We are thrilled to welcome Renee Murphy (@reneemmurphy) to our Garage Group Team! As Director of Research Innovation, Renee will be leading smart & scrappy research projects and driving our innovation of entrepreneurial approaches to research. If you haven’t yet met Renee, here’s an introduction!
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a wife to an awesome guy, a mom to a daughter that brings me many smiles and I’m passionate about helping people at the soul-level. Curiosity runs deep for me, and keeps me learning. My career in market research started in 2008 and it has taken me all over the world and given me the opportunity to work on some of the top brands. I’m passionate about hearing from people in their native context and learning from them by allowing them to respond in the way that is most natural. Therefore, social media research and digital research have become a key part of my research toolbelt.
Why are you excited to join The Garage Group?
I’m excited to join up with The Garage Group because I’ve been on the team in a partnership capacity for the last couple of years and we’ve had great reviews from clients. The Garage Group allows me to do my best work, and stimulates thinking that takes my best and makes it even better. I love to learn and grow and The Garage Group undoubtedly will encourage it. Additionally, the work that The Garage Group is doing is pretty different in the research industry and I’m proud to be part of implementing change.
What does “an entrepreneurial approach to market research” mean to you?
An entrepreneurial approach to research shapes the research around the need. It’s method agnostic. Whenever we are developing a solution to a particular problem, we’ve sought to bring the most cost-effective, least time-intensive solution to the table, while still delivering robust insights. This challenge has driven my career and has caused me to develop outside-the-box methods in the past…I can’t wait to see where we go together!
What are a few of the specific challenges you’re looking forward to tackling with a more entrepreneurial approach to research?
We’ve been collaborating on some fresh ways to approach concept testing, and I’d like to make them even better. Everyone needs to test concepts, so the need is there. Traditional means of testing can be time consuming and expensive, so I’m looking for ways to better get around those barriers. Second, the days where research from one data source alone answers the question are gone. We’re experimenting with some ways to incorporate even more sources (social media, quick qual polls, webcam interviews, etc) into our findings for holistic and robust results.
What trends do you see in market research that lend well to a more entrepreneurial approach?
The current trend that I appreciate most is the ability to reach participants in the moment, and have them answer questions right then and there. This leads to quicker results, in a world where a three week project turn-around just doesn’t cut it.
Where are you being inspired right now?
There are a bunch of non-business bloggers that are extremely entrepreneurial. Jess Connolly of Naptime Diaries and Hayley Morgan of The Tiny Twig and Wildly Co are entrepreneurial ladies that innovate day in and day out and don’t make a big fuss about the fact that they are doing some big things. I’ve been looking to bloggers for inspiration, and as analogs on doing business things in smart and scrappy ways.