The Challenge

To stay competitive and stand out in the world of professional societies, the client needed to establish itself as a recognizable, prestigious brand. The proposed solution was to develop an original research strategy and generate a newsworthy story tied to the organization’s messaging.

The Process

Strategy & planning

Research was conducted to identify gaps in current industry data. Once topics topics were developed, extensive media research was performed to determine the best approach for a newsworthy spin. By carefully narrowing the media angles and information, a final topic was approved and a survey was created to elicit informative, valuable responses.

Data analysis

After collecting the survey results, the data was analyzed for highlights, patterns, unique findings — anything and everything that would interest the media. After identifying the most interesting data points, potential story angles were brainstormed.

Content production

When it came time to promote the insights, it was determined that a contributed bylined article/ thought leadership campaign would have the greatest reach and impact. There was also creative opportunity to use an infographic to make the research come to life in an engaging visual manner.

Media results

Targeted media pitches were drafted and pitched to pre-vetted external contacts securing placements in several top-tier outlets, including Entrepreneur.com and The Huffington Post. The success of this process relied on researching relevant reporters and outlets and drafting unique pitches to make meaningful connections.

Search engine optimization

For each contributed bylined article, detailed SEO research was performed, including picking a relevant keyword that fell within specific parameters (high monthly searches, low ranking difficulty, high click-through rate) and running the final piece through intuitive SEO software.

The Results

The research was used in additional contributed byline article campaigns to earn the client more credibility and increase their reputation as an industry thought leader. The ‘shelf life’ of the original research report added more value to the already successful content marketing campaign by offering a great number of data points to support ideas as well as functioning as an engaging CTA.

The original research report and supporting content earned placements on sites with high domain authorities, ranging from 80 to 98, each linking back to the client’s website. This generated organic traffic through inbound marketing and increased the client’s domain authority and SEO ranking.

* I served in a variety of roles from content strategist to content creator, editor, designer, and media specialist depending on clients’ needs. I worked alongside and leading a team of marketing specialists. I am respectfully referring to ‘we’ for collaborative team decisions/efforts.