content they want to watch or the urgency with which they want to watch it,” Alexander explains. “Our work enabled our client to showcase their content in a way that enhanced retention.”
Another client was a company that needed to better understand its gig-economy workers. “We helped them figure out how their workers value the work they’re doing,” Alexander says. “We identified the things that matter to them, as well as how important each aspect is. Then we delved into how and why each element intersects with each other.”
Go Deep Strategy also helped a luxury beauty company redesign its retail presence. “While logistics were obviously important for this project, we also considered how the redesign would impact customers and employees emotionally,” Alexander explains. “As a result, we helped them create an inspiring space where consumers feel moved to take something home.”
Go Deep Strategy’s wide slate of possible methods includes, but is not limited to: focus groups, immersion sessions, shopalongs, ethnographies, roundtable discussions, workshops, scavenger hunts, outlier tours, and house parties. In every case, Alexander and her team tailor their approach to get the information clients need. As the company’s website reads, “We love getting out from behind the one-way mirror, but sometimes the one-way mirror is the best solution. We love going out in the world to ask and observe, but sometimes a digital relationship is the right one.”
Go Deep Strategy offers high-level, close attention
Alexander does what she does because she loves it. “It’s this wonderful combination of curiosity, connection, and insight,” she explains.
While Go Deep Strategy has seen remarkable success, Alexander has deliberately chosen to keep her company small. “I’m not in this to build an empire,” she says. “It’s about focusing on hard questions with clients I like.”
As a result, Go Deep Strategy’s clients not only benefit from the high-level, close attention that Alexander and her team provide, but also successfully overcome even the thorniest and most seemingly intractable challenges.
