How to conduct and publish great original research (Becky Lawlor AMA)

Hey Superpath members, it's time for our AMA with Becky Lawlor!

Just drop your questions in this channel over the next hour and Becky will answer them.

Becky's been freelancing for 10+ years and runs Redpoint, a microagency with a small set of contractors for the last 3+ years. You can ask Becky about:

• Thought leadership content
• Original research
• Results from The 2024-2025 Blueprint for High-Impact Content.

Thanks so much for joining us Becky! Ask away folks...

I'll get us started with a huge question :sweat_smile: - what does a typical engagement look like when a company comes to you and is like "I want to do a research report". Like, where do you start, what does the overall process look like?

Becky: That is a BIG question!!  My process looks like this:

• What are your big goals for this? (i.e. PR, lead gen, SEO, et.c)
• Do you have a topic/ research angle in mind?
• Do you know what audience you want to survey? And do you have access to that audience (i.e. email list, etc.) or do you need help there

From there as part of the engagement I work with clients to refine their topic/angle and make sure it's unique in the marketplace, aligns with their brand while also aligning with what their audience will be interested to learn, help them find their audience (I have lots of relationships with B2B audience panel vendors so I can find the most cost effective but high quality audience),

From there, we work on designing the survey, programming it, testing and QA, fielding the survey, data analysis, including lots of cross tabbing to find additional interesting insights, and finally presenting the research, key takeaways, and the best way to message the findings in for content assets.

For companies that haven't done original research before, are there are a few boilerplate templates they should start from? Like a "State of [Industry]" kind of thing?

Becky: State of Industry, Outlook reports, benchmark reports all work really well. The key though is to still have an angle that's unique as there are lots of State of Marketing out there, for example.

But I don't really start from what type of report it should be so much as what are the goals, what would be some interesting topics that align with your brand, your audience and your goals. That will drive what type of report makes the most sense.

What kind of content have you seen perform the best for you clients? And by perform I guess I mean help them reach whatever goals they've set like leads, brand awareness, PR, etc.

Becky: Content that includes original research has performed best for my clients. This typically involves survey-based research, but using their own internal data for benchmark reports or other analyses has also been highly effective. The research I just conducted further supports this, showing that such content increases B2B buyers' brand awareness and more.

What is the average or typical timeline for creating an industry report for an average SaaS business?

Becky: The research process typically takes 6 to 8 weeks when I’m handling it (though I’ve seen it take longer, so this is just based on my experience). Then, you’ll need an additional 4 to 6 weeks for writing and design. As a result, I usually advise clients to expect a timeline of 3 to 4 months from start to launch.

Do you have a few top-of-mind examples of reports that were really successful?

Becky: I highlighted several examples in my new research report, but Industrial Physics really stood out with impressive results. I particularly love that Gartner ended up citing their research—talk about building authority in the industry. Here’s a link to that case study: https://redpointcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Industrial-Physics-Success-Story.pdf

Do you have any tips on how to promote the use of original data within a company?

Becky: I feel like there are two questions here:

1. How to effectively share the findings: I typically create a high-level PPT that includes charts and headlines for the most relevant data, particularly for the content narratives we want to build. Putting the information in an easy-to-digest format, such as charts with meaningful headlines, is extremely helpful for quick understanding. Additionally, I share the crosstab tables in an Excel spreadsheet, which are color-coded with arrows highlighting key data points, making it easy to spot interesting anomalies.
2. How to champion original data usage: Piloting a smaller, less costly research project and seeing how it performs is one approach. Sharing case studies of success or key data points (see my research report for reference) is another effective way to demonstrate that this type of content performs well.

How did you make the leap to running a microagency, and how is it different from a traditional agency? Were you in-house first, and what was that process like?

Becky: I’ve never been in-house at a B2B company; I worked in non-profit and government communications before transitioning to freelancing. When it comes to running a micro-agency, I’m still the main point of contact and oversee all client relationships and the quality of the work we produce. I also enjoy writing and being hands-on, which is part of why I chose the micro-agency model. It allows me to scale enough to meet the needs of larger clients while maintaining close relationships and offering highly customized, tailored work.

What sorts of roles do you contract out, and what work do you like to keep for yourself? Do you ever plan to grow into a larger agency, and if not, why?

Becky: I don’t plan to grow into a larger agency. I enjoy doing the work, not just overseeing it. Additionally, I’m not convinced that scaling up would increase my profits, even if it increased revenue. I prefer to be just big enough to meet clients’ needs, scaling up or down as necessary, while still delivering high-quality work. I believe that when agencies grow too large, they often lose some of the quality and the ability to truly tailor their services.

“What they want to find out" and into the territory of "What your target audience wants to find out." How do you steer them in the right direction?

Becky: Yes, this can definitely be tricky. This is where first defining the goal is helpful. If it's PR, then you need to steer them toward questions like: What publications do you want to target? What topics are they actually publishing? What can we do that aligns with those interests? If it's more about lead generation, you need to remind them of that as well—what will that audience care about? I also think there’s room to meet both expectations. If your survey has 20-30 questions, you can include 5 or so that are more internally focused—things you just want to know, even if they don’t make it into the main story—while using the rest for the narrative you want to tell.

What's your favorite tool for running surveys?

Becky: I wouldn’t say I have a favorite tool, but I do think it’s important to have one that’s sophisticated enough to offer features like skip logic and audience segmentation. I’m currently using Alchemer, but I’m planning to switch to Decipher when my annual subscription is up. They’re doing some exciting things with video response collection, and I think their tool will allow me to offer even more value to clients by expanding the types of data we can collect.

What’s the best way for a company to run a survey when they don’t have their own audience yet (e.g., a startup without a large subscriber or user base)?

Becky: Most companies, to be honest, don’t have a large enough email list. The average response rate is 1-2% from an email list, and 5-10% is typical for a really engaged list. You may get more than this, but it’s important to set these expectations upfront so you’re not disappointed with the number of responses.

To answer your question, there are B2B panel vendors that specialize in different professional audiences, and you’ll need to work with one of them. However, I’ve found that price doesn’t always equal quality. It’s essential to do your research and make sure the vendor can truly reach your target audience and deliver quality responses (i.e., not bots or fake responses).

Can you talk more about your process for identifying and refining the topic or angle for research? How do you uncover a compelling topic?

Becky: As part of the onboarding process, I have a questionnaire that I ask clients to fill out. It includes brainstorming around questions like: What myths could we bust? What would be your ideal top three stats if you could choose? What hypotheses do you have that you’d like to test? What products or brand messages align with the research we’re doing? And so on. I then combine this with competitive research and help them refine the topic and how it might develop into a narrative based on the questions we’re asking. So the process includes a questionnaire, my own research and thinking, plus a 1-hour brainstorming session, followed by survey design and outlining the narrative we believe will emerge.

Do you incorporate general population surveys in your research? Why or why not?

Becky: I don’t typically do general population surveys. I primarily work with B2B tech companies, so we usually focus on niche B2B audiences. There could be situations where a general population survey would make sense, but it’s not typical for the type of research and content I create for clients.