Surveys
Create Surveys That Get The Press Calling
By
Margaret Grisdela
Published April 2003
Imagine fielding incoming calls from the press for quotes and comments
on your client’s recognized field of expertise. You can achieve this
state of PR nirvana by helping your client use targeted surveys to build
a strong leadership position.
A survey offers many advantages to the PR professional, including:
Even the media acknowledges the appeal of interesting stats. “Surveys
and polls have always imparted an air of factual information borne out
by research,” reported the New York Times in April 2002.
Think strategically and long-term when developing a survey concept to
put your firm or client “front and center.” Here are three examples of
how PR professionals make news and build credibility with a
well-constructed survey.
Duracell spurs the holiday gift-giving season with its annual “Duracell
Kids' Choice Toy Survey,” now in its 15th year. A “Top 10” toy list is
published by Duracell, which surveyed 300 children last year in
conjunction with ten YMCA after-school programs nationwide. The results
were published in a press release as well as on the Duracell website.
The “Annual Media Survey,” now in its 13th year, seeks feedback from
technical writers and travel journalists on seven core questions and two
current questions regarding media relations preferences. Bennett &
Company, an Orlando, FL-based marketing firm, maintains favorable
visibility with both journalists and clients as survey host.
“Yesawich, Pepperdine Brown & Russell established itself as the leading
marketing service company in the U.S. for travel, leisure and
hospitality based on the use of strategic surveys,” reports Rod Caborn,
Senior Vice President of Public Relations for the Orlando, FL-based PR
firm.
The “National Travel Monitor Series” is a premiere survey of over 2,500
leisure and business travellers performed annually by YPBR. The firm
partners with Yankelovich for lifestyle information within the research
and enjoys sponsorship support from travel industry leaders such as
Orbitz, Sabre and USA Today.
YPBR is in the enviable position of receiving incoming calls from media
heavyweights like the Wall Street Journal for travel market insight.
Every year the firm hosts a major client event to release new survey
results, which are included as a client service and sold to non-clients.
How to Get Started
Here are a few basic steps to help you plan your PR survey.
Step 1: Start by establishing the business goal. What does the client
want to achieve? Determine the geographic coverage and set a practical
timeline.
Step 2: Select a newsworthy subject, like future purchasing plans,
staffing projections, technology adoption rates or industry revenue
forecasts. Any assumption to be tested must be clearly articulated for
planning purposes.
Step 3: Select the audience to be surveyed. An ideal universe is an
organization’s house list of customers, members or subscribers. This
highly qualified will respond well to a survey sponsored by a recognized
name. You can also conduct random surveys, rent a list or use the
services of a company that provides panelists available for surveys.
Step 4: Consider using a partner to co-brand the survey. A targeted
media partner or a trade association can add an important element of
endorsement and credibility, as well as a distribution channel to reach
the desired audience. Your partner will also help promote the survey
results, which is a key element of the PR strategy.
Step 5: Create a set of survey questions to collect the desired
information. The questions are the heart of the survey and need to be
designed carefully. If you’re using a partner, be sure to include them
in question formulation. Include at least one full-text question, so the
respondent can share opinions and experience.
Step 6: Conduct your survey. You may want to run a pilot first to test
audience response. The Internet is a great way to conduct a survey. Data
quality is high because it is entered directly by the respondent, with
responses instantly databased for easy analysis. Consider adding an
incentive and you can see response rates of 25% or more, depending on
the list and topic.
Step 7: Once the results have been tabulated, the leading findings can
be publicized in a press release.
“Make it easy for the press to cover your survey results by providing
easy-to-understand charts and graphs, advises Dr. Don Stacks, Professor,
University of Miami School of Communications. “Clearly identify your
methodology and provide access to the actual questions and response data
for verification.”
Follow these steps and you’ll find it much easier to measure and
demonstrate your PR value.
Margaret Grisdela is President and Co-Founder of Clientize.com Inc., an
Internet marketing company based in Boca Raton, Florida. She can be
reached at mgrisdela@clientize.com.
