Public relations and market research seem to be completely different at first. Public relations deals with maintaining a favorable company image, while market research involves gathering data to gain insights for better marketing. But, what if I told you that public relations and market research actually go hand-in-hand?

The team at S2 Research was recently joined by a new member, Eric! Eric is an intern with our team, and after working with us for a few months, we asked him to share his experiences in a new blog article. Take a moment to hear what it’s like to work for a market research partner like S2 Research in these true confessions from a market research intern!

With travel marketing on my mind, I wanted to bring together a few campaigns from the world of travel that I absolutely love. Not just to share with travel marketers – even though I’m sure many of you readers are coming from that world – but with everyone within marketing as well.

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the Build a Better Agency Podcast, you’re going to want to check this out! Drew McLellan has been helping marketing, advertising and public relations firms build stronger, better businesses for more than 30 years. He now runs one of my favorite podcasts for our industry, and that’s why I was absolutely honored when he asked if I’d come on the show to talk DIY Research for Agencies!

The S2 Research Marketing Agency and Client Goals, Objectives and KPIs survey measured how both clients and communications firms feel about marketing measurement in 2021. The survey revealed several insights that, when employed in a marketing agency setting, can help those teams attract and retain more clients, and produce more meaningful marketing (as valued by the clients) as a result.

If you don’t listen to the SUMMIT Podcast yet, you’re definitely missing out on some incredible content! Hosted by marketing expert and CEO of Hamer Marketing Group Kyle Hamer, the show gives an inside look at all things marketing and sales. Kyle and I met a few weeks ago to touch base, and immediately had a great conversation about Buyer Personas. Wanting to take that conversation to his audience, we connected again and had an absolutely brilliant chat about what marketers and businesses can do right now to start writing, and using, buyer personas in their marketing plans today.

I’ve always been a fan of measuring customer experience. The concept makes sense - we’re measuring the entire process behind the hows and whys of why people are doing business with us. When Paula Y reached out to talk about The Scrappy Entrepreneur Podcast, we quickly worked into a really great discussion about the importance of customer experience market research within the worlds of marketing and business. You’re going to dig it!

The S2 Research Survey of Marketers was recently honored by the Public Relations Society of America’s Las Vegas Valley Chapter with a Pinnacle Award! Be sure to download your free copy of The Survey of Marketers Content Marketing Case Study to see how it was done!

I got a chance to connect with Dave Crysler with The Crysler Club on his podcast, Everyday Business Problems. We talked about market research, marketing, growing businesses, and dealing with those projects amid the Coronavirus. Take a listen, and be sure to let me know what you think!

The newest FREE White Paper from S2 Research is now available! The S2 Research Marketing DECISION MAKERS & MARKETING FIRM Relationships Survey dove deep into several important facets of the client and marketing agency relationship. The study engaged with more than 350 marketing decision maker individuals at companies that have worked with marketing firms in the past, ranging across various industries and company size, with questions pertaining to agency satisfaction and the role of marketing firms moving forward.

Are you a Market Research Master? Find out now in this fun quiz! ! write a lot about market research in marketing, but now I created a fun quiz to help you, masterful marketer reading this blog, make sure your market research nuts and bolts knowledge is in tip-top shape! Read the study guide, take the practice tests, and then post your final score in the comments.

The Research Business DAILY Report is one of my favorite resources for information on market research. Everything from insights to ideas to interesting happenings in this industry, it shows up on Bob Lederer’s program. That’s why I was honored when Bob reached out to me a few weeks ago to discuss the two-month-long How to Write a Buyer Persona project I just wrapped up.

How to do Market Research for Marketing in 5 Simple Steps:

Step 1 – Decide what you want to know.

Step 2 – Use the best methodology to gather the best information.

Step 3 – Combine the information and decipher what it means.

Step 4 – Remove anything that doesn’t provide marketing value.

Step 5 – Create action from your insights.

Writing a buyer persona can be intimidating, especially now that the world has gone fruitloops. To help marketers counter that challenge, I’ve written a step-by-step process to writing buyer personas using survey data. Why surveys? Well, now is a bizarre time in the world, and surveys are a great way to work your way around the clutter to discover the right insights. Follow along, and be sure to download the free companion Sample Buyer Persona too

I examined the responses of more than 250 marketers to uncover some of the hidden insights about how in-house marketers and marketing firms are all thinking about the world and the impacts of the Coronavirus. Be sure to check out the FREE report!

If you’re thinking about doing a market research survey, adding a Starbucks gift card can be a powerful tool to get more people involved! A coffee gift card giveaway increases your total survey response rate, which really helps when you’re working with a tighter market research or marketing budget. Add this tool to increase your survey response rate and effectiveness without breaking the bank.

I spend a lot of time on this blog helping marketers understand what is an insight and how do they find marketing insights for their specific audiences. But instead of talking about how to do market research today, I instead wanted to focus on the power of market research at the next step in the marketing process – the brainstorm! One of my favorite things to do is present on research data. The challenge in presenting great market research, I’ve found, is that the presentation gets interrupted a lot. And that’s exactly what I want to have happen!