Continuing our series on market research and communications, the current article aims to show how communications can help increase the impact of research outputs.

Let’s begin with two statements:

1.   We remember what we understand.

2.   We pay attention to what adds value.

As communications professionals, we know that if research is too thick or hard to follow it will struggle to gain the reach it otherwise could have. In what follows, we will walk through the core elements of a research initiative and why the two above statements are critical to consider throughout.

What do we want to know?

Research begins with a desire to know something. Perhaps it is about how an idea like ESG is being valued by the market. Or what the appetite is for the technology you are selling.

Regardless of the topic, all research initiatives revolve around a core question or hypothesis. From a communications perspective, crafting this question requires considerations of audience and value, and not only what you or your team are interested in.

“To whom are you offering what ultimate benefit?” This 50-year-old quote from direct marketer Irving Wunderman is helpful for getting you to think about your audience, be it internal stakeholders or external customers, and the value your research will deliver to them.

How should we obtain the information we need?

Next in the progression is selecting a methodology. And there is no need to reinvent the wheel here. Copywriter Eugene Schwartz used to say that “a better word for creativity is connectivity.” His words are useful for keeping research from getting too complicated.

Focus on the method – be it a survey, an interview series, etc. – that will allow you to most resonate or connect with your audience. This is important because research is justified on the basis of its impact.

How should we organise our findings?

Once the raw information of your research is obtained, there is the question of how to analyse and interpret it. Beyond achieving a general understanding of the data or content, it is necessary to drill down to key messages and overarching themes.

These are important for three reasons:

1.   They connect the dots of your research and give it a reader-friendly intelligibility. Key messages allow readers to understand the main thrust of your research quickly to determine its value.

2.   They give the writeup or final presentation of your research a common theme. Your key messages should appear throughout your research, explicitly or implicitly, tying it all together and reinforcing what you want readers to take away.

3.   Your key messages inform the positioning of your final output, be it a report, a video series, a microsite, etc. Titles, subtitles, section headings and subheadings should all relate to your key messages.

Achieving clarity in your key messages is equally important to developing them in the first place. Each message should be short, succinct and to-the-point. They should be high-level enough to connect important findings in your research, but also specific enough to be actionable.

Where and how should we publish our research?

Choosing the right channels to promote your research is critical. And it goes hand-in-hand with how you choose to present it – be it a long-form report, a concise series of motion graphics or an interactive visualisation.

Longer-form presentations are better for your website, with bite-sized takeaways tailored for social. Motion graphics can be displayed on a dedicated webpage or on social.

But what is the communications principle that determines which channel and content type to use? It begins and ends with your audience. Who needs to read your research and how do they prefer to consume content? Moreover, how can your key messages be presented in an easy-to-engage-with fashion, such that deriving value from your research is as effortless as possible.

In short, know your audience and make decisions with them in mind.

Should we measure the impact of our outputs?

Yes! If you take care to conduct research for maximum impact, it is necessary to measure it to gauge its reception. Maybe your audience found it insightful and can guide you on the best topics to focus on next. Perhaps they found the initiative meaningful but the methodology burdensome, offering an opportunity to pivot how you collect data in the next round.

To measure impact effectively, it is important at the outset of your initiative to determine the metrics by which success will have been achieved. This is important because clear metrics will eventually confirm whether and where any changes to your approach need to be made.

Concluding

Circling back to our original two statements, we can see that communications professionals are concerned with making research clear and intelligible, impactful for the audience and presented to the public engagingly.

Research can be an incredible asset to your company. Doing it right can differentiate and distinguish your brand. Bringing communications principles to bear on your initiatives is key to reaching this goal. To learn more about how we can help increase the impact of your research, contact us here.