Unique Research Sets Your Company Apart

Let’s face it. There are a lot of businesses out there making competitively similar claims to a market that is bombarded with thousands of messages every day. In a sea of options, telling unique, insightful and educational stories that reflect real customer concerns helps you stand out and capture audience attention. Bespoke research is an ideal way to inform a compelling story, building credibility, trust and topical authority for your brand.

If you’re contemplating taking on a research initiative, keep a few key points top of mind to help your project go smoothly and ensure you get a valuable result:

Agree on a clear goal. Make sure all relevant parties understand and concur on why your organization is conducting a research project and what you want to get out of it. That does not mean conducting a study that tries to look like research but is actually slanted to get a pre-determined company-favorable outcome. It does mean setting a goal for accomplishing something like building authority on a specific topic or gaining some market insight that will inform a decisional direction. Don’t try to cram three or four goals into one short study – you won’t get any depth of information that can be trusted – and you will confuse your respondents about what they are being asked.
Explore a unique topic. While it may be tempting to take on a hot topic, it’s better to avoid a ‘me too’ point of view and come up with a new angle. Think about the kinds of questions you’re getting from customers and prospects – what new information do they want or need? What kinds of challenges are they facing where peer-level insights could help? What thought-leading idea might your smartest business or product experts want to further develop? These kinds of topics can make for an interesting study that will provide market value and get attention.
Focus your inquiry. Nowadays people have very short attention spans. If you opt for a survey, make questions as succinct as possible and focus on what you most need to know. Be sure to keep your response choices bite-sized, since that fits better on a mobile device screen – and that is how most people complete surveys. If you opt for a qualitative study, craft questions that will encourage respondents to honestly share; don’t lead them. Throw in something unexpected to keep them on their toes. Before you go to field, test and re-test. Ask others who aren’t subject experts to check that your questions make sense to ‘outsiders.’
Keep an open mind. Don’t assume you already know what customers believe and want, or that anecdotal input from a particularly vocal salesperson applies across the board. There is nothing like hearing it from people with no skin in the game – their feelings and opinions are what they are. Be prepared to accept the research results, even if they are not completely what you had hoped. There is always something useful to be learned and shared.
Apply what you learn. Use your research findings to craft thoughtful, differentiated messaging and stories that speak to what your market has told you it cares about. Don’t get distracted by nits – focus on the key learnings that are truly representative of your most important results. Use the learnings as many ways as you can – publish a report or infographic, inform the media, promote it on social channels, host a webinar – maximize the bang for your research buck.

No Time for All That?

This can sound like a lot for marketers who are already too busy with myriad other responsibilities – but in the long run, it pays off. Otherwise you may well be blowing your budget on marketing efforts that are falling flat.

If you need help, W2 Communications can work with you to define specific research goals that get to the heart of your critical business requirements, then tailor a study for your unique situation. With deep subject matter and market expertise, we analyze and organize complex information, conduct qualitative and quantitative studies, and use the learnings to develop targeted messaging and content that reflects your brand and resonates with what your key audiences care about.