Toluna is a dynamic DIY market research platform that enables businesses to quickly launch surveys and gather real-time consumer feedback. It’s part of a growing wave of digital research tools that help brands test ideas, validate strategies, and explore new directions without waiting weeks for results.

In the world of Toluna, your team can build surveys, target specific audiences, and access automated reporting – all from one platform. It’s particularly useful for concept testing, brand development research, and other exploratory projects where fast, directional insights are key.

Common Use Cases for Toluna in Consumer Insights

Many organizations use Toluna to:

• Test brand positioning statements with target audiences
• Evaluate marketing platforms or thematic messaging territories
• Compare creative directions or campaign ideas
• Collect feedback on product concepts or user benefit claims
• Gauge consumer sentiment on new trends or market opportunities

These capabilities make Toluna a go-to option for quick-turn research that supports agile brand building. For instance, a consumer goods team might want to see which of three brand territories resonates most with their Gen Z audience. With Toluna, they can get those directional insights within days, refining their brand strategy before moving forward.

How It Works

Toluna operates on a self-serve model, giving users flexibility and speed. Teams create surveys using a step-by-step interface and can choose from a global panel of respondents. The platform delivers fast data visualization tools that highlight high-level takeaways and make storytelling easy.

That said, the quality of your insights still depends on the quality of your inputs – a common challenge with DIY market research. Writing strong questions, designing the right study framework, and interpreting results objectively all require expertise. That’s why many brands pair platforms like Toluna with professional guidance to ensure the outcomes remain strategic and unbiased.

Enter SIVO’s On Demand Talent: insights professionals who can lead or support projects exactly when and where needed. They understand how to navigate DIY research tools while ensuring brands focus on the goals that matter. With help from these experts, companies can get the best of both worlds – speed and strategy.

A compelling brand strategy isn’t built overnight. It requires careful positioning, consistent messaging, and a deep understanding of what resonates with your audience. But how can you be sure your current direction – or a new one – will truly connect? The answer lies in consumer validation.

Brand positioning, messaging platforms, and thematic territories are the foundation of how your brand is perceived. These elements drive marketing campaigns, guide product development, and shape customer loyalty. Yet too often, they’re chosen based on internal preferences or assumptions, not consumer evidence.

Definitions to Clarify the Landscape

• Brand Positioning: The unique space your brand occupies in a consumer’s mind, often defined by the value you offer and how you're different from competitors.
• Platforms: The overarching idea or message that supports your brand strategy – think of it as the umbrella under which campaigns and content are built.
• Territories: Distinct thematic areas you might explore creatively – such as “sustainability,” “performance,” or “community impact.”

Testing these ideas helps ensure you're not building your brand strategy on untested assumptions. It’s about clarity – not guesswork – and being confident your direction will resonate in the market.

Reasons to Validate Early and Often

Using DIY market research platforms like Toluna makes it easier than ever to carry out this kind of strategic exploration. When well-executed, testing platforms and territories can:

• Reveal which concepts consumers find most compelling and relevant
• Help prevent costly misalignment between brand message and consumer expectations
• Support internal alignment on a strategic direction backed by data
• Reduce guesswork at critical stages of creative development

For example, a fictional outdoor gear brand might test three positioning angles: adventure, sustainability, and everyday performance. By evaluating consumer responses using Toluna, the team may find that their audience connects most strongly with “performance rooted in purpose,” a hybrid territory they hadn’t originally prioritized – shifting their messaging strategy accordingly.

When Tools Aren’t Enough

While platforms like Toluna are powerful, they don’t replace brand strategy or eliminate the need for experienced insight professionals. That’s where SIVO’s On Demand Talent can play a critical role. These experts can help:

• Craft tests that reflect your business goals–not just generic templates
• Ensure concepts are presented clearly and consistently
• Interpret nuanced feedback and extract actionable insights
• Connect testing outputs back to your brand vision

Ultimately, the best outcomes come when technology and human expertise work together. By leveraging tools like Toluna and supplementing them with experienced professionals, brands can efficiently explore positioning and platform options with confidence – knowing the direction they choose is not just creative, but supported by strategic insight.

Why brand territory comparison matters

When developing your brand strategy, the choice of territory – or the thematic space your brand plays in – directly influences how consumers perceive your value, personality, and role in their lives. Comparing multiple territories early in development can help you uncover which direction resonates most, before you invest heavily in creative assets or campaigns.

Using Toluna for fast and structured territory testing

Toluna offers a flexible DIY platform for testing brand territories with consumers in real time. You can present different territory descriptions (e.g., text narratives, moodboards, taglines, or early concept visuals) and gather feedback across key dimensions:

• Relevance: Does the territory align with what consumers care about in your category?
• Differentiation: Does it feel unique compared to competitors?
• Clarity: Can consumers easily understand what it means?
• Emotional appeal: Does it connect on a personal or aspirational level?

A common approach is to test 3–5 brand territories side-by-side using Toluna’s concept testing templates. With dynamic questions and logic, you can collect ratings, open-ended reactions, and preference choices, creating a rich data set to identify leading platforms.

Tips for effective execution

To make the most of Toluna for territory exploration, it helps to:

Use consistent formats: Ensure each territory is presented equally to avoid biased responses (same word count, tone, visuals, etc.).
Focus on core signals: Ask a few targeted questions that align with your strategic KPIs to avoid data overload.
Segment for insights: Look at responses by audience segment (e.g., age, usage, values) to uncover which territories resonate strongest with key consumer groups.

Example (fictional for illustration):

A mid-size wellness brand tested three new brand territory concepts: “Empowerment Through Self-Care,” “Science-Backed Wellness,” and “Nature’s Simplicity.” Toluna helped reveal that while consumers liked the idea of simplicity, the “Empowerment” platform had stronger emotional pull across high-value customers. This guided their messaging and visual identity direction.

By using a tool like Toluna combined with a clear testing framework, businesses can take guesswork out of brand strategy. It transforms subjective debates into consumer-led decisions – helping your team move forward confidently with the right platform.

Why expertise matters in DIY tools

DIY market research platforms like Toluna are empowering more teams to explore brand positioning, test marketing territories, and gather consumer insights with speed. But accessing the data is only half the challenge – the real value lies in how well the results are interpreted and acted upon.

That’s where strategic experts come in. Professionals with experience in brand strategy and consumer research bring a critical lens to ensure that insights are not only accurate, but aligned with your strategic objectives.

How experts add value

Even simple concept tests can return complex results. Without an experienced perspective, teams can misinterpret consumer input – leading to costly missteps. Strategic researchers help by:

• Framing the right business questions: Ensuring your test objectives match your brand goals and stage of development.
• Designing unbiased constructs: Helping format territories, questions, and stimuli that avoid leading language or confusing comparisons.
• Interpreting nuanced insights: Going beyond topline numbers to tease out what consumers are really responding to and why.
• Connecting to strategy: Making clear recommendations on next steps, backed by data, so your brand direction stays grounded in evidence.

These experts act as the connective tissue between your internal brand goals and external consumer reactions. They guide decisions by providing context and translating raw data into strategic action.

DIY doesn’t have to mean alone

The mistake many businesses make is assuming “DIY” means having to do it all without support. In reality, pairing internally managed tools with external expertise gives you the best of both worlds: agility and rigor.

For example (fictional illustration):

A challenger brand tested messaging for two competing brand platforms on Toluna. The data showed similar scores between them, leaving the team uncertain. By involving a strategic expert with category experience, small but meaningful differences in emotional language and audience preference were revealed, pointing toward a clearly stronger long-term narrative.

In a competitive marketing landscape, nuance matters. The right expert can help ensure your territory testing unlocks directional clarity, not just charts and percentages.

Bridging strategy and execution with On Demand Talent

Using DIY insights tools like Toluna opens up new opportunities to move fast and iterate often. But they also introduce new challenges – teams may lack the time, internal expertise, or capacity to manage these tools effectively while keeping insights aligned to brand strategy.

That’s exactly where SIVO’s On Demand Talent solution comes in. These are experienced consumer insights professionals ready to jump in when and where you need them – whether for a specific brand positioning study or ongoing platform testing support.

Fast, flexible support when it matters most

When insights leaders are under pressure to deliver quick guidance, On Demand Talent can help you:

• Design smarter DIY research: Format effective tests that reflect your strategic questions and ensure valid comparisons across territories or platforms.
• Handle spikes in workload: When projects outpace internal bandwidth, bringing in flexible talent keeps timelines on track without sacrificing research quality.
• Elevate outcomes: With sharp interpretation and clear communication, they turn data into recommended actions that stakeholders trust.
• Upskill your team: Many of our On Demand experts also help train internal teams to better use platforms like Toluna – creating long-term capability, not dependency.

Unlike hiring freelancers or consultants, SIVO’s On Demand Talent are vetted professionals who have worked across industries, stages of brand growth, and marketing objectives. They hit the ground running and integrate seamlessly with your team.

DIY doesn’t replace research professionals – it empowers them

Brands today are navigating faster cycles, tighter budgets, and greater demand for proof-driven decisions. While tools like Toluna offer speed and scale, they don’t replace the strategic thinking that brings insights to life. On Demand Talent gives you access to that thinking, on your terms.

Whether you need short-term project help or ongoing support to build consistency across research efforts, our network provides highly capable experts who extend your insights function without long hiring cycles or headcount pressure.

Put simply, On Demand Talent helps you make the most of your research tools – keeping speed high and strategy sharp.