Marketing Research to Bookmark for Your Next Blog Post

If you thought your research days were over when you graduated from high school or college, think again. If you create any kind of content as part of your role, your arguments should be well-supported with data.

Why is research so important? It makes your claims credible, your content authoritative, and helps you earn more social shares and backlinks.

In fact, an analysis of over one million articles from Moz and BuzzSumo revealed that research-backed content generates more shares and more backlinks than other content types.

The thing is, finding the research to cite is tough sometimes. The original source data can be hard to track down and citations might be incorrect or missing, among other issues. 

For all of you content creators, bloggers, SEOs, and market researchers, we feel your pain. So we put together a comprehensive list of sources with original research data about all things marketing. Bookmark this blog post to have ideas handy for where to go when you need a stat to support your claim, or if you’re looking for great sources to learn about forthcoming trends in the marketing world.

19 Marketing Research Websites to Bookmark

1) Nielsen

Nielsen specializes in consumer media research on topics like TV, internet, social media, and app user behaviors. Whether you write blog posts about social media behavior or report to your team about trends, Nielsen is a great place to start your research. It frequently publishes new data in its Insights section marketers might find useful to cite, such as:

• Yearly Nielsen Social Media Report, which readers can access for free after sharing their contact information.
• A New Megaphone: Social Media Gives Consumers a Chance to be Heard on What They Watch

Source: Nielsen

2) Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News publishes business stories and data on a variety of topics, including global technology and digital media news. Bloomberg breaks a lot of technology and marketing news stories, which makes it a great resource for covering newsjacks, creating timelines, or simply keeping up with what’s new in digital media. Here are examples of Bloomberg content you might cite:

• Twitter Planning Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
• Snapchat Passes Twitter in Daily Usage

3) Gallup

Research organization Gallup conducts public opinion polls about business and technology, among a variety of other topics. Recent, original survey results provide excellent data to cite, and Gallup provides meaningful insights in addition to the raw survey data. Below are surveys it conducted about brand marketing:

• Brands Aren’t Winning Millennial Consumers
• Failed Brand Ambassadors

4) Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center conducts nonpartisan surveys and research on trends and habits among internet and technology consumers. Another source for poll results, Pew publishes lots of valuable information you can cite. Make sure you cite properly -- instead of “100% of Americans use social media,” phrase survey data as “100% of Americans surveyed use social media.” You might find these Pew survey results useful:

• The Modern News Consumer
• Yearly Social Media Update

Source: Pew Research Center

5) Ipsos

Ipsos conducts market research and analysis of a variety of global audiences and their consumption behaviors. Research from Ipsos is great to cite to provide global data instead of data only from your home country. Here are two of its latest reports that intrigued us:

• Emotional Attachment & Profitable Customer Relationships
• Confessions of the Admen

6) Content Marketing Institute & MarketingProfs

Every year, Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs conduct massive surveys of B2B and B2C marketers in North America and distill the findings into reports full of original, useful data about how marketers do their jobs in the current year. We cite these surveys, and we think you should too:

• B2B Content Marketing: 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends — North America
• B2C Content Marketing: 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends — North America

Source: Content Marketing Institute

7) Ahrefs Blog

Ahrefs offers SEO marketing tools and a blog that includes original research and analysis. If you’re in the business of search engine marketing or linkbuilding, Ahrefs is a must-bookmark. Here are a couple of fascinating studies on the blog we recommend:

• How long does it take to rank in Google? (A study by Ahrefs)
• What’s The Cost of Buying Links in 2016? I Reached Out To 250 Blogs To Find Out.

8) Fractl

Marketing agency Fractl publishes interesting research about growth and content marketing strategies, including linkbuilding, writing, and social media. We love that Fractl visualizes research results in infographic format, too. Check out some of its latest studies here:

• The Motivation for Sharing on Facebook
• How Effective is #Sponsored Content on Instagram?

Source: Fractl

9) WordStream

WordStream provides online advertising software and tools, and the brand publishes helpful marketing advice and original research on its blog. WordStream constantly evaluates and analyzes its own practices and publishes its findings, which is highly useful whether you write about online advertising or do it yourself. You can cite WordStream’s SEO data from studies like these:

• Bing’s Expanded Text Ads Even Outperform Google’s [Data]
• Does Dwell Time Really Matter for SEO? [Data]

10) eMarketer

Market research company eMarketer publishes research data about all things digital media -- from social media, content marketing, SEO, and mobile device use. It publishes research data from markets around the world, so it’s a highly comprehensive resource to cite. It also publishes lots of projections for the future of different industries, which is useful information whether you’re publishing an external blog post or reporting internally. Read a couple surveys and estimates below:

• New eMarketer Estimates Show Huge Snapchat User Growth in UK
• US Digital Ad Spending to Surpass TV This Year

11) comScore

Marketing and advertising research company comScore produces data and insights into media and technology trends. Lots of its research focuses on consumer habits and market research in regions around the world. Additionally, comScore produces content in written, visual, and audio formats for its followers who want to consume data in different ways. Here are a couple new studies we recommend:

• Smartphone Usage Has Doubled in the Past Three Years
• Millennials Use More Apps, but Spend a Greater Share of Time on Top Apps

12) Siege Media

Siege is a content and SEO-focused marketing agency and publishes fantastic advice, case studies, and original research on its blog. Its research takes a closer look at the science and data behind common content marketing strategies, which are useful whether you create content or want to learn how to do it better. Here are two of Siege’s “closer look” research articles:

• Which Keywords Have the Worst CTR?
• The Science Behind the Most Popular Infographics

Source: Siege Media

13) Social Media Examiner

Michael Stelzner’s Social Media Examiner publishes tons of content about how to do social media, and how to do it well. Once yearly, he publishes the results of a social media marketing survey of over 5,000 marketers, which offers valuable insights into how your peers and competitors run social. Check out the free report below:

• Social Media Marketing Industry Report, which readers can access for free after sharing their contact information.

14) TrackMaven

Marketing analytics company TrackMaven publishes lots of actionable research data about its own practices and those of other content marketers. Its research does a great job of answering the tough questions not all marketers have the answers to -- questions like “why aren’t my efforts driving results?” Here are some of TrackMaven’s latest research results:

• Blogging Report: How to Drive Results from Your Company Blog
• The Content Marketing Paradox Revisited, which readers can access for free after sharing their contact information.

15) dscout

Mobile research and analysis platform dscout publishes fascinating research about how people interact with mobile devices and apps. From user experience to how excessively we use our mobile devices, dscout’s research covers it all -- check out some of its insights here:

• Putting a Finger on Our Phone Obsession
• Mobile's not eating the world; it's eating our days

16) Chute

Chute helps brands publish user-generated content (UGC), and its research dives into UGC on different social media platforms and how consumers use and create content about the brands they interact with. One of its biggest initiatives analyzes branded hashtags on Instagram so brands can see how people interact with them on social media. Check out Chute’s database of Instagram hashtags and other research below:

• UGC Brand Trends
• How User-Generated Content Shapes Millennial Habits

Source: Chute

17) Contently

Content marketing platform Contently publishes blog posts, webinars, and research about how to create organic and ad content consumers will actually engage with. Its analysis goes beyond organic content marketing and dives into newer trends, such as native advertising and content distribution, as in the examples below:

• Fixing Native Advertising: What Consumers Want from Brands, Publishers, and the FTC
• B2B Paid Content Distribution: Facebook vs. LinkedIn

18) BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo’s social analytics software helps users see what content is shared and linked to most frequently, and its research about how to get shared and go viral is a must-read for any marketer.

• The Content That Gains Shares and Links on Medium: BuzzSumo Research
• The Magical Content That Gets Links and Shares -- New Research

19) HubSpot

You may already be familiar with what we do here at HubSpot, but just in case: We’re an inbound marketing and sales platform. We publish free, original marketing, sales, and business technology data, and we’ve rounded up a list of go-to marketing statistics for easy sharing and reference, all of which are linked below:

• HubSpot Research
• The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics
• State of Inbound

Source: HubSpot

Get Searching

We’ve taken some of the legwork out of the research process for you here, but make sure to always do your due diligence. Fact-check all data points you find, make sure your sources are reliable and credible, and cite your stats properly. For the latest free research on all things marketing, subscribe to get the latest reports and surveys from HubSpot Research.

What’s your go-to source for research data? Share with us in the comments below.