The previous Quick Survey from The PR Council (PRNP, Oct. 31, 2016) was a case of “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
We applied that well-tested aphorism to characterize a concern uppermost on respondents’ minds back in the third quarter of 2016. In that survey of 100 member agencies, some 73% of respondents said “proving ROI through metrics tied to business results is the biggest pressure clients are facing that will touch agencies.”
Fake News Concerns or not?
The newest survey, done in December and provided by the PR Council exclusively to PR News Pro readers, could be titled “It depends on where you sit.”
This new poll wrestles with a relatively current phenomenon: fake news. Set for distribution to PR Council members early next month, this survey shows 62% of PR firms saying their clients are unconcerned with fake news. On the other hand, 77% of the firms who responded to the PR Council survey are “concerned or very concerned.”
As you can see from the table, social media/distribution was seen as the client program thought to be most vulnerable to fake news (54%).
PR Should Take The Lead
68% of those surveyed said fake news would not be a short-term issue and it weakens the credibility of our “traditional media outlets.” Some 62% said the PR industry should “have a leading voice on fake news.”
They’d approve of statements from the head of PRSA Jane Dvorak and Denise Bortree, director of The Arthur W. Page Center [see item on page 8].
Of course, with the recent attacks on media from President Trump, his press secretary Sean Spicer, and chief White House strategist Steve Bannon, opinions about fake news and the influence of and trust in the media could be in flux.
Measurement and Budgets
Another interesting result concerned measurement, a consistent issue with PR pros. 32% said their biggest measurement challenge was a lack of adequate budget allocated to it; 30% said clients were “unable to express a clear measurable objective;” and 24% said clients fail “to prioritize measurement.” As we said at the start, “The more things change....