Trend and Topical Surveys Drive Optimal Press Coverage

With the explosion of consumer-generated media, citizen journalists and consumer empowerment, opinion research has become one of the pillars of communications strategy.

Surveys are often the best way to take the pulse of your target audience, and then shape messaging accordingly for media outreach. Coupled with the growth of cost-effective online survey software, some available for a nominal fee (i.e. SurveyMonkey), the practice is virtually a no-brainer—or is it? With ease of use could come complacency in developing, fielding, analyzing and ultimately communicating survey results.

To explore the ins and outs of external surveys as a media relations tool, PR News asked corporate PR heads who often field surveys and an online research firm executive about the benefits, options, challenges and possible pitfalls in conducting meaningful research among audiences.

CONTENT FOR MEDIA

At Actimize, a New York City-based financial software company, external surveys are an integral part of the PR mix, says Jonathan Stotts, head of PR. For Stotts, generating compelling survey data is a proven way to attract media attention and raise Actimize’s profile as a thought leader in the transactional risk mitigation market.

Taking a newsworthy topic and asking key stakeholders how it affects them is not a new strategy among communicators. But it’s a strategy that Actimize frequently deploys, having launched four such surveys in the past three years, with a fifth on the way. “The findings are a key part of the content we develop to push out to the media,” says Stott, who notes that marketing is also heavily involved in the process, as the content will be used in marketing collateral as well.

As an example, when the news about accused rogue trader Jerome Kerviel broke in early 2008, Actimize pushed a survey out to investment banks and firms that traded securities on their own books, asking what the effects of the case might have on their own firm and the industry.

The resulting press release headline: “Actimize Study Finds that 75 Percent of Investment Firms Expect Another $100 Million Rogue Trading Loss in Next 12 Months.” Media outreach resulted in not only placement in relevant financial trades, but coverage in general business pubs as well. In addition, Actimize timed the survey results announcement with the launch of its Employee Trading Fraud software for uncovering rogue traders.

CREDIBILITY KEY

Positive PR outcomes around surveys, says Stotts, does not come without careful planning, and in Actimize’s case, without outside help. The company uses online survey company Infosurv to check the survey before launch, and then do the fielding. Why an outside vendor? “An outside research firm helps in showing that the results are valid,” says Stotts. “When the media and others see that a third party is involved in the research, it makes it much more credible.”

Credibility does come with a cost—anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000 per survey, says Infosurv’s president, Jared Heyman. But what you get with those prices is peace of mind. “We’re not a survey sponsor, and we have no agenda,” says Heyman. “We stake our reputation on true and unbiased data.” Which can be critical when journalists probe survey methodology when findings seem dubious.

Recognizing, however, that budget-strapped PR executives have to field surveys without third-party help, Stotts and Heyman have some advice to help avoid unwanted survey surprises:

â–¶ Survey Topics and Questions: Come up with compelling subject matter, and use experts within your organization to formulate questions using the right language, says Stotts. The questions are crucial: “Watch out for leading and double-barrelled questions,” says Heyman, adding that they cause PR survey neophytes the worst headaches.

In addition, Heyman believes the shorter the survey the better—seven minutes is about right—and time a staff member taking the survey before launch.

â–¶ Survey Distribution Lists: It’s important to hit the target audience, and enough of it, to make a statistically valid sample. “We’ll often partner with a relevant association and combine our database with theirs,” says Stotts.

â–¶ Administrative Matters: The fielding begins with an e-mail containing the survey link, so a compelling subject line is key, says Heyman. “Give them an exciting reason to click on the link.” An additional way to prod participation, says Stotts, is through incentives, which Actimize uses in the form of gift cards (another expense). But beware of regulations involving gifts: financial regulations prohibit gift amounts of more than $25.

Also, avoid spamming your target audience. In most situations, says Heyman, one survey invitation and two reminder e-mails will do during an average two-week fielding period.

â–¶ Analysis Paralysis: Often companies will report survey data verbatim, without putting it into context or diving deeper, says Heyman. Actimize does its own data analysis, and Stotts says it’s important to have staff that can make statistical comparisons between questions.

“The trick is, you want to not just pull out stats, you also want to look for meaning,” says Stotts.

SURVEY SHELF LIFE

Stotts notes that a survey can have a long life with the PR and marketing departments. “You produce the report, create a press release and do pre-briefings around the findings,” he says. “Then produce a webinar that presents key data points, and continue to use the report as a piece of direct marketing collateral available online and on site at events.”

POSITIVE TRENDS

This integrated strategy is also deployed at Rothstein Kass, a New York-based public accounting firm. “Our research complements white paper reports and expert positioning among top-tier national media outlets, and vertical industry trade publications,” says Robert Solomon, the company’s senior manager of PR.

Rothstein Kass regularly produces industry trend survey reports focusing on the hedge fund, private equity and wealth management industries.

Solomon finds that because journalists get access to solid survey data, they tend to be positive toward the company in their reporting, which leads to more exposure. “They often will quote our executives as expert commentators,” he says. “An organization’s ability to offer real insights into survey results is the key to successful outcomes.” Also read about Prediction Markets.

CONTACT:

Jonathan Stotts, jonathan.stotts@ actimize.com; Jared Heyman, [email protected]; Robert Solomon, [email protected].