Benchmarking

Annual benchmarking studies are a secret weapon that some organizations are using to provide fuel for their content marketing efforts.

Benefits:

I’ve managed several annual benchmarking projects for clients and have seen them benefit in the following ways:

  • Establish themselves/their organization as a ‘go to’ expert in their field
  • Generate proprietary statistics/news that they can use as marketing and social media content
  • Keep customers by providing them with information about what their peers are doing

The ‘juice’ you can get from conducting a benchmarking study can drive content for a full year…and then it’s time to refresh your learnings and do it again!
Examples:

Here are some examples of how some of my clients have promoted the results of their benchmarking studies:

Keys to Success:

I recently did a short podcast with Linda Popky of Leverage to Markets where we explored some of the details of what a benchmarking study is and what the keys are to a successful one.  Some of the key things to know:

  • The study is based on a survey about best practices, challenges, and upcoming trends that is promoted to both customers and non-customers to ensure that you have a broad number of viewpoints that are considered statistically segment.
  • The main incentive for participation is a full report of the findings after the survey is closed.
  • The most interesting benchmarking reports include a look at some key verticals that you serve so people can compare themselves to others like them.

If you’re interested in talking more about how to do your own benchmark study, let’s talk!