{Startup watch: Maven Road} Helping clients find connections between unexplored consumer touchpoints

This New York based business analytics research firm helps clients find connections between different consumer touchpoints that are often not explored.

Know your audience. The golden words that are often the aim behind marketing campaigns. Because knowing your audience means knowing exactly what to create, how to create, and how to present. However, it’s not often everyone’s cup of tea to be able to determine what customers want.

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This is where data analytics has been shining, often finding out the exact pulse of the customer. Maven Road, a global business intelligence firm specializing in social listening, audience analysis, and brand perception studies, focuses on those that require significant technical expertise in planning and execution.

The Tech Panda spoke to Paul Herrera, COO and Co-founder at Maven Road, about their work and startup journey.

The data can provide information that helps determine what elements stimulate the consumer and lead them to something that a product, a brand, or a service can offer; it’s all about connecting with the consumer and their real needs

“We help our clients obtain consumer information that can often go unnoticed. We find connections between different consumer touchpoints that are often not explored, and we help them understand other trends or correlations between different consumer behavior patterns,” he says.

“The data can provide information that helps determine what elements stimulate the consumer and lead them to something that a product, a brand, or a service can offer; it’s all about connecting with the consumer and their real needs. We provide interconnecting information from consumer data points to corporations that sometimes see it in a limited way,” he adds.

What They Do

The firm’s products offer consumer intelligence on user conversations and behavior related to their client’s services, products, or competitors. Their services cover a wide range of capabilities to understand consumers, such as Netnographic Research, Social Listening, Trend Tracking Monitoring, BI and Data Visualization, and Machine Learning, just to name a few. As a result, they unlock potential by transforming unstructured data into executive-ready, actionable insights.

We look for ways to validate the technology, business needs, and consumer understanding with a scientific background but from a human perspective. For the company, the humanities are essential

“We can connect data science with social science research, such as anthropology and sociology. We look for ways to validate the technology, business needs, and consumer understanding with a scientific background but from a human perspective. For the company, the humanities are essential,” explains Herrera.

Inspiration & Origin

Before building Maven Road, Herrera worked in technology companies and pharma industries managing operations for a couple of years. A business intelligence firm focused on deciphering big data and creating actionable insights that enable their clients to develop and maintain strategic market leadership.

“Four years ago, when we decided to create Maven Road and run our business, we took on consumer research related to social media, our first way to understand the consumer’s voice,” he recalls.

At that moment, their approach focused a lot on channel information.

Four years ago, when we decided to create Maven Road and run our business, we took on consumer research related to social media, our first way to understand the consumer’s voice

“We had a very obtuse view of the consumer’s voice in digital channels and only concentrated on understanding specific social media. We were relegated to only having a piece of the information, and our impact was limited,” he adds.

Today, Maven Road has learned that to understand the consumer’s voice is necessary to go beyond social media.

“Nowadays, our approach is more holistic; we have integrated social media with search, offline research, and a complete integration directly to consumers. We can go from small, very niche studies to whole cross-channel, mixed audience ones, and we’re ready to tackle pretty much any challenge that a company may have. We’re experts on bringing the light into the dark, unexplored corners of data, finding meaning where there was apparent chaos,” he says.

He adds that analyzing social networks or digital channels goes beyond the direct connection of an individual or person with a brand.

“From the brand’s point of view, sometimes we are biased in thinking that user conversations always connect to the brand, product, or service, but sometimes the footprint or the tiny clues that consumers leave go far beyond that.”

Their First Big Project: Google Ads

Maven Road’s first big project was with Google Ads, when they reached out to Maven Road to determine the impact that positive or negative commentary could have on acquiring potential corporate clients. Herrera recalls that the project made them realize the disconnected data that currently exists in terms of consumer needs.

Our vision was born from the curiosity we had to interconnect different sources of information and integrate and connect data gathered from consumers’ online and offline behavior to generate a more comprehensive view of solutions

“The work we did was truly remarkable, as our team identified ways to understand how user’s comments may affect and impact advertising strategies. This project is considered a significant milestone for Maven Road as it opened up a whole new world of potential analysis,” Herrera explains.

“Our vision was born from the curiosity we had to interconnect different sources of information and integrate and connect data gathered from consumers’ online and offline behavior to generate a more comprehensive view of solutions,” he adds.

The Maven Road USP

The company develops reports comprising various variables that influence digital and social media activity, including user demographic, audience archetype, conversation drivers, and more. Using this information, they craft acute, actionable social media-based insights that allow visualization of macro and micro trends and identify potential target audiences.

“Our knowledge and expertise enable our customers to reach new pockets of consumer data that would otherwise remain untapped,” says Herrera proudly.

He adds that they are aware of the capabilities and the potential that their company has.

Our knowledge and expertise enable our customers to reach new pockets of consumer data that would otherwise remain untapped

“Compared to other businesses, like Deloitte, PwC, or Kantar, our main advantage is that we have the required team and tools to develop quality products in such a short amount of time. We also really care about our clients and take time to know them better to have a clear idea of their aspirations. Our approach to offering strategic consultancy services is to leverage expertise with efficiency.”

Their experience of working with Fortune 500 companies, such as Google, IBM, BAT, and Disney, has given them the knowledge and infrastructure to handle a wide array of business and marketing challenges for global corporations.

“We craft sophisticated, precise, and actionable consumer insights that allow clients to have a clear view of the ROI of their brands,” he says.

Growth Story

Maven Road has a three-digit growth year by year. They count their main advantage as the expertise and tools to develop quality products in a short amount of time.

“We have a talented team and internal know-how that we have been building for the past years. Our processes have been validated by leaders in the field, including Google Artificial Intelligence engineers, top-level marketers, and many more. We work every day to improve our services thanks to the expertise of our international teams and their different capabilities,” Herrera says.

Currently, they have more than 100 team members working in five countries; and nowadays have business in four continents.

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“I think our advantage is that we have the ability to not only focus on hardcore science or data science, but we also connect it with human science research such as anthropology, sociology and we seek that mixture of technology, business needs, and consumer understanding with a scientific background from the human point of view; the human sciences are essential to our business,” he adds.

Future Plans

The company’s mission is to base on the data to improve the business, and their vision is to become the biggest company in Business Intelligence, which they will keep working towards.

“At Maven Road, we constantly innovate and work tirelessly to learn about new technologies and how to best apply them for optimal results for our teams and customers, so we have to keep working on that. We understand that we need new knowledge and infrastructure to address business and marketing challenges for global corporations,” he concludes.