Standing out as an industry leader is not easy. Make it easier by positioning your company as the go-to expert in your field with the right approach to data - delivering concrete data that demonstrates deep industry understanding. Benchmarking reports, derived from your platform's wealth of user data, positions your company as an authoritative voice while providing invaluable insights to your market.By analyzing your solution’s data, you can create benchmarking reports that not only showcase your expertise but also provide immense value to your customers and prospects. Create meaningful benchmarks that reflect how businesses in different industries are using your software, the challenges they face, and the results they achieve.
Benchmarking reports serve multiple purposes: they help potential customers understand industry standards, enable existing clients to optimize their operations, and position your company as a knowledge leader. When done right, these reports become essential references that drive media coverage, sales conversations, and market influence.
Using benchmarking reports delivers significant communications benefits.
- Establish thought leadership: Sharing data-driven insights positions your company as an authority in your industry. Journalists, analysts, and potential customers will see you as a trusted source of information.
- Generate PR opportunities: Benchmarking reports are inherently newsworthy. Media outlets love data-driven stories, especially when they reveal trends or challenges that resonate with their audience.
- Create valuable content: These reports should be repurposed into blogs, infographics, webinars, and social media posts, providing a steady stream of content to support your marketing.
Identify Key Metrics That Matter
The most impactful benchmarking reports focus on metrics that directly tie to business outcomes:
- User adoption rates across different features
- Time-to-value measurements
- Problem resolution efficiency
- Resource utilization patterns
- ROI indicators
- Industry-specific KPIs or OKRs
How to Create a Benchmarking Report
The report needs to highlight significant trends and patterns and explain variations among segments. It should provide context for unexpected findings and include expert analysis and commentary. The key is delivering value so it should also offer actionable recommendations
- Choose a focus: Decide which industries or metrics you want to analyze.
- Analyze your data: Use analytics tools to extract insights. Look for trends, outliers, and patterns that tell a compelling story.
- Segment Your Data: Group your data by industry, company size, or other relevant criteria. This allows you to identify patterns specific to each sector. For example, users in the finance sector might have different usage patterns and feature needs than those in healthcare.
- Present your findings: Create a visually appealing report that’s easy to understand. Include charts, graphs, and actionable takeaways.
- As always, refine and update: Benchmarks should be dynamic. As industries evolve and your product continues to improve, regularly update your benchmarks to ensure they reflect current trends and user behaviors. This will help your clients stay competitive and informed about where they stand relative to others in their industry.
How to Use Benchmarking Reports for PR and Marketing
Maximize the impact of your benchmarking reports through strategic distribution and multiple content formats.
- Press releases: Announce the findings of your report in a press release, highlighting the most newsworthy insights.
- Social media: Share key statistics and visuals from the report to engage your audience.
- Sales enablement: Equip your sales team with the report to use as a conversation starter with prospects.
- Site content: Either offer it as a free download or as gated content for lead generation.
- Blog: Summarize the release as a blog, using your infographics
- Webinars: Present the data to your target audiences
- Speaking opportunities: Offer to present the data at your industry’s next big trade event
One of the best examples of benchmarking reports is the Verizon threat report, which is released almost every Q1. You’ll find references to it months after its release. For other real-world applications, look at our Commtouch & Cyberint case studies.
Benchmarking reports are a powerful way to demonstrate the value of your platform while establishing your company as an industry leader. By leveraging your data, you can create content that resonates with your audience and drives business growth.