Storytelling. Internal buy-in. Actionable insights. These are phrases that pop up in nearly every conversation I have with corporate researchers.
Back in January I published an article for Quirk’s e-newsletter that dug into the ways client-side researchers successfully develop partnerships of trust with internal stakeholders and how this allows the researchers to better educate them on the importance of MR. While gaining the trust – and attention – of internal leaders was an obvious first, another critical step according to many researchers is knowing the best way to present a solid case for your research results. So in many of my Q&As this year I made a point of asking client-side researchers to share tips on presenting study findings and becoming leaders within their organizations.
Clear takeaways
A researcher’s ability to share clear, actionable takeaways can make or break a presentation. While this may seem obvious, Chelsea Cutino, analyst – consumer and business insight, America’s Test Kitchen, says it can still be challenging.
“One of the pitfalls I run into when presenting findings to stakeholders is getting too detailed in the data and graphs in an effort to prove my conclusions,” says Cutino. “I generally find that they don’t need this level of proof and it can end up sort of alienating them.”
Cutino recommends helping stakeholders by very clearly laying out the potential implications of a finding and how they could apply it. “Even if it’s not something they’d necessarily do, it helps them think about how findings could have wider impact,” she says.
But even solid takeaways can easily fall flat without good storytelling. Chris Jesurun, manager, consumer and brand insights, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, says experience has taught him to use the essential elements of storytelling to inspire action.
“I used to start all of my decks with an executive summary, which is like starting a story at the end. If you’ve ever had a movie ending spoiled for you, you know that you lose the emotional impact of watching the story unfold,” says Jesurun. “And when you start with the key takeaways, the rest of the deck ends up reading like a defense of your conclusions. But when you start with what you’ve learned and connect it to why it’s important, then the key takeaways become the climax of the story.”
A good story can be created by following a traditional narrative arc made up of the following components: exposition (background information on study), rising action, climax (key takeaways), falling action and resolution (potential impact). By creating presentation decks that build on learnings from one slide to the next, you propel the story forward and help decision makers invest in the outcome. This method can be used in more formal presentations as well as daily e-mails and phone calls.
Providing a clear, concise message and gaining immediate investment from decision makers is particularly important to Sara Shain, shopper analyst, Red Bull, as she is in constant communication with sales teams that are in the field creating the shopper experience. She agrees that storytelling is a way to ensure you are being the best partner possible to your internal stakeholders and getting your message across. “We present each project with its own story and narrative, providing context for what we see as behavioral experts and how the team can implement the insights in-store,” she says.
Investing in research
For researchers struggling with bare-bones budgets it is necessary to tell a powerful story that demonstrates the value of future research. This can be done using case study examples or by identifying a problem using current resources that demonstrates the value of increasing insight spend to find the solution.
Tyler Kettle, international insights program manager, Google, shares his experience at a company where he influenced internal stakeholders to invest in research using insights from a small, inexpensive study.
“We found that we had a possible brand issue with [a struggling product] and were able to show our stakeholders with the research from the community that we needed to invest in a larger full-service study focused on brand equity to really understand this issue and increase our brand perceptions in the future,” says Kettle. “This led to the stakeholder allocating funds to support a global brand equity study. Once we completed the study we were able to fully diagnose the issues and our stakeholder and others saw the real value of research. This led to better buy-in for future studies and helped increase the relevancy of research in the company.”
Colleagues, not clients
For some, successfully inspiring action with research comes down to how they see their role within the company. Steve Seiferheld, director of market research, Swedish Match, says it is necessary for marketing researchers to realize that their fiduciary responsibility is to the company, not colleagues.
“Repeatedly I encounter corporate researchers who see themselves as subservient to marketing, sales and other functions,” says Seiferheld. “We cannot expect progress until researchers shed that mentality. My role is just as important as anyone else’s. I understand the consumer better than anyone else in my organization and understanding the consumer is vital to ensuring a company’s success.”
At the end of the day, most researchers are looking for the same thing: the budget and time to conduct meaningful research. This shift in perspective can help empower marketing researchers to ask the tough questions and collect the data that ultimately become the stories that challenge the status quo and inspire change.