How to write a strong survey press release
Editor’s note: Researchscape International is an agile survey research consultancy and SaaS firm.
Surveys are a proven and cost-effective method of generating publicity for organizations yet many public relations professionals, marketers and marketing researchers struggle with creating and maximizing coverage when doing survey work.
This article will cover 10 tips for creating an effective survey press release including:
- Set a goal for your project.
- Write a headline that stands out.
- Create a draft of the survey questionnaire.
- Determine your survey sample size.
- Include information required by journalists.
- Optimize your press release for journalists and bloggers.
- Optimize your press release for future prospects.
- Publish the press release in a timely fashion.
- Provide links to additional external sources in the press release.
- Adapt and reuse survey data.
Top 10 tips to improve survey project effectiveness
1. Set a goal for your project
A goal focuses your efforts and saves time and money that might have gone to extraneous details. Long-term goals include building brand awareness, demonstrating thought leadership and developing content to support lead generation. Common short-term goals include providing support for a product launch or for entering a new geographic region or for event promotion.
2. Write a headline that stands out
With your goals in mind, brainstorm the possible headlines or key findings you would love to see and find intriguing. Let your imagination go wild in envisioning the results that will best drive coverage.
3. Create a draft of the survey questionnaire
Rein in that imagination now by drafting questions that are easy to understand and free from bias. Once done, make sure a professional market researcher reviews them for errors or biases and rewrites them if necessary.
4. Determine your survey sample size
Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) surveys have their own DNA and different sample sizes should be considered for each. For example, in conducting an analysis of 3,106 newsmaker press releases issued between 2013 and 2023, we found a wide range of consumer survey sample sizes but 80% of them had at least 1,000 responses. For B2B surveys, the number of responses is typically lower due to the higher cost of reaching specialized audiences. Fifty-six percent of B2B surveys had 500 or more respondents.
5. Include information required by journalists
Credible survey releases and content marketing material should contain the information reporters are trained to ask for including how many people were surveyed, from which countries or regions, how they were interviewed and if and how the data were weighted.
6. Optimize your press release for journalists and bloggers
Bloggers, in general, are even more pressed for time than journalists. Providing an infographic will enhance your chances of pick-up.
7. Optimize your press release for future prospects
For practitioners using surveys as lead generation tools, considering linking your release to a companion document (e-book, white paper, complete survey report) to capture reader contact information. Only 22% of survey releases were linked to a lead generation form from 2018 to 2020. This jumped to 30% in 2021 and 41% in 2023 – indicating the greater importance of generating ROI from PR investments by directly developing leads.
8. Publish the press release in a timely fashion
Survey data can grow stale quickly; it’s important to publish your release as quickly as possible. Only 4% of survey releases were published within a week of closing the fielding of the survey while about a quarter (26%) were published within 30 days. The median length of time was 62 days.
9. Provide links to additional external sources in the press release
You don’t need to include everything from your survey results in your press release. Include the key findings without overhyping the results and make sure you are not missing the overall point. Then, make it easy for journalists and end-users to find more information by linking to external resources.
10. Adapt and reuse survey data
Surveys are versatile and should be used for more than just supporting a press release. After you’ve pitched the survey, gotten coverage in the press, built brand awareness and generated leads, consider squeezing extra mileage from your content by using findings for social media, trade show literature and screen displays, creating a bylined article, including results in a speech or presentation and including the findings online on the company website. Your ability to further leverage the findings is only limited by your creativity and resourcefulness – newsmaker surveys deliver great value for a relatively small investment.