Before defining campaigns, setting KPIs, or approving creative, smart organizations spend time in Q3 focused on pre-planning research – a window of opportunity to gather voice-of-the-consumer data that will directly impact strategic decisions in Q4 annual planning. This stage is particularly crucial for shaping your brand communications strategy.

Why? Because effective brand messaging connects with consumers most successfully when it's built on real, timely insights – not assumptions.

What is pre-planning research in marketing?

Pre-planning research refers to the deliberate effort to listen, learn, and explore consumer behaviors, attitudes, and needs before finalizing plans for the coming year. It often involves qualitative or quantitative research, competitive scans, trend tracking, and stakeholder interviews.

When timed correctly, these insights help brands avoid reactive decisions in Q4. Instead, they enter the planning cycle with a confident, insight-backed point of view.

How it supports brand communication

Brand communications are more than taglines – they’re the narratives that fuel your customer journey, digital campaigns, and company voice. Pre-planning research equips your team to:

• Understand how consumers feel about your brand, category, or messaging
• Identify gaps in perception versus intention
• Reveal unmet needs that could guide your messaging strategy
• Test early ideas or concepts before they go to market

Imagine planning your brand story without knowing what really matters to your audience. Pre-planning research prevents that by clarifying where you stand—and where you need to go.

From insights to storytelling

This is where the role of a brand comms strategist becomes essential. With a clear understanding of your audience through research, a strategist can transform that raw data into messaging that lands. Research gives you the 'what,' while brand communications gives you the 'how.'

When research and storytelling work hand-in-hand, brand campaigns don’t just look good – they work.

Start early, optimize faster

Waiting until Q4 to hire a comms strategist, or skipping pre-planning research altogether, can result in rushed messaging that misses the mark. Instead, by investing time in Q3 to bring in the right support – whether from an internal strategist or an On Demand Talent researcher – your team can ground next year’s marketing planning with confidence.

Hiring the right brand comms strategist can make or break how well your pre-planning research translates into market-ready messaging. So what exactly should you be looking for in this role?

Strategic thinking with an insights mindset

At a foundational level, a great brand strategist understands how to take consumer research and synthesize it into actionable messaging strategies. This isn’t just about summarizing data – it’s about framing brand narratives that connect emotionally while staying grounded in research findings.

Look for candidates or professionals who:

• Have experience partnering with market research or insights teams
• Can interpret both quantitative and qualitative research findings
• Understand how consumer insights shape brand positioning over time

Experience with pre-planning cycles

Not all strategists have worked within a Q3–Q4 planning rhythm. Hiring someone familiar with the needs of pre-planning research in marketing ensures they can jump in, ask the right questions, and deliver value quickly. Time is limited during the pre-planning window, so onboarding needs to be fast and efficient.

Storytelling ability

Messaging isn’t just tactical – it’s emotional. A strong strategist brings storytelling in branding to the forefront, crafting narratives that reflect research insights while aligning with brand values. They should be able to communicate ideas clearly to both creative and executive teams.

Adaptability and collaboration skills

In pre-planning, brand strategists often work side-by-side with cross-functional teams – insights, marketing, product, and leadership. They need strong communication skills and the ability to flex based on shifting priorities and inputs. This is where On Demand Talent can shine: these professionals are used to parachuting into projects and quickly adding value without the ramp-up time of traditional hires.

Why On Demand Talent may be your best option

Rather than going through a lengthy hiring process or relying on freelancers unfamiliar with your category, many brands are leveraging On Demand Talent. These are experienced brand comms professionals who can integrate with your team for short-term, high-impact needs – like Q3 pre-planning or campaign development.

Compared to freelance platforms or large agencies, On Demand Talent from SIVO offers:

• Faster placement – often within days or weeks, not months
• Experts with deep experience, not entry-level freelancers
• Access to insights professionals who are fluent in both research and storytelling
• Flexible support for finite projects or temporary needs

When choosing how to hire a brand strategist for research support, consider not just the person – but also the model. On Demand Talent brings you strategy, speed, and smart execution, without long-term commitments or complex onboarding.

Every great brand story starts with a deep understanding of the audience it aims to reach. That’s why pre-planning research plays such a vital role in shaping effective brand messaging. Long before a campaign launches or a marketing plan gets finalized, insights professionals dig into consumer behaviors, motivations, and unmet needs. This foundation of knowledge allows brand comms strategists to do their core work: building a narrative that’s not only compelling, but credible and relevant.

Why research matters for storytelling in branding

Today’s audiences are discerning, and brand loyalty is earned—not assumed. Messaging that feels out of touch or overly generic can easily fall flat. On the other hand, when brand communications are informed by consumer insights, they speak directly to real experiences and challenges. They show customers they’re seen and heard.

Here are a few ways research fuels more resonant messaging:

• Audience segmentation: Tailor brand messaging for different personas or segments based on data, not guesswork.
• Emotional drivers: Identify the specific motivations that guide purchase behavior so your messaging can reflect those needs authentically.
• Competitive positioning: Uncover white space in the market and develop a distinctive voice that sets your brand apart.

When insights and messaging align, brands earn trust

Messengers matter as much as the message—and when a brand strategist collaborates closely with research experts, it ensures that the story being told is the right one for the right moment. For example, a fictional CPG company prepping a product relaunch in Q1 might uncover in Q3 research that their core audience values sustainability over convenience. Instead of leading their brand messaging with speed claims, they reframe the story to spotlight their eco-friendly sourcing. That shift, based entirely on insight, can drive stronger engagement and better alignment with customer values.

Ultimately, integrating insights into every phase of your storytelling process ensures that your marketing is grounded, not just creative. It makes your strategic planning smarter, and sets your team up to make informed branding decisions during Q4 planning cycles.

When preparing for Q3 pre-planning research, filling strategic roles like a brand comms strategist isn’t just about hiring fast – it’s about hiring right. While freelance platforms can seem like a convenient option, they often fall short when it comes to strategic experience, seamless team integration, and long-term value. That’s where On Demand Talent comes in as a stronger choice for companies seeking high-impact support.

What’s the difference between freelancers and On Demand Talent?

At first glance, both freelancers and On Demand professionals offer flexibility. But beyond that, their roles differ significantly:

• Freelancers: Often project-only contributors, freelancers typically require onboarding time, may juggle multiple clients, and might not bring deep industry experience unless specifically vetted.
• On Demand Talent: These are seasoned consumer insights professionals provided by networks like SIVO. They have years of experience, hit the ground running, and are embedded as true parts of your team—even if temporarily.

When hiring for strategic insight roles tied to brand messaging or marketing planning, the stakes are too high to settle for uncertain availability or varying quality.

Why On Demand Talent is ideal for strategic needs

With SIVO’s On Demand Talent solution, you can access a wide network of proven talent across roles and industries, all pre-vetted for expertise and fit. They don’t just execute—they collaborate, contribute ideas, and often elevate the work by connecting messaging strategy directly to consumer research.

Some key benefits include:

• Speed: Get matched with the right strategist in days or weeks—not months.
• Reliability: Tap into professionals who’ve worked with global brands and thrive in collaborative environments.
• Seamless integration: On Demand professionals are brought in as part of your existing insights or marketing team, not as outsiders.

When Q3 hits and every insight counts, working with On Demand Talent helps ensure you’re building your messaging strategy on research-backed decisions—not improvisation.

Hiring a brand strategist during the intense pace of pre-planning season doesn’t have to mean rushing or compromising. With the right approach – and the right support – teams can move quickly while still securing top-tier, insights-driven talent to shape their brand communications ahead of Q4’s decision-making.

Start by clarifying the mission

Before you begin, clearly define the role the strategist needs to play. Are they helping interpret consumer insights? Leading the storytelling development? Advising across multiple stakeholder teams? The more aligned your expectations are upfront, the faster (and more accurately) you can match with the right talent.

Tap into an established talent network

The biggest time savings come from working with partners who already have access to experienced professionals. For example, SIVO’s On Demand Talent network includes experts ready to contribute across branding, research, and marketing. That means no public job listings, long interview cycles, or extensive vetting – just qualified matches, fast.

Here’s how you can hire efficiently while maintaining high standards:

• Work backward from your deadlines: Know when annual planning kicks off and build in enough time for research interpretation and messaging development.
• Look for plug-and-play professionals: These are experts who have worked on similar problems before and won’t need lengthy onboarding.
• Align on process, not just talent: Make sure your process is scoped for fast decision-making. Fewer stakeholders, clearer goals, and shared ownership all help.

Fictional example: A retail brand realizes in early Q3 that it lacks storytelling support to translate recent segmentation research into actionable messages for its holiday campaign. Instead of pausing or overloading internal staff, they use On Demand Talent to bring in a fractional brand strategist with retail and consumer behavior expertise. Within 10 days, the strategist is fully integrated and enhancing the team’s planning process—all before strategic deadlines hit.

Quick hiring doesn’t need to be risky. In fact, with the right systems in place, it can be your biggest asset during fast-moving planning windows.