How to turn research into media coverage

By Michelle Edge 

Tech companies often ask how they can land top-tier coverage if they don’t have a built-in stream of newsworthy announcements or the media profile of a multinational tech giant. The short answer? Original research. When executed well, research-led campaigns are one of the most effective ways to cut through the noise, offering timely, relevant, and genuinely useful insights that position a brand as an authority – not just a vendor.

But here’s the caveat: research that makes headlines doesn’t just “happen.” It takes planning, smart question design, and the ability to translate data into stories that editors and audiences care about. Here’s how to make it happen:

Start with the story you want to tell

What is the core message or theme you want your research to communicate? Defining this upfront ensures your research is purposeful and aligned with your broader PR objectives.

Once your key message is clear, avoid the common pitfall of focusing solely on questions about your product or service. Self-serving or narrowly focused questions don’t translate into compelling stories.

Instead, shift your mindset from what’s internally useful to what’s genuinely press-worthy. Questions that explore broader trends, industry challenges, or consumer behaviours will resonate beyond your immediate customer base and attract media interest.

Would this stat surprise or inform someone outside our industry? If yes, you're onto something. Or would these results highlight a key industry challenge or tap into a broader societal trend? This can mean weaving a consumer angle into a business issue (making it more interesting to national publications), or revealing a pain point that’s bigger than your solution.

Example: “XX% of brands use chatbots for order tracking” might be true, but is less compelling than “Consumers rank the 5 most annoying chatbot replies.”

Work backwards from the headline you'd want to read and design your questions to get you there.

Don’t overlook the data you already have

Before commissioning external research, ask whether your own data could do the job. Internal insights, anonymised and aggregated, can offer higher credibility and a unique point of view.

For example, a cybersecurity platform might compare the incident rates for customers across industries; a SaaS provider might analyse anonymised usage behaviour across sectors. This kind of data is essentially no-cost, ready to use, and grounded in real-world evidence.

Choose the right research partner (and respondents)

If you’re commissioning a survey, your research partner matters. Established names like Vanson Bourne, Gallup, or YouGov, offer credibility, which can affect whether your data gets picked up.

Equally important is your audience. Do you have the right sample size? Generally, you’ll need at least 500 respondents for journalists to consider your results credible. But this sample size can differ depending on types of respondents.

If you’re looking for industry-specific insights or expert opinions, this can mean surveying a specific subset of professionals. Here, the number of respondents might be more narrow but still just as credible (e.g., 300 CISOs).

For consumer surveys on purchasing behaviour, brand perception, or general sentiment (e.g., “How do people feel about AI-powered customer service?”), a survey sample size of 1,000 might be more appropriate.

Make the most out of your results

This is where PR expertise really shines. PR professionals can help you fine-tune messaging for different audiences, craft data-driven stories that get picked up by the media and amplify key findings through strategic outreach – ensuring that the right messages reach the audiences that matter the most to you.

Your research output shouldn't be a spreadsheet. It should be a story. That means:

• Compelling sound bites (not just stats)
• Quotes from subject matter experts to explain the “why”
• Breakouts that uncover angles by region, sector, or role

And sometimes, questions may not deliver the results you expect – and that’s okay. A hypothesis that falls flat can still yield an interesting twist, especially with the right expert commentary to provide context and pivot the narrative. Look at how the results can unlock more than one story. Segment your audience (gender, role, industry) to see if there are any stand out results and consider building in comparison data (year-over-year or across regions).

A strong report and press release to announce the findings are just the start. Your research can be used to generate byline articles, webinars, social content, and lead magnets – enough to keep you going for months.

Make research part of the plan

Many companies see research as a one-off. But building a research calendar into your annual PR strategy ensures you stay visible, relevant, and newsworthy, whether or not you have “hard news” to announce.

Plan more time than you think you’ll need (it always takes longer), set a realistic budget, and be strategic, both in how you design the survey and how you use the results. Even strong data can underperform if it’s not aligned with your messaging or media goals. This is where the right PR support can make all the difference – helping shape the narrative, amplify the findings, and ensure your research delivers real impact.

Original research can take your news cycle from routine to remarkable, but only when it’s planned with intention and executed with purpose.