Your Next PR Story Might Be Sitting in Another Department

A few years ago, while working at Quest Software, I came across a research project that another department had commissioned on cybersecurity and identity security risks in European manufacturing.

The research had a perfectly sensible purpose. It was intended to support marketing activities, including events and conversations with customers. It gave the team original data to discuss with its audience.

What caught my attention was that the findings hadn't been made public yet.

Some of the results had potential well beyond the original marketing plan. They addressed challenges relevant to technology and industry journalists, and the research provided fresh evidence to support those stories.

I developed a press release around the findings and used the study to create several thought-leadership materials. The research subsequently received coverage in publications including BetaNews and Germany's IT-Daily, while IoT Now incorporated the findings into a broader editorial article.

We had found additional uses for something the company had already paid for, without taking anything away from its original purpose.

1The value was already there

When a team commissions research for a particular campaign or event, it naturally focuses on the job that research was meant to do. The immediate priorities are usually the presentation, supporting materials and conversations with customers.

Other opportunities can easily go unexplored, especially when communications teams don't have much visibility into projects happening elsewhere in the organisation.

In this case, timing made a real difference.

Once research findings have been presented publicly or distributed through marketing materials, their value as a fresh news announcement may diminish. The findings can still support commentary and future content, but the opportunity to introduce previously unpublished data has changed.

That's why involving communications early matters.

2Finding the second use

The useful question is what else the research could support while still serving its original purpose.

A study about cybersecurity in manufacturing, for example, can provide useful material for specialist technology journalists, industry publications and executives discussing broader security challenges.

Different audiences will be interested in different findings. The communications work involves understanding which results are relevant, whether the evidence supports the proposed story and how to present it.

Of course, original data doesn't automatically make a good news story. The findings need to be credible, interesting and relevant to something happening beyond the organisation.

And the finding that works best in a customer presentation isn't necessarily the one that will interest a journalist.

3Make the discovery less accidental

Looking back, the most revealing part of this project was how I discovered it.

I came across the research through colleagues in another department. Without that connection, it could easily have remained outside the PR programme.

That raises a practical question about how communications teams learn what is happening elsewhere in their organisations.

Research, specialist expertise and technical insights can have value beyond the department that produced them. Making use of that potential requires a clearer view of what's being developed and enough involvement to identify opportunities before they disappear.

It also means looking at existing material with a fresh question in mind: who else might find this useful?

Before commissioning another piece of content, it's worth finding out what the organisation has already created, what is still in development and whether any of it deserves a wider audience.

You might discover that the next good story is already sitting in someone's project folder.