What is Discourse Analysis?
Discourse analysis is an approach that examines how language is used – whether spoken, written, or visual – in specific situations or contexts. Rather than focusing solely on the structure and content of language, discourse analysis explores how words are used in real-life scenarios to understand how meaning is conveyed and interpreted.
The core elements of discourse analysis include:
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Context – Social, cultural, political, or historical factors that influence the meaning of language.
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Power and Ideology – How language reflects or challenges power dynamics, hierarchies, social status, or ideologies.
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Identity – How language reinforces or constructs individual or group identities.
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Action-Oriented Use – How language is used to achieve goals, build relationships, or persuade others.
How Can Discourse Analysis Be Used in B2B Market Research?
In market research, discourse analysis helps uncover the motivations, values, and cultural factors that influence behavior. From a B2B perspective, it’s a powerful tool for understanding how businesses communicate, position themselves, and create meaning around their offerings, values, and relationships.
Key applications of discourse analysis in B2B research include:
Conversation Analysis – Identifying how problems or solutions are conceptualized and spotting patterns in language or tone.
Language Mapping – Comparing language used across different segments, such as SMEs vs. enterprise clients or tech-savvy vs. non-savvy users.
Narrative Analysis – Exploring stories shared by respondents to identify emotional triggers and associations.
Metaphor and Framing – Recognizing consistent metaphors (often used to simplify complexity) that shape positioning or communication strategies, e.g., “partner,” “tool,” “solution.”
Relational Language – Understanding how customers talk about a business and the power dynamics involved.
Language of Justification – Analyzing how customers explain their decisions and the language they use to justify actions.
Internal vs. External Language Assessment – Identifying similarities and differences between customer language and company messaging.
What Isn’t Said – Examining pauses, avoided topics, or hesitations to uncover potential challenges, frustrations, or tensions.
These techniques can be applied to various research objectives, such as:
Understanding Customer Needs and Priorities
By analyzing how customers articulate their challenges, we gain insight into the impact on their day-to-day roles and can develop solutions that address core issues.
Understanding Brand Perceptions
The way customers – current or prospective – talk about your brand reveals how it is perceived. For example, is your brand seen as a partner, expert, or visionary? Does this align with your desired positioning?
Optimizing the Customer Journey
Studying the language used at different journey stages helps identify strengths, weaknesses, and the moments that most influence the overall experience.
Assessing the Competitive Landscape
Language used to describe competitors – including metaphors and descriptors – can reveal how they are differentiated and guide your brand’s positioning to better resonate with customer needs.
Anticipating Industry Trends and Future Needs
How respondents discuss emerging trends and the narratives they build around them can inform how organizations position themselves to respond and seize new opportunities. Words like “transformation,” “evolution,” and “disruption” may signal perceived importance or impact.
Articulating the Buying Process and Key Decision Makers
Understanding how customers describe decision-making and influencing factors can guide the type of information and support needed at key moments. Identifying “heroes” or “villains” in the process can also highlight key decision makers and their considerations.
What Alternative or Comparable Methodologies Exist?
While discourse analysis is unique and interpretive, it is often used alongside or compared with other qualitative approaches in B2B market research.
Similar techniques that focus on language include:
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Thematic Analysis – Systematically identifying patterns or themes in data to uncover underlying meanings. These themes can be further explored through discourse analysis.
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Content Analysis – Categorizing and coding text based on specific criteria to highlight trends, often applied to large datasets with deeper analysis on selected subsets.
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Narrative Analysis – Examining stories to understand experiences, including structure, content, and sequence. This complements discourse analysis by revealing how narratives are shaped.
Complementary techniques include:
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Ethnography – Observing participants in their natural environment to understand behavior and culture, providing context for discourse analysis.
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Semiotics – Studying signs, symbols, and meaning in visual materials, which can enrich discourse analysis.
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Sentiment and Text Analytics – Using algorithms to analyze tone, emotion, and frequency in large datasets.
Discourse analysis is one of many exploratory tools available in B2B research. To learn more about the full range of methodologies and B2B International’s capabilities, please get in touch.
To discuss how our tailored insights programs can help solve your specific business challenges, get in touch and one of the team will be happy to help.