Professional services firms face an uphill battle to stand out and promote their expertise, as overwhelming amounts of content flood target audience’s inboxes and feeds each day.

How, then, can your firm avoid contributing to the noise — and instead rise above it? The answer lies in bespoke research that informs distinctive, high impact thought leadership campaigns. 

The Power of Research-Backed Thought Leadership

True thought leadership isn’t just about reposting articles or chiming in on the latest news. It’s about unleashing fresh and unique insights and practical guidance that can address the critical issues facing your key audiences. In doing so, you can differentiate the most important practices at your firm and open doors to new business opportunities.

Research-based PR and marketing campaigns offer unique advantages over run-of-the-mill content, enabling your firm to:

• Go deep on a topic. While most content just skims the surface, well-crafted research reports provide original data and in-depth analysis that clients and prospects value.
• Fuel content for multiple channels. A single research initiative can drive articles, presentations, infographics, videos, podcasts, and more — creating a content engine that keeps producing long after you launch the report itself.
• Strengthen relationships with clients and stakeholders. Research gives you insights into the concrete needs and challenges of your internal and external stakeholders. When you understand these deeply, you can deliver clear and actionable guidance that makes a difference.
• Leverage findings as a catalyst for business development. When you connect the dots between your research findings and your prospects’ needs, you’ll be able to more easily open doors to high-value sales conversations.
• Establish authority. Staking a claim on key topics and building your position on those topics year after year is an effective strategy to elevate visibility and deepen trust with your audience.

Of course, research-backed campaigns will only drive results if the research they’re based on is both salient and sound. Rather than go it alone, it can be helpful to partner with a firm that specializes in this work.

Greentarget conducts approximately 50 major research-based campaigns for our clients each year. Of those, about half are ongoing campaigns that we iterate over time to help clients build their brand, strengthen their reputation, and drive growth.

Let’s take a look at what it takes to conduct research and market intelligence projects that drive results.

6 Steps to Create Research-Backed Thought Leadership Campaigns

Effective research must be tied to the issues that matter to your audience and help your firm differentiate itself. So what tools and strategies should you use to effectively move from idea to insight? Here’s a look at what it takes to develop research that delivers tangible results.

1. Identify your audience and brainstorm relevant topics. Conducting research for research’s sake is an exercise in futility. To make an impact, your research must be targeted and purposeful, relevant to thought leaders’ expertise, client needs, and timely news hooks.
2. Conduct a white space analysis. White spaces are where you have an opportunity to differentiate — where you can bring something new and valuable to the conversation, and your audience. 
3. Choose the ideal research methodologies for your objectives. Whenever possible, leverage a combination of secondary research (e.g., existing industry reports, academic studies, and publicly available data) and primary research (e.g., quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews or focus groups). 
4. Execute the research. This step involves developing your research instruments, recruiting participants, and conducting fieldwork. But bear in mind: It takes experience and know-how to gather high-quality data with statistical significance. Partnering with a firm like Greentarget helps ensure you reach the right respondents and maintain methodological rigor.
5. Analyze findings and develop strategic guidance. After you’ve collected your data, you need to extract meaningful insights from it. Be sure to invite internal stakeholders and subject matter experts back into the process at this stage. They have the insight and expertise to help you interpret the results accurately, contextualize key findings, and identify the most significant implications for your clients.
6. Create the cornerstone report and supporting content. Package your insights into a report and related content items to distribute to your audience. Make sure all pieces of content are relevant, urgent, novel, and useful to provide maximum value to your audience.

Remember, the goal is to create multiple touchpoints that reinforce your key messages and position your firm as a thought leader in your chosen area. Monitor the performance of different channels and content pieces, and be prepared to adjust your strategy based on what resonates most with your audience. Directing smarter conversations requires powerful insights that are rooted in sound market intelligence. Greentarget can help you find them. So let’s talk.