Trying to break through from the 24/7 COVID-19 news cycle? Creating and implementing a well-timed, thought-leadership survey can augment your news and propel your company above the current noisy news landscape.

Surveys are valuable tools that provide media outlets with fresh perspectives  relevant to their audiences. While product and company news may fall flat amid coverage of a global pandemic, meaningful survey results are considered hard news and are welcomed by journalists across the board.

Here are five tips to creating impactful surveys:

• Understand Your Audience

Know your audience and build surveys of interest to your constituents. Is your audience driven by tech, consumer or general news trends? Determining the primary audience will help focus the survey questions, scope and targets.

• Write Questions to Generate the Best Headlines

Before drafting the first question, think about what  an impactful, newsworthy headline might be based on your market, trends or issues that may impact your customers and prospects.  Next, create   several hypothetical  headlines that could result from your survey. Finally, begin drafting questions that will gather responses relevant to your intended hypothesis.

• Tie Surveys to Trends

The most impactful surveys are created with trends in mind. At least one question should be generated around a major trend to drive immediate, timely interest. A trendy question or two gives the survey results a boost and may lead to inclusion in  other trend news stories months after the survey is completed.  For example, our client Versasec added a GDPR-related question to its annual cybersecurity trends survey and that survey result was picked up by several additional media outlets for months following the initial results announcement.

• Use a Third Party to Conduct the Survey

Credibility is everything; using a third-party survey provider, whether uploading your own survey to SurveyMonkey or working with an analyst firm, is key. Third-party providers ensure the survey was distributed to a random audience and that results are impartial, both of which substantially maximize the credibility of the results.

• Pre-pitch Results to Determine Interest

Once the results are in and the initial press release announcing the results has been written,  determine the breadth and scope of interest in the news with your media contacts.  Pre-pitching the media and providing the survey release under embargo are good tactics to determine its validity and interest to the audience.

Rainier can help with all your survey needs.  Over the past six months, our clients’ surveys have been widely covered in MarketWatch, MediaPost, and other top-tier business, trade and vertical media, positioning our clients as thought-provoking leaders in their spaces. Our seasoned team understands your audiences and can tailor surveys to break through the news cycle.