now? People remember stories and repeat them. In marketing, that’s the goal: research that gets repeated becomes research that gets adopted. • Time – deliver insights when they’re needed: This might be the most overlooked part of research visibility. ‘When’ matters as much as ‘what’. Academic publishing timelines are long, but communication timelines don’t have to be. Sharing your work when people are most likely to need it, when it’s most relevant to what’s happening in the world, is how research becomes actionable. If your study is about consumer trust, share it when a major brand is facing a reputational crisis. If it’s about ethical messaging, publish something ahead of Pride Month or Earth Day, when the industry is focused on values-based marketing. If it’s about pricing strategy, release a practical summary during annual planning cycles. Marketers think in quarters, campaign budgets and headlines. If your communication is 18 months late, it’s not relevant anymore, no matter how good the insight is. Think of your research like a campaign; plan your message the way marketers do around timing, audience and context. • Innovation – find formats that match how people learn: Most practitioners are not going to sit down and read a 30-page PDF. That doesn’t mean they’re unwilling to learn, but rather that you need to package your insights differently. This is where innovation comes in. Instead of publishing only papers and slides, explore other formats. These might include a decision tree that helps managers apply your framework; a short quiz or diagnostic tool based on your model; a downloadable checklist for campaign teams; or a five-minute audio summary of your findings with action points. Many business schools already use these kinds of formats in executive education. The same logic applies to your research: if it’s useful, make it usable. Not everything has to be polished or high production; a simple Notion document or Loom video can go a long way if it helps someone put your insight into practice. • Network – build bridges that go beyond academia: Research doesn’t move through platforms alone; it moves through people. If your network is mostly made up of other academics, your research will likely stay inside the academic world.
as a one-way street. Post the article, share the slides, link to the PDF, then move on. But practitioners aren’t looking for content to read; they’re looking for ideas they can engage with, debate, adapt, apply, or even disagree with. They want to be part of the conversation, not just the audience. Engagement means asking for input before you publish (eg “What would you want to know about X?”); hosting roundtable discussions with alumni who now work in industry; participating in webinars or events that bring academics and marketers together; responding to comments or critiques, not defensively, but curiously. This isn’t just about tone: it’s about treating your work as something in development, something that grows stronger when shaped by diverse perspectives. Your research is more likely to be used if the people using it feel as if they had a hand in shaping it. • Storytelling – structure your message like a marketer: You’ve probably taught this a hundred times: marketing works better when it tells a story. So why wouldn’t research communication work the same way? If your work explores how consumers react to uncertainty in brand messaging, don’t start with the regression model. Start with the moment, the scrolling customer, the awkward tagline, the skipped ad. Tell the story, set the scene, then bring in the insight. Storytelling doesn’t mean oversimplifying; it means structuring. This can be achieved via four main elements: the hook, ie why should someone care? The conflict: what’s the challenge your research addresses? The solution: what did you find? The resolution: what should we do differently
32 Business Impact • ISSUE 5 • 2025
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