Research Data And Real News: How To Avoid Arm-Wrestling With Reporters

Unfortunately, much in the way of news generated by the public relations community comes across to the news media as having little value. On a daily basis, reporters receive a slew of me-too pitches and news announcements that are off target or lacking in news value.

In fact, one reporter recently told us that many public relations (PR) professionals try to arm-wrestle reporters into covering a story, but that just won't do it. They need numbers to believe it; otherwise, they'll press delete.?

With this in mind — that in order to be interesting and relevant, stories need to be rooted in objective reality, facts and data — we recommend at least one research project per quarter, if not per month, to our clients. We field surveys because they help us articulate the value of client solutions through the lens of customer benefits, with a specific focus on the pain points and issues that a client's product or service can resolve while linking the story to current issues and trends.

For example, we recently worked with an enterprise software training company and fielded a survey that not only focused on the specific business pain points addressed by the company's solution but also leveraged the survey to "ladder up" to the human resources and executive-level aspects of training and onboarding. The survey was built to create viral headlines designed to engage top-tier business reporters, as well as to generate specific numbers and data points linked directly to larger trends in business and society. Driven by the data, example headlines included:

? "New Research Shows Why 'Training As Usual' Is DOA"

? "Why 2,000 Americans Say Employee Onboarding Simply Sucks"

? "New Study: Employees And Employers Have Wildly Different Thoughts On Onboarding And Training"

Because they were targeted at the right editor or reporter, these pitch headlines served as effective attention-grabbers and got us traction with several key media outlets. Knowing that they had a relevant, timely and fact-based pitch to work with, a number of reporters gave us a chance to explain our client's solution, and we didn't have to "arm-wrestle" a single reporter by overselling the client.

Avoiding The Oversell Is Just The Beginning

In addition to creating a win-win between PR professionals and the journalists with whom they work, research-driven campaigns offer several other benefits. They support thought leadership initiatives because nothing helps position one's firm as a thought leader quite like devoting resources to industry scholarship in order to discover key issues and, as a result,?provide great content?related to one's space.

In addition, survey-based and data-centric campaigns can help increase your overall PR volume, thanks to greater numbers of articles and mentions. Typically, we find that research projects secure a high number of media placements, averaging anywhere between 10 and 30 articles per month.

Hand in hand with greater coverage numbers is the depth of the articles. Because data-driven stories are compelling — and offer?timeliness, impact and proximity?— journalists can more easily pitch them to editors. Once they get the "green light," journalists can dig in deep and deliver more meaningful feature stories that present compelling product and service info, creating publicity that helps drive awareness and moves prospects through the sales funnel.

What's more, these stories have an extended shelf life. We have often found that reporters will cite well-executed research projects months, even years, after they have been published. This also aids in link building since the reporters citing your firm's research usually provide a deep link that aids in search engine optimization (SEO), giving your website?greater authority and relevancy?in your specific market. And research-driven projects can also provide useful air cover for other marketing initiatives because data can be repurposed for other tactics, including product launches, sales, blogs, presentations and online content.

Finally, in terms of the return on investment (ROI), research-driven projects can deliver real value. Pricing for an effective, well-designed survey, fielded by a respected research company, can start at just a few thousand dollars, with results in just days. And the lead generation payoff can be significant. A survey that we conducted for one international IT company secured over 1,800 stories and numerous sales leads as part of an award-winning integrated marketing effort. The client received much more value in media impressions and sales leads than it invested, illustrating the multiplier effect of PR.

Research-driven campaigns are useful tools for PR pros because they deliver real benefits time and time again. And they're easier and more effective than arm-wrestling!

This story originally appeared in Forbes.