Why having data and expert insights offers strong media opportunities

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

HR is a highly competitive and incredibly noisy sector, with many brands trying to tackle the issues that HR leaders, organisations and employees face every day. So establishing a strong brand presence and creating trust is crucial. Thought leadership, for a long time, has been a powerful tool for brands to deliver new insights to journalists and to also enhance brand awareness. But to also have data insights can be a gold mine for creating great PR.

For us in the HR/Workplace sector, the conversations are broad – from recruitment, skills development, wellbeing and mental health to employment law, employee relations, AI and tech, to healthcare and pensions – the list is long – because employers and employees experience so many complexities. And we cannot express the importance of delivering insights on these topics to journalists, who seek compelling, data-backed stories.

HR brands can meet this demand by producing original research and sharing valuable statistics. In an article we published on strategies for effective PR comms with journalists, we found that from over 1,500 HR news stories analysed, nearly 60% included research or data statistics, and our Report HR Strategies and Buying Decisions 2023-2024 highlighted the importance of brand recognition, with 71% of HR respondents agreeing that they’re more likely to buy products or services from a brand that knows the market by providing data insights, market trends and thought leadership.

Journalists seek original content that adds depth to ongoing conversations. These findings emphasise the importance of publishing concise reports or trend analyses and being able to provide exclusive, insightful data. This positions HR brands as go-to sources for industry insights, gaining traction with the media.

So, what can brands do to expand their data offering?

Have industry knowledge on the issues clients are experiencing – analyse data held across clients or employees showing anonymised trends or changes in their actions. 

Commission surveys and reports – There are a variety of ways to survey your audience. Interesting new insights on issues HR experiences is a highly effective way to create media attention. 

Invest in first party data collection – ensuring compliance with GDPR legislation, brands can leverage their owned channels, such as their website, apps, emails and social media to gather consumer activity data.

To do this, brands should build trust by being transparent about how they’re collecting data.

Partner with reputable data providers – by forming partnerships with trusted third-parties, brands can secure data sharing. Offering them the insights they need to give them an advantage over their market, without compromising user privacy. This could be in the form of a partnership with another brand whose offering compliments yours, sharing a similar captive audience.

Leverage advanced analytics and AI – by investing in data science capabilities, raw data captured from your website can be turned into actionable insights. In turn, these can be used to predict customer behaviour and influence marketing strategies.

Explore new data sources and channels – by using smart products and social listening tools, brands can use software designed to monitor online conversations to understand how people perceive and talk about a brand. By using these tools to track trends, mentions and influencer activity, brands can gain insightful data on what’s happening in the wider ‘community’.

Once brands have the tools in place to gain their market data insights, they can add expertise and guidance, using thought leadership across all relevant communication channels. While LinkedIn remains a key social platform for professional content, diversifying channels offers the opportunity for enhanced visibility - consider industry publications, podcasts, or hosting webinars.

Contact Kay Phelps at PR in HR - she can provide guidance on using data for media opportunities for your HR brand.

PR in HR is best place to increase recognition of your HR brand.

We know that gaining valuable PR wins in the workplace media is vital, but it’s also complex.

Amplifying your messages with PR strengthens brand awareness and credibility to a much wider buying audience. It helps build trust. It helps grow your brand.

Problematically, there are hundreds of voices clamouring to be heard by national, HR and workplace B2B journalists and influencers, and only a relative few get into the media spotlight each day. 

We help your brand to be one of them, repeatedly.
We use powerful PR so our clients - providers to the HR market - rise above the noise to gain exceptional brand recognition.