The Research

Report Playbook
A digital course by Erin Balsa
Course
Intro

Let’s do this!
My journey
● Magazine editor
● Freelance writer
● Manager at a content marketing agency
● Director at a high-growth B2B SaaS company
● Freelance consultant/business owner
● Increased my income by 470%
How the course works
● 10 video lessons
● Course materials:
○ Course slides (PDF)
○ Project management template (Google Sheets)
○ The DAB Framework deck (Google Slides)
○ Sample survey questions (PDF)
○ Example reports (PDFs)
Objectives
You will understand:

● How to create reports people actually want to read

● How to project manage reports end-to-end
● How to improve success over time
● How to sell research reports
Planning +
Project
Management
The project
management template
Meet your new BFF
Organize all the moving pieces to maximize efficiency +
reduce error:
● Project Management Template.

Set clear expectations for everyone involved:

● Timeline: 90 days
● Internal stakeholders: Don’t ASSume
● External stakeholders: Weekly check-ins or updates
Planning (Pre-Work)
Identify research budget
$0 - Use existing data OR use a free survey tool and secure the
audience yourself

● It can be hard to spin existing data into a compelling

narrative.
● If you use your list to secure survey respondents, results
can be skewed since respondents may have been
influenced by you.
Identify research budget

$3,600-$6,400 - Enough to purchase a small executive

audience.
● 100 people = the minimum to ensure statistical
significance
● Dynata $36 per quality complete (VP and above, U.S.) =
$3,600
● Qualtrics $64 per quality complete (CEOs, Presidents +
Board members, U.S.) = $10,000
Identify research budget

$10,800-$19,200 - Enough to purchase a big executive

audience
● 300 people = increases your perceived credibility
● Dynata $36 per quality complete (VP and above, U.S.) =
$10,800
● Qualtrics $64 per quality complete (CEOs, Presidents +
Board members, U.S.) = $19,200
$14,300-$22,700 - 300 execs + survey programming
Identify research budget

$10,000 - Enough to purchase an audience of 2,000 full-time

workers at all levels (Survey Monkey)
Planning (Pre-Work)
Plan ideal storyline
● Audience needs: listen to Gong calls, talk to customers,
run a Q&A at the end of your webinars and virtual events,
etc.
● Market trends: join industry Slack groups, follow thought
leaders, subscribe to newsletters, set Google Alerts, etc.
● Business goals: Category awareness/adoption, demand
generation (driving awareness + interest), demand capture
(influencing people with buying intent), retention + upsells
Plan ideal storyline
Plan ideal storyline
Goal: Demand generation
Audience: Business leaders who want to make better hires
Market trends: The Great Retention means companies are
scrambling to backfill positions plus hire for open positions
Ideal storyline: Companies that use behavioral assessments to
hire report better business results.
I need a drink.
You might need one too.
Planning (Pre-Work)
Identify campaign KPIs
My North Star metrics: Revenue and qualified pipeline

I like to look at both:

● Marketing sourced revenue (first touch)
● Marketing influenced revenue (non-first touch)
Identify campaign KPIs
Identify campaign KPIs
Category awareness + adoption:
● HTML page views
● Organic social views + shares
● Category mentions
● Category searches
● Course + certification completions
Planning (Pre-Work)
Decide if + how you’ll gate the
report
At PI, our highest converting lead type is request demo
handraiser. And usually, they consume lots of content before
raising their hand.

But what if you need to produce leads immediately? Strategic

gating
Decide if + how you’ll gate the
report
How we do it:
● Build the full report in PDF format
● Gate the PDF (with phone number)
● Build an ungated HTML page that shares the top findings
● Invite page visitors to download the full report via CTA
Planning (Pre-Work)
Complete campaign brief
What is The DAB Framework?
● I explain it in detail in this guest blog for [Link].
● It’s a framework to help project managers avoid mistakes.
○ D = Discuss
○ A = Analyze
○ B = Better
● Complete slides 4-10 in The DAB Framework deck.
The pre-work is done-zo 🥳
Before we move on to data collection, take a minute to:

● Stand and stretch

● Take a run around the block
● Grab a drink of water
Data Collection +
Analysis
Do you even data?
What if you don’t work with a data
scientist or analyst?
You can purchase data processing services through your
survey vendor (Qualtrics, Dynata, etc.).

You can save money by working with a freelance data

analyst. (My guy charges $60/hour, which works out to
$2,500.)
Data collection
Write survey questions
● Pull up your ideal storyline. What questions do you need
to ask to see whether or not your “thesis” is true?
● Ex) Companies that use behavioral assessments to hire
report better business results.
○ Q: Does your company use behavioral assessments?
○ Q: What do you use behavioral assessments for?
(Select all)
○ Q: Did you reach your business goals last year?
Write survey questions
● Many times, raw data isn’t overwhelmingly interesting.
○ E.g., 40% of companies that use behavioral assessments
for hiring said they “surpassed their business goals.”
● Ask questions to collect firmographic data.
○ Q: What industry best describes your company?
○ E.g. “80% of tech companies that use behavioral
assessments for hiring said they “surpassed their
business goals.”
Write survey questions
● You also want to ask questions that may lead to
“newsworthy” headlines (think trending topics + insider
information).
○ Q: Will you allow employees to choose their work
location after the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled?
○ Q: What keeps you up at night? (Select three)
● Here are some sample questions from our
Remote Work Report.
Write survey questions
Develop questions according to best practices in survey
research.
● Questions should be concise and understandable by people
of all backgrounds. (Avoid expressions like “under the
radar.”)
● Question format should give rich data insights but also
optimized for ease of response.
● Content should be selected by subject matter experts as
Data collection
Review question design
You need someone who knows how to spot red flags + ensure
best practices were followed:
● Are you asking two things at once? (e.g., Have you taken
the behavioral assessment and did you find it easy?)
● Are you asking leading questions? (e.g., Did you feel that
the behavioral assessment was quick and easy to take?)
● Does the survey have the right structure and flow?
Data analysis
Walk writer through Excel
You give the data scientist a CSV that looks like this ...
Walk writer through Excel
They clean the data, find patterns, and give you a spreadsheet
like this:
Data analysis
Share key findings with external
SMEs
Option 1: Get quotes via email.
Option 2: Get them on camera,
preferably in person if possible.

Use quotes within the report and for

organic social promotion.
Take a 5-minute break
Pee,
‍♀
🤷‍
️️ eat … whatever. 🤷‍️

Just be back here in five minutes.

Report writing +
design

Your fingers ‘bout to

be busy.
Report writing
Write outline
● Write the headline (H1), subhead (H2), and introduction.
● Create the table of contents.
● Using the Excel spreadsheet, screenshot the best findings.
● Paste the screenshots into the doc within the right sections.
● Reorder the screenshots if needed to tell a cohesive story.
● Add any transition text needed to help the internal SME
understand the storyline.
Report writing
Write PDF first draft
1. Share the main takeaway early on.
Write PDF first draft
2. Communicate “what’s in it for me?” so people will pay
attention.
Write PDF first draft
3. Give skimmers a chance to view all key takeaways at a
glance.
Write PDF first draft
4. Expand screenshots into key findings.
Write PDF first draft
5. Complement key findings with thought provoking or
actionable takeaways.
Write PDF first draft
Report writing
Assemble HTML page copy
Copy pieces of the intro and 6-7 key findings to a new doc.

Examples:
● People Management Report
● State of Talent Optimization Report
Report design
Review designed PDF
Even though the PDF’s been edited, I always:

● Double check for copy and numeric errors (give yourself

plenty of time to proof the data and charts).
● Look for any charts that represent data in an unclear way
(would this bar chart be better as a pie chart or even a
simple graphic)?
How YOU doin’?
Let’s get through the next two sections, and then we’ll take a
break.
WebDev +
RevOps

Aka the people who are

way smarter than me
WebDev/RevOps
Caution: Process may vary ⚠️
The chart represents basic steps, and should be customized as
needed. For example, at PI we use Salesforce and Pardot—so
one of our steps is “Update Pardot Engagement Studio for
campaign tracking.”

YOUR job is to:

● Make sure tracking is set up.
● Make sure everything is working BEFORE launch day.
Organic
Promotion + PR
Because, if a tree falls in the
forest and no one hears it ...
Organic promotion + PR
Write copy for homepage banner +
software login banner
Promote the report wherever you get the most traffic.
Write copy for homepage banner +
software login banner
Organic promotion + PR
Plan employee and partner social push
for launch day
● Goal: Get some virality going and reach a wider audience
● Prep:
○ Write example copy or film an example video.
○ Write an internal email or Slack message telling people
the goals of the report + why their participation matters.
● Shout out employees internally as soon as they post
(FOMO).
Organic promotion + PR
Launch Sigstr
Organic promotion + PR
Plan co-marketing prospect webinar

This webinar drove 173

request demo handraiser
leads!
Organic promotion + PR
You can pitch in and help here ...
PR firms are worth the money if you don’t yet have a
“Rolodex.”
Take five 🖐
We’re in the home stretch!

Time to take a break if you need one.

Paid promotion

It’s what’s for breakfast.

Paid promotion
Write ad copy
Write ad copy
Learnings:

● Fill-in-the-blank ads get

attention.
● Square ads outperform
rectangular ads on
LinkedIn and Facebook.
Write ad copy
My favorite books/resources:

● Copyhackers
● Ogilvy on Advertising
● Justin Welsh’s The Operating System
● [Link]
Sales enablement

Marketing ❤️Sales
Sales enablement
Pull key stats sales can use in
conversations
On average, our research reports are 45 pages long.

Stat + pain probe

People walk toward pleasure and sprint from pain.

I want to make better hires vs. I want to stop making bad
hires.
Launch yo dang report! 🚀
Post-launch

Growth mindset
required
Post-launch
Complete post-mortem slides

● Time to revisit The DAB Framework.

○ D = Discuss
○ A = Analyze
○ B = Better
● Complete slides 12 + 13 in The DAB Framework deck.
Post-launch
Update report process if needed
● Final step in The DAB Framework.
○ D = Discuss
○ A = Analyze
○ B = Better
● This is where you’ll implement your postmortem
learnings to better future campaigns.
Update report process if needed
● Do you need to add a new task to your project board
template?
● Do you need to refine an entire process?
● Do you need to coach an employee?
● Do YOU need to change/improve?
You’ve completed the course!
Monetization

Bonus lesson: How to sell

reports to clients
How to sell your first report
● If you can’t land paid work, create your own report.
● Add that sample to your LinkedIn featured section.
● Start talking about research reports so it becomes part of
your personal brand. (Justin Welsh’s
The Operating System)
● Document your process (don’t get in the weeds).
● Write landing page copy (LinkedIn or your website).
● Do email outreach to funded B2B companies in your
Sample cold email copy
Some of the B2B founders I talk to want to publish content that shows thought
leadership and drives qualified pipeline and revenue—but they don’t know where to
start.

This probably isn’t an issue for you. But if you ever want to learn about how I help
B2B [niche] companies publish reports that help them hit their numbers, I’m happy to
hop on a quick 10-minute Zoom call to walk you through my process.

(I’ve attached an example of a report I created in case you want to take a peek.)
Do NOT use this word-for-word.
How to sell subsequent reports
● Get pipeline and revenue data from your clients (slides
18-19)
● Ask for testimonials (the best way to get someone to do
a favor for you is to make it easy for them)
● Add results + testimonials to your outreach emails
● Ask for referrals
● Stay in touch
Thank you very much!
My Writing
Process

Bonus lesson: How I do data

storytelling
Expanding on survey findings
As I mentioned on slide 45, I screenshot the best survey
findings, paste them into a Google Doc, and reorder them if
needed.

As I mentioned on slides 50 and 51, I then expand

screenshots into key findings and complement those with
thought provoking or actionable takeaways.