Secondary Research’s Role in Identifying Publics and Their Motives
A photo of a library filled with books and collaborative spaces. Photo by Trnava University on Unsplash.
Research serves as the cornerstone for any strategic communication campaign. How do you determine whom to talk to? How do you speak to them? Which medium will resonate with your audience? Research, both primary and secondary, help to answer these questions and will guide your campaign to the very end.
As my group and I continue to organize and develop a campaign for Pine Lake Resort, conducting secondary research has been pivotal in our development process. We have utilized various pre-existing resources, including data and analysis carried out by national research organizations.
“Secondary research helps refine the research topic, build files of previous findings, and keep current with new developments in the field. It also provides a launch point for your own additional research.”
- Smith, Ronald D. Strategic Planning for Public Relations. Taylor & Francis, 2020.
Demographic Information
Pre-existing demographic research has helped us answer questions about: “Whom are we talking to?” The most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau and PEW Research Center have helped us better understand our target publics and their motivations. For example, we know that most millennials and Gen Xers who live in Oklahoma, both of whom are our two primary publics, reside in Oklahoma City, thanks to the U.S. Census Bureau. This data helps us understand where we can focus our communication efforts geographically.
Chart courtesy of the PEW Research Center visualizing religious data among Generation Xers. Sample size is 7,303 and the approximate margin of error is +/- 1.5%.
Additionally, research carried out by the PEW Research Center informed us that religion plays a significant role in the lives of Gen Xers. Knowing this information, we can target messages to religious groups that might travel for retreats.
These two simple research areas pulled from two existing studies helped us understand two significant areas of interest relating to our key publics: geographic focus and ethical/moral motivations.
Psychographic Information
In addition to demographic information, we’ve researched psychographic data throughout our secondary research. Psychographic research has helped us answer questions about: “How do we speak to our target publics?”
Data found in the Encyclopedia Britannica explains that Gen Xers are known to prioritize life experiences and maintain a healthy work-life balance. This data informed us that Gen Xers are more likely to travel and spend money on experiences. Hence, we have prioritized them as a target public because Pine Lake Resort offers a unique travel experience.
Example campaign collateral informed by this psychographic data could be a weekend getaway targeted at working Gen Xers. Just as the demographic data informed us on whom we should talk to, psychographic data told us how we should speak to our publics. All of this pivotal information was easily collected from pre-existing resources available online. This secondary research analysis has proved to be invaluable throughout our campaign process.
