There are a ton of tips out there about how to apply journalistic skills to marketing. Most focus on telling a better story. But there’s more to it than that. I’m talking about journalistic research.
This is not standard marketing research. It’s more like a true investigation. Journalistic research is less about polling, focus groups, or studying what your audiences say. It’s more about focusing on what they do — where they go in real time (in digital and social spaces) and how they go about discovering the things that matter most to a brand.
We use this information, a level of audience intelligence, to help brands develop better strategies for how to engage and connect with their most important audiences. This can work across business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), internal or governmental audiences.
For instance, we’ve applied this approach across the cable industry, helping major national content producers and distributors better understand how and where to educate consumers considering cord-cutting. We’ve also aimed it at global brands with massive supply chain problems, and consumers and governmental agencies seeking to improve outcomes in healthcare.
So, what should brands know about taking this approach?
The process begins with questions.
Agencies are often fed a series of known facts by brands, which the agencies assimilate into some kind of storytelling. A journalistic approach is more about interrogating such facts (in the nicest way!). It’s about diving deep into data — what can be known about the audiences — and analysis.
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There are a ton of tips out there about how to apply journalistic skills to marketing. Most focus on telling a better story. But there’s more to it than that. I’m talking about journalistic research.
This is not standard marketing research. It’s more like a true investigation. Journalistic research is less about polling, focus groups, or studying what your audiences say. It’s more about focusing on what they do — where they go in real time (in digital and social spaces) and how they go about discovering the things that matter most to a brand.
We use this information, a level of audience intelligence, to help brands develop better strategies for how to engage and connect with their most important audiences. This can work across business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), internal or governmental audiences.
For instance, we’ve applied this approach across the cable industry, helping major national content producers and distributors better understand how and where to educate consumers considering cord-cutting. We’ve also aimed it at global brands with massive supply chain problems, and consumers and governmental agencies seeking to improve outcomes in healthcare.
So, what should brands know about taking this approach?
The process begins with questions.
Agencies are often fed a series of known facts by brands, which the agencies assimilate into some kind of storytelling. A journalistic approach is more about interrogating such facts (in the nicest way!). It’s about diving deep into data — what can be known about the audiences — and analysis.
