How to write research questions for PR

Drive PR coverage with data and insights

We’ve all been there. Your business needed to drive media coverage with a survey, so they’ve invested a fortune in creating the latest “The State of…” report.

The research launches and you get a few decent trade hits — but no nationals or tier 1s. Then it’s all over. A launch and leave.

Why? Because your research didn’t deliver enough interesting, surprising, and newsworthy angles to sustain a long-running PR campaign.

In this Bootcamp blog series Alex Warren will be looking at how you can squeeze more out of your company’s investment in research — starting with the survey questions themselves.

How to write research questions for PR

For Comms professionals, research can serve several purposes. It can help your business better understand its market, position you as experts and thought leaders, and offer a vital source of ‘new news’ for engaging journalists and driving media headlines.

Given these different roles of research, writing great questions for PR is a real balancing act. You need genuine, meaningful data that stands up to scrutiny, but that also tells you something surprising and new.

To achieve this, start by brainstorming all the possible topics you would like to explore.

Typically, this involves two phases:

1. Look inwards

Consider your business objectives, sales and marketing strategy, PR goals, and existing audience insights. But also speak to key stakeholders internally. Often, technical, sales, or customer services teams can provide invaluable insight on the topics your business needs to explore.

2. Look outwards

Look at what’s happening in the ‘real world’. This could be emerging trends, interesting technologies, or the wider economic landscape. Knowing what journalists and analysts are interested in is essential to make your research newsworthy.

What do journalists want from data?

Before writing your survey questions, consider what journalists, analysts, and influencers will be excited to hear about. These people are the gatekeepers to your audience. If you can uncover timely, exciting datapoints that they want to share, then you’re off to a great start.

The first bit of advice I always give to clients when planning PR research is to think like a journalist. It’s not enough to just explore the things that are interesting to your company, you need to consider what makes an insight newsworthy.

Six things that make data newsworthy

  • Timeliness. Is the insight relevant to something happening in the world right now. It’s not enough for data to be new, it needs to be timely.

  • Proximity. How geographically or emotionally close are your findings to the audience? How will it impact on their world?

  • Consequence. Does it matter? Do your findings have serious implications for individuals, businesses, communities or society at large?

  • Conflict. Does your research highlight unexpected sources of tension or argue for a particular worldview?

  • Human interest. Does it have an emotional impact, promoting personal stories or the impact on everyday people?

  • Novelty. Are your findings original, unusual, or unexpected? Will they stand out?

Writing newsworthy research questions

When preparing research surveys for PR, it’s vital to consider how your findings will reflect the above six points — ideally aiming for at least three.

One of the best ways to achieve this is by writing your dream headlines before you start your survey questions. Using these headlines, work backwards to the questions you want to ask.

Now obviously, you’ll want to avoid ‘leading the witness’, as it’s vital that research remains accurate and compliant, and meets journalists’ high standards. But starting with your headlines is still a great way to work out what topics you want your questions to explore.

What’s the best format for research questions?

It all depends on what you’re trying to get out of the research. Quantitative questions make for better news headlines than qualitative (e.g. open text fields) as it’s always hard to summarise nuanced qualitative data into snappy storytelling.

While your question types will vary depending on your goals, it’s worth making sure you squeeze the absolute maximum out of every single question.

Avoid questions with simple yes/no answers

Try to avoid questions that deliver simple yes/no answers. Instead, focus on multi-statement questions (e.g. “Which of these statements do you agree with?”). The benefit of this approach is that you can get 7-8 data points out of one question, rather than using up 7-8 questions with simple yes/no answers.

Similar results can be achieved with ‘matrix’ questions, using a series of columns and rows to maximise the insights gained from a single question. But watch out — if you overload a survey with too many of these matrix questions, it’s likely that respondents will grow tired of answering, risking a higher ‘drop off rate’ for responses.

How to compliance check research

While you obviously want to make sure your questions work for PR and marketing purposes, it’s also essential to ensure your questions are fully compliant and deliver accurate data.

All good research agencies will run compliance checks for you, reviewing your questions and making sure they deliver reliable results.

To save time though, it’s always worth having compliance front of mind when doing your initial question drafts. At Wildfire, we always ensure our questions are field-ready first time, guaranteeing the compliance process is short and speedy.

Get your PR in shape

Want more advice to get your PR into the best shape of its life? Check out the other articles in our Comms Bootcamp series.

Or, if you’re looking to hire a PR agency that can develop hard-hitting research that delivers real business results, contact us below and we’ll be in touch.