You might be wondering how long marketing research reports should be kept online. Is there any benefit to keeping them for longer than a year?
Yes, there are several benefits to keeping marketing research reports online for longer than a year. Here are just a few of them:
Access To A Huge Audience
You’ve probably heard the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”. This is especially applicable to marketing research reports, as displaying an infographic can sometimes be significantly more effective than having page after page of text. In fact, a 2017 HubSpot report found that 58% of digital marketers say visuals help them make a connection with a potential customer, while only 27% of them prefer reading case studies.
This is why it’s beneficial to keep marketing research reports online. Not only do you have the ability to share compelling visuals with potential customers, but you can also provide them with the supporting information they may need. Research reports that are more than a year old may also contain outdated data, which means you’re losing out on the chance to connect with potential customers who are more interested in what is current.
Improve Search Engine Rankings
In 2017, Google warned that keeping old content online could hurt your search engine rankings. Essentially, the search engine giant suggested that rather than keeping old content online, websites should focus on updating their content regularly. That way, when a user performs a search, they’ll be able to find the most up-to-date information.
However, it would be a mistake to take this warning lightly. Creating new content doesn’t have to mean you have to scrap the old. You can simply update the content so it is relevant to the current situation. For example, if you’re running an eCommerce store, you could create a blog post about the best selling products on your website. If you’re running a manufacturing company, you could write an article about the new processes you’ve adopted to become more efficient.
Boost Your Online Reputation
In today’s day and age, a well-written, detailed, and well-presented marketing research report can do wonders for your company’s reputation.
Even if you’re not looking to build a brand new reputation platform, you can use the data and information you’ve collected to boost your existing website’s reputation. For example, HubSpot found that 45% of their customers gained an improved understanding of the topic after reading an educational piece about it. Additionally, 24% learned something new that they could apply to their own lives.
Being prepared with marketing research reports can even help you when dealing with clients. If you’re responding to a marketing requirement, but don’t have the time to write up a comprehensive report, you can provide the client with the basic stats and figures you’ve collected. In many cases, they’ll even thank you for it.
Make It Easier To Find Research About Your Industry
If you’re looking for marketing research reports about your industry, it can be tricky to find the right data. Even if you do find the data, there’s no guarantee that it’ll be up to date. Compiling an extensive list of research findings can take a lot of time, and it’s quite possible that some of the findings may be obsolete.
However, if you keep marketing research reports online, you’re able to keep a tab on the ever-changing digital landscape. Simply perform a search and you’ll be presented with a list of all the most relevant findings. From there, you can choose exactly what you need and follow the instructions to access the full report.
Help Customers Make Better Decisions
Customers are often a company’s biggest asset, and you should do everything in your power to make them feel comfortable making purchasing decisions. One of the simplest yet most effective ways of doing this is by providing them with the right information.
If a customer has a question about the product they’re purchasing, you can help them by providing them with the answers. Moreover, you can also guide them towards making the right choice by presenting them with the most up-to-date information about their chosen product. For example, if a customer is considering purchasing a jacket from a popular retailer, you can assist them by providing them with all the information about the different types of jackets they could choose from. This includes the brand, style, and most importantly, the price.
Gain Insight Into What Customers Want
When performing market research, it’s quite normal for the participants to ask questions about what they’re finding difficult. This is why you should always consider the opinions of your customers when performing market research. Simply perform a search on Survey.com, for example, and you’ll be presented with a variety of questionnaires you can use to collect customer feedback.
Through these questionnaires, you can find out exactly what your customers want, need, and how you can better provide them with what they want. Moreover, you can also gain valuable insights into how you can further improve your products and services to better meet your customers’ needs.
How to Keep Marketing Research Reports Online
With all of the benefits to keeping marketing research reports online for longer than a year, it’s not hard to see why 41% of businesses worldwide keep their research reports online for more than a year. Simply follow these six steps to keep your research reports online for as long as possible:
1. Identify the topic of the research report
The first step is to identify the topic of the research report. This will help you determine how long you should keep the report online for. For example, if your report is on the topic of mobile marketing, you should probably keep it online for a short period of time. Simply perform a quick search and you’ll be presented with a long list of marketing research reports to choose from.
2. Find the right people to present the report to
The second step is to find the right people to present the report to. If you’re writing the report yourself, be sure to include a bit about your background as well as that of the person presenting the report. This will add more credibility to your work.
3. Choose a platform
The next step is to choose a platform. There are several benefits to using an online presentation platform, such as HubSpot. Simply perform a search and you’ll be presented with a long list of marketing automation platforms to choose from. It’s important to note here that not all of these platforms are created equal. You should research each of them thoroughly before making a decision.
4. Create an overview document
An overview document is a type of narrative that briefly summarizes all the major findings of a report. As a minimum, an overview should include the name of the report, the URL and the publication date. If there are any tables or charts from the report, these should be included as well.
5. Create a list of key findings
The next step is to create a list of key findings. To write a clear and concise overview document, you must have a clear and concise list of the important findings. The objective here is to create a shorter list that will contain all the most vital and relevant information. This will help you develop an organized version of your report that you can present to an audience.
6. Perform a quick search on Survey.com
The last step is to perform a quick search on Survey.com. Simply enter your keywords and you’ll be presented with a variety of questionnaires you can use to collect customer feedback. From here, simply choose the one that you think is the most appropriate and enter your email address to receive the questionnaire.
As you can see, simply following these six steps will help you keep your marketing research reports online for longer than a year. Doing so will give you numerous benefits, not the least of which is keeping your customers and potential customers up-to-date on the most recent trends and information in your industry.