After investing in research, your organization now has a much better understanding of the market’s requirements, opinions, and behaviors. These insights can help drive the development of more appealing products and services as well as messages that will better resonate with customers and prospects. That’s quite a return on investment.

But, you may be overlooking an opportunity to get even more return on those research dollars. We’ve worked with many clients who have leveraged research studies to position themselves as thought leaders in the market. They’ve utilized key findings to secure press coverage, create exclusive customer and prospect events, develop a new white paper, and expand web site content.

You could do the same. But remember, the primary objective of your research should be business intelligence, not publicity. Don’t filter or twist the results to support a particular position or selling point, as that will be transparent and you’ll quickly lose credibility. Use a third party to conduct the study so results are unbiased and perceived as such by your audience. Let your research firm know in advance that you may want to leverage the study in the market, as it may be able to include questions that explore areas in which your audience would be particularly interested. And, be discerning about which results you share. Some may not have enough mass appeal to pass the “so what” test, while others you’ll want to keep close to your chest for competitive reasons.

As anticipated improvement in the nation’s economy drives job growth in the year ahead, many organizations are once again concerned about protecting their most valuable asset—their star performers. In addition, those same companies are hoping to recruit only the best people to fill their open positions.

If approached correctly, employee surveys can be a highly effective tool for learning what it takes to attract and retain top talent in your organization. By seeking and acting on employee feedback, employers can drive positive changes in morale, processes, productivity, innovation, and even customer satisfaction.

Here are some tips for getting the most out of employee surveys:

• Determine Satisfaction Criteria to Measure: Your survey can be designed to glean employees’ opinions on numerous issues ranging from benefits, advancement, and supervisory guidance to coworker/team cooperation, communications, training programs, bottlenecks, job stress, and much more. Because it’s not possible to measure all criteria in one survey, management should clearly define the objectives of the survey based on the organization’s needs and unique circumstances.
• Rely on the Experts: Professional researchers will help you develop a clear, concise, and user-friendly survey instrument that utilizes reliable response indicators. They’ll also determine the best method(s) for collecting the data based on the audience to be surveyed. (For example, an email or web-based survey isn’t optimal for employees who work in a plant without their own workstations.) And, their analysis will include actionable recommendations. Furthermore, utilizing a third party to conduct and analyze the survey underscores the organization’s commitment to confidentiality, which is critical to employees providing honest and candid responses.
• Commit to Corrective Action Plans: The organization must be willing to act on at least some of the feedback provided. In fact, if the employees feel that their feedback fell on deaf ears and no improvements are forthcoming, the research effort will likely damage rather than improve morale, trust, and productivity. Keep the survey focused on areas in which management is willing and able to implement change—and then take definitive actions on the feedback in a timely manner.
• Don’t Stop at One Survey: A one-time snapshot of employee satisfaction will not prove useful for the long term. Rather, employers must take the pulse of the organization consistently over time and establish metrics for gauging changes in perceptions and beliefs—both positive and negative.
• Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: Utilize emails and staff meetings to tell employees why the organization is conducting the survey, assure confidentiality, and encourage participation. Share planned improvements that result from the feedback. Explain why certain things cannot change—employees can be more accepting when they have a holistic business understanding of certain issues and conditions. (Be discerning about which survey results and plans are shared, as you can assume that information will end up with competitors.)

If your organization is hesitant about opening up the proverbial Pandora’s Box with ongoing employee surveys, consider what Norman Vincent Peale, author of “The Power of Positive Thinking,” said: “The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”

This article was written by Kathy Albarado, President of Helios HR (formerly HR Concepts). Helios HR is committed to helping organizations establish an enhanced human resource infrastructure allowing them to attract, retain and engage an exceptional workforce.
www.helioshr.com (703) 860-3882

Without conducting research, measuring a marketing campaign’s impact in the marketplace can be difficult at best. Certainly, you can count the number of business reply cards, landing page forms, and phone calls that a campaign generates. But, while important, lead counting doesn’t begin to tell the whole story of whether or not an integrated marketing campaign is moving the needle on the brand meter. Even worse, boiling campaign results down to a lead count encourages those in the executive suite to view marketing as a sales support expense rather than a strategic market development investment. Such a view doesn’t respect the fact that it takes time, money, and diligence to establish a brand position; build brand awareness and acceptance; and then convert that into loyalty and sales.

Attitude, Awareness and Usage (AA&U) studies provide a comprehensive assessment of a campaign’s impact. This type of research measures a company’s awareness levels, explores the market’s perceptions of and attitudes about that company and its offerings, and helps assess the company’s strengths and weaknesses relative to the competition. As a result, more than any other measurement tool, AA&U studies take into account the holistic effect of integrated marketing—including messages and content put forth in difficult-to-measure tactics such as branding ads, press coverage, speaking engagements, case studies, white papers, newsletters, webinars, road shows, and so forth. This in turn helps the company make the next campaign more relevant and compelling to the market.

In order to be useful, AA&U studies require an ongoing commitment. At the very least, you need to conduct a study prior to a campaign in order to establish a reliable baseline against which you can compare results of a post-campaign study. However, Market Connections often recommends that clients include AA&U studies in their budgets every year, regardless of whether they change their campaign approach as often. That’s the best way to measure the impact of an integrated campaign, make the next one even better, and ensure that your marketing budget grows rather than shrinks.