For years, Todd Defren, principal of 18-month-old Shift
Communications, had been aware of a huge discrepancy in the way
sales and marketing professionals regard the importance of public
relations' ability to generate sales leads. He thought PR could
impact sales far more than it actually did. "While we talked a good
game, no one showed how our results impacted the bottom line," he
says.
So he took matters into his own hands by surveying some 160
executives--including those from Fortune 500 companies as
well as from startups. And the results pointed to a huge perception
gap between sales and marketing regarding the impact of PR (see
tables).
"It confirmed what we had suspected: 50% of respondents said PR
should be measured based on its impact on sales leads," Defren
says. "And yet, only 16% of vice presidents of marketing put
regeneration as a PR function. And 36% 'sometimes to never' use PR
in their sales process--it's literally crazy."
He adds, "The PR industry... has relied on wrong-headed thinking
about how to measure PR success, such as buzz phrases like 'Share
of Voice' or 'Ad Value Equivalency.' Everyone's trying to measure
PR the way other people measure other marketing programs, and it's
not working."
Contact: Todd Defren, [email protected]