thinking-creating-original-research

If you’re thinking about conducting original research to use the data for your content marketing, there are important questions to ask before you get started.

I’m talking about collecting data to produce various types of content (e.g., blog posts, e-books, webinars, videos) for content marketing purposes. It’s helpful (versus promotional) content. It’s research-informed content that can help position your brand as a thought leader and draw attention to your solutions.

Like any other tactic, original research must fit into your overall content marketing strategy and within your organizational constraints including budget, staff, and expertise. Even though many types of research and survey software are readily available, not just anyone can “do research” successfully.

Conducting high-quality research requires an understanding of:

  • Research methodologies (including selection of the best methodology based on your objectives)
  • Sampling procedures
  • Questionnaire design
  • Project management
  • Data analysis
  • Reporting

You also must factor in the costs and talent necessary to develop content based on the research findings and a distribution strategy (as you know, what’s the use of developing content if no one sees it).

That said, let’s get started.

1. What is your objective?

Begin with your audience in mind. Conducting research, analyzing the findings, producing a report and other content, and distributing the findings for content marketing purposes requires an investment. Your primary goal should be to provide valuable insights for your audience. Your audience will sense if the research was conducted for self-serving purposes, and that could turn people off.

Be clear about what you want to study – and why.

For example, the CMI research team is surveying a segment of our audience with unique educational needs around content marketing to identify their biggest pain points. We intend to use the findings in a report as well as in an e-book accompanied by prescriptive guidance to address their challenges.

2. Is the data already available?

Once you’re clear on the objective, it’s time to move into the exploratory stage of research. You’ll look for any secondary research – information already published on the subject matter.

This phase can be expensive if you don’t limit the time you will spend because, depending on your topic and objective, many potential resources exist. A basic internet search could lead you to industry association data, libraries, government reports, etc. Also look at internal information (marketing stats, sales data, etc.).

If you discover good existing research, you may determine you can use and properly cite it to develop content for content marketing purposes instead of spending a lot of money to conduct new research.

On the other hand, your discoveries may identify gaps in available research that you might fill.

If you proceed with an original research project, your objective(s) determines the methodology. Qualitative research (e.g., personal interviews, focus groups) or perhaps a quantitative study (e.g., surveys) – or a combination of the two – may be the best method based on your objective.

3. Do you have the resources?

To generate credible results, you can’t wing it. It takes time, expertise, and budget to execute a high-quality, original research project that produces findings for content marketing.

Don’t fulfill this prediction of Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter Research & Consulting, who shared this insight: “Unfortunately, there will be even more bad researchers, as tight budgets and timelines mean more and more non-researchers ‘do research,’ not fully understanding sampling, methodologies, and other basics of insights.”

Staff researchers in large corporate environments generally are well versed on the time, expertise, and budget requirements for various types of research. Because they often (if not always) are working at capacity, it can be tempting for other departments in the company to try to undertake research. If that’s you – or your company doesn’t have researchers – proceed with caution.

Important initial considerations include:

  • Who will manage the project? Do you have a qualified person on staff with time available or will you need to outsource it?
  • Who will design the qualitative survey instruments (e.g., moderator guide, screening questionnaire, question/discussion guide), recruit the participants, and conduct the interviews?
  • Who will design the quantitative questionnaire, program and host the survey, and collect the data?
  • What survey tools will be needed in house?
  • Who will write and design the report? Do you have experienced resources in house, or will you need to contract with freelancers?
  • Who will develop the strategy for creating content pieces around the insights and distribute the findings?
  • How much is all of this going to cost?
  • What are your ROI goals? Are they financial, metrics-based, or something different? Put them in writing….