Eight out of Ten CEOs Unaware Surveys Create Headlines

Why You Need Intellectual Property to Boost Your PR

Many things are of extreme value to a company. Your CFO will tell you it’s the bottom line, your CCO will tell you it’s the sales pipeline, your CMO, the brand, and your head of HR will say it’s your people. All true, there’s no denying this.

But one thing often overlooked, especially from a communications perspective, is your intellectual property. I’m not just talking about patented products or design, but that additional information that you own, which only you can talk about, and claim as yours.

In PR, that means data, research, events or insights that no one else can replicate. So when you’re next talking to your PR agency and wondering if your next big idea is newsworthy or not, think about your IP, and if you don’t have any, then get some – it’s gold dust.

What we mean by IP in PR

IP in communications isn’t about trademarks, it’s about creating something that is unique and reusable. And there are a number of ways to curate this, if you don’t already have it.

Proprietary data or research such as surveys and market reports are great for creating headlines, and informing ongoing content across multiple channels. We’ve all heard the breaking news on the radio as we eat breakfast or navigate our commute:

“Brits 80 per cent more likely to go to the pub…”, or “Gold fish voted UK’s most exciting pet…”

This doesn’t happen by accident. Survey companies don’t just choose to go out into the streets and vox pop a bunch of passers by. Listen on and you will hear who commissioned the story. Pick up the national newspapers, or log onto your favourite news site and that story will give you more detail, not only on who commissioned it, but with expert quotes from that company’s spokesperson, and most probably a national body to endorse the findings. I guess in this case, it would be the ¹NGFAS.

In short, that’s companies like yours. But it’s not all about creating headlines. You can pull out stats for ongoing socials, infographics, explainer videos, and it can form the basis of conversations which you can lead. It can even shape strategy, help you understand your markets, and your audiences, and feed into your marketing campaigns, and sales proposition.

While surveys have for many years been a PR’s bedrock, it’s not the only way to gather information. Exclusive Freedom of Information (FOI) findings deliver, to you, information on what public bodies hold across myriad industries and sectors.

If your work takes you into sectors impacted by the rise in energy costs, what’s stopping you from processing an FOI request on the state of the energy sector? Or utilities, education, health…the list goes on and while it may be a more painstaking exercise, your comms will be more robust, hold greater value, and give your website and online presence a huge boost.

Roundtables, panel events and whitepapers with industry leaders are also great for gaining industry and market sector insight.

This is the kind of content that not only differentiates you from competitors, but also gives you something no one else can claim. You’re setting the agenda

Why IP delivers a comms advantage

1 – You have your “hook”

Newsrooms are under pressure, resources are tight, inboxes are full, and the bar for newsworthy content is higher than ever. If you approach a journalist with new data, a fresh trend or an original quote you’re solving a problem for them.

A well-timed survey result, a snappy stat from an FOI request, or a standout quote from a roundtable can easily become the centrepiece of a story. When your pitch includes something genuinely original, it’s already doing the journalist’s job for them.

2 – It positions you as the authority, not just an also-ran

Anyone can comment on the news but not everyone can create it. By generating your own IP, you’re shaping news and in doing so, elevating your spokespeople – they become sought after for their insight.

3 – It’s reusable

Great IP has a long shelf life. A single survey can support multiple press releases, thought leadership, blog posts, infographics, social content and sales collateral. A whitepaper can be launched, revisited, turned into video snippets, and discussed in panels.

Creating original IP isn’t just a PR tactic to generate headlines, it’s a content strategy in its own right. It supports multiple campaigns across earned, owned, and shared channels.

4 – It helps you set the agenda

Want to be the go-to voice in cybersecurity, or sustainability in retail? Then own the benchmark report, host the roundtable and be the source others quote. When your IP is cited by journalists and referenced by peers, you’re not just getting coverage – you’re building long-term brand equity and sector leadership.

In a nutshell

Surveys

Commissioning research remains one of the most effective PR tools out there. With careful design, you can shape public opinion, and generate newsworthy stats. Services such as YouGov and OnePoll can deliver credible insights quickly.

Here’s the trade secret…don’t leave things to chance – craft questions with headlines in mind. Ask yourself: “What stat would you want to read at the top of a story?” Then build backwards from that.

FOI requests

Still criminally underused, FOIs can unearth gold – particularly in sectors aligned with the public sector. Whether it’s NHS data, policing records, school cybersecurity breaches or environmental complaints, this raw data delivers headlines.

It takes time and planning, but the results can be highly exclusive, and journalists sit up and take note.

Roundtables

Host a roundtable with handpicked experts or practitioners, and you have an instant source of high-quality commentary. It helps if a respected industry publication’s editor chairs the debate, too. Not only can you negotiate spreads within their magazines, they also tend to have a little black book of key opinion formers to invite.

Reports

Publishing an annual report – on trust, risk, spend, sentiment, or innovation – gives you something that journalists and industry peers will start to anticipate.

It might be an industry ‘barometer’, a league table, or a trends-based forecast. Either way, it becomes a ‘go to’ piece of content that builds authority over time.

Best practice for creating IP that continues to work for you

Start with the story: Always begin with the headline you want to see. Make sure your data or idea can support it.

Stay relevant: Align your IP with current events, or wider trends, or sector tensions.

Package it properly: Journalists need assets. So Visuals, box-out quotes, and exec summaries make your IP easier to use.

Plan: From the off, think about where and how your IP will live across different platforms, not just in what’s issued to the press.

Final Thought

You can’t sit and wait for a story to happen, or force one that’s not of any interest to anyone but you. Sometimes you have to build it, commission it, host it, or discover it. That’s the power of IP in communications in that it ensures your brand isn’t just talked about, it’s sought after, as is your opinion and the data you now hold.

Would you like to know more about how IP can help you, or how to curate it, or even make the most of the data you already hold? Then get in touch.

NOTES:
  1. National Goldfish Appreciation Society