RESEARCH & INSIGHTS
You need research that holds up: surveys designed with rigor, fielded to the right people, and analyzed by a team that understands not just what the numbers say but what to do with them.
EMC’s Research & Insights practice, led by Conan Knoll with 15 years conducting surveys for issue advocates, gives mission-driven organizations professional survey research without the Gallup price tag. We design the survey, field it, analyze the data, tell you what it means, and take newsworthy findings to the media, influencers, and independent voices your audience trusts. Most firms do one or the other. We do both.
Want to know what your community, constituents, or target audience actually thinks? We design and field public opinion surveys built on representative, demographically balanced samples, giving you defensible data that holds up to scrutiny.
Before you launch a campaign, you need to know which messages land. EMC designs message tests that expose different audiences to message options and measure which resonates most by audience segment, geography, and demographic. Stop guessing. Start with data.
How does your target audience perceive you? Do they know who you are, and when they do, do they prefer you? We’ve run brand perception surveys for organizations from statewide professional associations to national advocacy coalitions, measuring awareness, preference, and what drives both.
With experience across advocacy, nonprofit, and social impact sectors, we understand how to communicate complex issues in ways that resonate with diverse audiences—from grassroots supporters to policymakers. Our approach integrates digital campaigns with your broader communications strategy, reinforcing themes already present in earned media, owned content, and organizational messaging. You’re partnering with strategists who understand how campaigns drive change and can adapt tactics as the landscape shifts.
This is where EMC is different. When your findings are newsworthy, we build a media strategy around them. We’ve turned polling into earned media that shaped public narratives and influenced policy, and we can do the same for you.
Turn Public Opinion Into Strategic Advantage
The most effective communications campaigns are built on evidence. EMC’s Research & Insights practice gives you the data you need to make smarter decisions, craft more compelling messages, and prove to funders and policymakers that the public is on your side.
The tools to collect responses are widely available. What isn’t is the judgment to design a clean instrument, draw and balance a representative sample, read findings in the context of your communications goals, and turn them into coverage. That work doesn’t come in a software subscription.
Conan Knoll has spent 15 years designing surveys for issue advocates with real stakes in what the public thinks and real goals for what they want to change. He brings that expertise to every engagement, whether it’s a targeted message test for an internal decision or a public poll built to drive a media cycle.
EMC’s research doesn’t just tell you what people think. It tells you what to do about it.
Ready to find out what people really think? Get in touch.