As audiences increasingly discover information through AI-generated answers, original data has become an even more valuable communications asset. A well-designed survey can fuel media coverage, strengthen owned content and create credible, citable facts that influence how a trend, company and sector is understood.
Surveys continue to be a top source that gets reporters’ attention. According to the most recent Cision 2026 State of the Media report, 47% of reporters say that a pitch should include some relevant data to stand out. Similarly, Muck Rack’s 2026 State of Journalism report found that one of the top story elements reporters value in a pitch is original data or research (40%) in addition to relevant sources (58%) and relevance to their beat (70%).
At the same time, surveys also present a valuable owned content asset for communications teams that can help improve brand citation and mentions on LLMs like ChatGPT. Muck Rack’s most recent “What is AI Reading” report found that nearly a quarter (24%) of links cited by AI come from corporate blogs and content.
To help communications teams design a survey that effectively gets the attention of customers, media and LLMs, we’ve developed a six-step framework:
1. Start with your communications objective.
Before putting pen to paper for the survey questions, it’s important to start with a different question: Why are we conducting this survey?
Whether you are trying to change perceptions through original thought leadership, influence policy, raise awareness about an emerging challenge or increase brand awareness through new data, the communications objective should determine everything that follows, from who you survey to how you interpret the findings to when and where the survey launches.
Along with the objective, identify the ideal outcomes for the survey and where the data needs to show up to reach your key audiences, including media, LLMs citation and owned content.
2. Develop a hypothesis worth testing.
While you can’t control the data that comes out of a survey, you can shape the questions to test a hypothesis.
For example, maybe you are an education organization wanting to test a belief that AI is changing how educators think about professional development programs. Or why younger generations are reimagining traditional models of higher education. Or if parents are really evaluating schools differently than they were five years ago. The hypothesis should answer one of these questions and include an educated guess about what the survey will reveal.
Once you determine the survey’s hypothesis, audit the industry landscape to ensure the hypothesis is new or complementary to other recent surveys that have published.
A strong hypothesis gives the survey a clear direction and guides the survey development. Turn your hypothesis into an executive summary and share it with your internal executive team before the survey launches.
3. Identify the stories you want the data to tell.
Once the objectives and hypothesis are determined, begin thinking about the headlines you might want to earn through the survey both for media and for owned content.
Reporters are looking for data that shows a counterintuitive trend or showcases a nuance to a subject not covered before. As you think about the headline, decide how provocative your organization is willing to be. National media will often want a data point that is unexpected and significant.
Design the research to produce insights that matter, not a predetermined outcome you’ve already scripted.
4. Get feedback before you launch.
Before investing in fielding your survey, consider previewing the concept with a handful of trusted journalists, industry influencers or even customers.
You don’t need them to review or approve all of your anticipated survey questions. But they can often tell you whether the hypothesis and a few sample questions feel relevant to their work and what they have been covering. You can also use this conversation to start seeding the headlines you developed to get their take.
This additional perspective can help refine your approach before the first response is collected – and get the survey on key audiences’ radar.
5. Line up third-party validation.
The authors and organizations associated with a survey can shape how quickly the survey results get noticed. For example, a reporter may be more likely to read through a pitch if the subject line indicates a major nonprofit or industry association co-sponsored the results.
Also, for launch, consider which third-party voices would provide immediate validation to the results such as a customer or industry influencer.
Evaluate whether this third-party validation would give the survey more weight with those you are trying to influence most.
6. Create a surround sound approach to launching the results.
Finally, make sure the data reaches the audiences that matter, including LLMs. Build a multi-channel promotion strategy that extends the research across earned, owned, social and even paid channels.
Survey data can have a much longer shelf life than its initial launch. Publish key findings across multiple credible channels to create more opportunities for the research to be discovered, referenced and cited long after the first headlines appear.
Want help designing a survey that gets noticed by media, LLMs and the audiences that matter most? Contact RH Strategic to talk through your goals.
