How to Use Original Research to Power Your Content Strategy

The Front Lines

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Gerry Abbey.

Head of Marketing · Copia Automation

Gerry Abbey is a strategic and hands-on leader with deep experience in both B2B and B2C SaaS offerings. He brings a strong track record across multiple facets of marketing and go-to-market strategy, with a particular focus on product marketing, brand development, and competitive intelligence. Gerry’s key areas of expertise include keynote and public speaking, brand positioning and evolution, and building effective analyst relations programs. He is skilled in managing win-loss programs, creating impactful battlecards, and leveraging analyst insights to inform business strategy. With a strong foundation in go-to-market planning and cross-functional collaboration, Gerry also leads messaging strategy and drives results across SEO and social media—bringing clarity, consistency, and automation to brand voice and visibility.

Guest

Gerry Abbey

Head of Marketing

Company:

Copia Automation

Location:

East Greenwich, Rhode Island, United States

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In this episode of The Marketing Front Lines, we speak with Gerry Abbey, Head of Marketing at Copia Automation. Copia provides an industrial DevOps platform that helps manufacturing and distribution companies protect against ransomware attacks through operational technology cyber resilience. In industries where downtime costs millions of dollars per hour, Copia's backup solutions enable rapid recovery from cyber threats. Gerry shares his evolution from teacher to global data collector to marketer, and reveals how he's built a content-driven marketing engine centered on original research that positions Copia as a thought leader in the emerging industrial DevOps space.

Topics Discussed:

Building a story-driven marketing philosophy backed by data
Creating and executing comprehensive original research programs
Developing multi-channel activation playbooks for maximum report impact
Leveraging third-party research firms for unbiased industry insights
Positioning in emerging categories through thought leadership
Building external stakeholder networks for content validation
Managing research programs at different budget levels

Six takeaways from this conversation.

Actionable for Industrial Tech marketers

Ground Research in Clear Themes and Titles
Before diving into questions or data collection, start with a compelling theme and title for your research. Test this abstract concept with internal and external stakeholders to ensure it will resonate. Gerry emphasizes that the title needs to be meaningful and tell people something valuable - this becomes your north star throughout the entire process.
Build External Advisory Networks for Content Validation
Reach out to industry experts, authors, and thought leaders through LinkedIn to get ongoing feedback throughout your research process. Gerry connects monthly with book authors in his space and leverages conference speakers for iterative input. This external validation not only improves content quality but creates advocates who feel invested in your success.
Create Hypothesis-Driven Research
After establishing your theme, develop specific hypotheses about what your report should deliver in terms of value and findings. This structured approach helps focus your questions and ensures your research will generate actionable insights rather than just interesting data points.
Execute Coordinated "Tidal Wave" Launches
Plan your activation before you finish your research. Gerry's approach includes briefing media under embargo, creating sales enablement materials, preparing social content, building landing pages, and coordinating with PR teams globally. The goal is simultaneous multi-channel launch that creates instant validation and momentum.
Scale Research Programs to Your Budget
Don't let budget constraints kill your research ambitions. While Gerry prefers 3,000-5,000 responses for robust data, he's successfully executed reports with as few as 50-200 responses by making them geographically specific or niche-focused. Partner with cost-effective research firms and remember that even smaller datasets can generate valuable stories and conversation starters.
Leverage Research for Ongoing Content Creation
Your research report is just the beginning. Use the data to fuel fireside chats, webinar series, customer presentations, sales conversations, and ongoing thought leadership content. Gerry treats each report as a "short form book" that becomes the foundation for a year's worth of marketing activities and industry dialogue.

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