Research — The Key to Compelling Content

 

Good research can serve either of two purposes. The first is finding the information you need to tell your story, to intrigue your readers or convince your customers to go with you. This is important, and I'm good at it — but the second sort of research is a lot more rewarding. This second sort reveals the real world in a bright new light, showing things that you never suspected before. This may illuminate a whole new region of opportunity, or spotlight an unsuspected problem. This is the sort of research that will involve your readers, your customers, even your enterprise, in unique new approaches. This will give you the edge you need. This is what I do best.

My Background

I have a lot of experience with this. I spent seventeen years as head of Planning and Research at a large Florida law enforcement agency. Between 1977 and 1994, I helped transform a rural sheriff's patrol into a large pro-active force with 2,500 employees, with my final grant program so prominent that the President of the United States personally announced it in a local press conference.

What did this have to do with geography, and spatial planning? Plenty. My agency covered a horseshoe-shaped area of nearly 900 square miles, with a population of over half a million. Communities ranged from inner-city ghettoes to remote, scattered rural settlements. They hired me, and put me in charge of their planning and research, because I had the background and tools to deal with this geographic dispersion and variety.