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.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 23rd, 2006 at 11:26 am and is filed under Market Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.