Sponsored research
One research project: three winners.
- The members are educated by the sponsor and the association
- The sponsor is recognized by the members and the association
- The association is funded by the sponsor and improves member value
A supplier engages its industry association to conduct custom research with its members. The association conducts the research with its members, prepares the findings and provides channels for the sponsor to promote the results.
Each party wins because sponsored research is what it looks like when an industry works together to elevate itself.
What sponsored research is
Sponsored research does not require new association staff or resources. It is original market research an association offers a sponsor, that is carried out by Association Insights. On behalf of the association, Association Insights co-develops and approves the custom research and conducts the project. The sponsor receives the findings it needs to demonstrate thought leadership, and make decisions about products, messages, and markets. Through prior agreement, the sponsor and the association work together to promote the results, develop new content, build promotional products, webinars, whitepapers, articles, and marketing materials.
What passes among the three parties in a sponsored study
A sponsor pays for a custom study of its own target market, the association members. The association gains a closer relationship with the sponsor and the members. Members get better products and services, and more important content and messages.
What each party provides, and what each party receives
The association
Provides
- The relationship with its members
- Approval of research questions
- Its communication channels
Receives
- New non-dues revenue
- A stronger sponsor relationship
- Current data about its own field
The sponsor
Provides
- The questions it needs answered and its objectives
- The budget for the work
- Approval of the research
Receives
- Answers from the exact market it sells into
- Findings it can use, publish, and promote
- A position of thought leadership
The member
Provides
- Experience and opinion
- Time
Receives
- Suppliers who better know what the market requires
- Findings published back to the field
- Better programs from the association
How the work is divided
The association makes the offer and provides final approval of the work.
The association builds an offer package including research, promotion, and communications.
The sponsor defines their needs and approves the project.
The sponsor provides their needs, expectations, and schedule, then collaborates on the project development. Every project is completely customized to the needs of the sponsor.
Association Insights manages the research
Methodology, research instruments, fielding, data auditing, technology, analysis, interpretation, scientific authentication, and presentation of the findings.
The members provide the data
Whether through on-line surveys, telephone interviews, in-person focus groups at conferences, or virtual focus groups, members commit their time and their knowledge to the project.
How a study runs
The association helps to design and approve the research.
No research reaches a member that the association has not read and accepted.
Association Insights designs the method and builds the instrument.
Sample selection, methodology, measures, and processes are designed so the results can be analyzed.
The study is fielded and the data are audited.
Responses are checked for completeness and for patterns that indicate an unusable response, and the unusable responses are removed before analysis.
The results are analyzed and tested.
Differences between groups are tested for statistical significance, so that a reader can tell a real difference from an apparent one.
The findings are delivered and presented.
The association and the sponsor receive the interactive dashboard, the written findings, and a presentation of what the findings mean.
Illustrative example
A supplier of scheduling software sponsors a study of how practices choose their systems.
The following describes how a project is assembled. It is an illustration rather than an account of an actual engagement.
- The association
- A professional association of about nine thousand practitioners.
- The package
- The research, a webinar, an association journal article, a series of website postings, and promotion of each.
- The sponsor receives
- An interactive dashboard of the findings including statistical significance testing, a presentation of what the findings mean, the webinar, the journal article, promotion of each, and the right to use the results in its own materials.
- The association receives
- A closer relationship with the sponsor, more information for member development, the net revenue from the whole package, and current data about its own field.
- Members receive
- The findings, published in the journal, presented in the webinar, and used by the association for new content development.
See the findings.
The Dashboarding page contains twelve sample dashboards. Each one is an abbreviated illustration of what a sponsor and an association receive from the research at the end of a project. Or, contact us and ask for a walkthrough and discuss what a study of your own field would involve.