We all (I hope) understand the importance of research to any public relations, advertising, marketing or social media campaign. Research is the beginning, middle and end of any campaign. It can help identify appropriate messaging, help us gauge the success of our campaign, identify potential influential online community members and provide a solid benchmark Despite its importance, the conversations we have about research are often strained. Whether it be about budget concerns (some recommend ~10% of an overall budget be spent on research), the client’s sense of urgency in getting started or just an unfamiliarity with the topic, we typically do not handle the conversation about research very well.
So how do we make the conversations go a little more smoothly? I have four ideas that might help you:
1. Make research one of the first things you bring up. Not only will it make you look like you are concerned with their bottom line, but it will show that you are thinking about the campaign on a strategic level and not a tactical one.
2. Avoid jargon and acronyms. Public relations (even social media and advertising) is one of those professions that is littered with acronyms and jargon. For whatever reason, we are in a hurry to make something an acronym, or compose a sentence comprised entirely of jargon. The research conversation is typically no different. I’m not advocating talking to the client like they are five, but don’t start off the conversation by using a term like “KPI” without any context.
3. Be confident in your results. I can guarantee that if your client senses you do not believe in your results, neither will they. If the results are negative, then position them as a way to tweak your campaign to get the desired results. If they are positive, don’t be so quick to take credit for all of your hard work. Praise the client for their work, but also demonstrate how you can continue improving to make the next report even better.
4. Provide actionable insights - For whatever reason, there's often a reliance on FYI's. By FYI's I mean interesting information that doesn't immediately lead to the client solving a specific business problem. Along the same lines, one key to actionable insights is timeliness. If you're providing old data chances are good the window to actually act on that intelligence has passed.
I don’t believe for a second that these are the only things that would make the conversation about research easier. Are there other things that you have done when talking to clients about research? I look forward to hearing from you.
