Use the following steps as a guide to choosing a research topic and segment that best aligns with your business goals and remove the confusion around which path you should take.
- Identify your goals
- Consider a complementary vertical
- Simplify your target
- Create authority from multiple angles
Identify your goals
Start with a bird’s-eye view of your overall marketing strategy and determine where original research would fit. To do this, you will need to determine what you want to achieve with your research. Think broad-stroke objectives here.
Original research is an incredibly effective way to fill up the top of your funnel by casting a wide net and nurturing leads from a large pool of opportunity. But it is also a way to hone in on an extremely targeted group and deliver a personal experience for them that really hits home. Maybe bringing in leads isn’t your goal for research at all and you’re simply seeking more recognition and trust for your brand by establishing thought leadership. Whatever the case may be, it is critical to first identify your goals.
Consider a complementary vertical
Next, let’s put a twist on how we approach your audience. Rather than considering topics within your specific vertical, think tangentially about where you can capture the attention of potential customers.
For example: If you’re a data and analytics company, having a research report on marketing attribution positions your tool as a solution for attributing marketing efforts using analytics. Establish a connection between challenges marketers face and the benefits of your brand.
Simplify your target
Now that you have a picture of what you’d like your research to accomplish within your overall marketing strategy, and you have your eye on a popular topic that complements your business… It is time for the icing on the cake: narrowing research results down to a specific benchmark segment.
This can be the difference between a potential customer who keeps scrolling and one that stops to engage with your content because it truly resonates with them.
At Ascend2, our methodology allows us to offer any of the following unique perspectives on your report topic: Success, Leadership, B2B, B2C, Enterprise, SMB and Agency. Many of these segments speak for themselves, if you are marketing to an audience that operates exclusively in the business-to-consumer channel, B2C is going to be a compelling segment to them. If you are unsure on what the most effective segment might be for your report topic, consider the “Success” benchmark. Who doesn’t want to know what the most successful marketers are doing to achieve their goals?!
Create authority from multiple angles
Having your brand on multiple reports allows you to cover more angles, create more opportunity and establish authority on a variety of topics. Our tiered pricing structure gives great discounts for purchases of more than one report so if your budget allows, consider doing more than one program with us to cover more ground and generate more demand.
And of course, if you ever need to brainstorm on what a most effective topic and segment might be for your business, we are here to help! Want more on choosing a research topic? Here are a few more tips.