When & How to Push Your Organization's Research

In projects across emerging markets, it is often true that communications teams are busy to the point of feeling overwhelmed. They not only spend time preparing materials for the press and internal communications, but are also the external-facing research dissemination arm of the organization. Oftentimes, the latter task is more time-consuming and frankly, can be overlooked.

Research takes time to develop, and it’s hard to know when and how to push your organization’s research in order to get the most eyes and, more importantly, the right eyes on it.

Case-Study: ÉLAN RDC

Before you can think of the when and how, you need to define the “why”. Why do you want to get your research out? What are your objectives when getting your research out there into the world?

In my role as a growth content marketer at Discovered Markets, I recently had the opportunity to work with ÉLAN RDC. Élan RDC's vision was to improve the daily life of the Congolese and facilitate their inclusion in market systems by addressing constraints and allowing them to benefit from economic growth. After 7 years, and more than 200 partnerships covering 15 provinces and impacting over 850,000 people, Élan RDC came to a close in July.

We were able to publish nearly 70% of Élan RDC's high-priority documents, form 17 working relationships with news organizations, create and edit 30 content pieces, and reach an audience of 333K.

Though the program came to an end, with their research in the hands of lasting global publications, the opportunity for future market actors to adopt, replicate, and expand on their work will be greatly increased.

Yes, the research was able to get out into the world, but wouldn’t it be more beneficial if this dissemination process was built into an organization’s comms practices? If somehow these pieces could get plenty of airtime all along?

The “When” of Research Dissemination

This leads us to the “when” component of research dissemination.

The short answer is “as soon as possible.” Greater visibility of project research and insights establishes a brand reputation to attract potential partners, accelerates adaptation of new market innovations, and increases interest among potential investors. However, there is very little time to do this work when comms teams have a million high-priority tasks to accomplish all at once, especially as a new project starts.

Hiring an external service for these tasks proves quite useful. It is less expensive than hiring someone full-time to manage external communications and speeds up time to market as they already have connections to dissemination platforms. They also ensure no research reports slip through the cracks so that all of the hard work that went into them doesn’t get wasted.

The “How” of Research Dissemination

Moving on, let’s take a look at the “how” of research dissemination.

This is the trickier part. As was mentioned earlier, you not only need a high quantity of eyes on your reports, but you also need to ensure the viewers are the ones who will actually use your work to make a positive impact. The ultimate goal would be behavior change in your readers’ day-to-day practices.

To do this, you would need to curate a list of publications and databases that align with your report and readership goals. Next, you need to form relationships with the editors of those organizations so that you can streamline your report publication process. These relationships take time to develop and maintain. Finally, you need to send the report out to influencers in the sector, to ensure that your work is being talked about and shared around.

Once the report is sent out, engage with the audience via interviews or surveys once they read the reports. That way, you can see what formats your readers prefer the research to be formatted in (infographics, one-sheets, etc.). Think visually - many readers don’t have the time to read 20, 30-page reports, but can be persuaded to think differently if you can convince them in 30 seconds.

Finally, you need to analyze and evaluate to improve your content, your distribution, and your results. Are your methods working? Do you need to shift your process? Your messaging?

Remember: your research is important to you, but it is not important to everyone right away. You need to be strategic in your dissemination practices to make sustainable change.

Key Takeaways:

• Disseminating your research is just as important, if not even more so, as the research itself.
• It’s best to disseminate your research as soon as possible to gain greater visibility.
• When reaching out, always try your best to target the right viewers.
• Reach out to relevant publications and databases to maximize the reach.
• Always engage with your audience once your reports are out.
• Analyze your content and distribution and evaluate your results to know how to optimize your efforts.