Blogging In The B2b Sector
It's yet another survey reemphasizing the prevalence of blogs - this time in the business-to-business sector. The study, commissioned by research company KnowledgeStorm
and advertising agency Universal McCann, surveyed 4,500 b2b professionals and found that:
- More than 80 percent of surveyed b2b representatives read blogs
- 18 percent of those who read blogs do so daily
- 33 percent read blogs weekly
- 53 percent of respondents said blogs influence their purchase decisions
- Of the respondents who said they read blogs daily, nearly 69 percent said blogs influence their purchase behavior
- Almost 50 percent of respondents comment on or contribute to blogs at least once a month, while 70 percent recommend content from blogs to co-workers and colleagues with the same
frequency
The survey did come with a disclaimer, however: The pool of respondents was drawn from users of KnowledgeStorm's white paper download service, many of whom are IT
professionals.
PR Placements & Advertisements, Separate But Equal?
New research by Dr. David Michaelson (president of David Michaelson & Company LLC) and Dr. Don W. Stacks (professor in the University of Miami School of
Communication), has found public relations placements and advertising to be equally effective in generating consumer interest in a newly launched product. The findings are based
on a sample of more than 350 adults in five markets from Maryland and California who read a newspaper at least once a week. To eliminate preconceived bias, the researchers created a
new consumer product --"Zip Chips"--and described them identically in ads and news articles as having all the taste without any sodium or fats. Some respondents were exposed only to
the advertising message, some only to the news article, and some to neither communication as a control group.
In a consumer product situation, there was no statistically significant difference between ad and editorial in an experiment focused on key measures of credibility, knowledge,
interest and purchase intent, the researchers found. Although the respondents said that they got more information from the news article (despite identical information in the ad), that
did not increase the believability of the message. The conclusion: It's a small-scale study of a large-scale debate, but it does indicate the positive direction in which PR continues
to move relative to advertising equilivencies.
Employee Doubt
In the event of a disaster, employees have very little confidence in their companies' ability to continue paying them, according to a survey released last week by the American
Payroll Association. The findings of the 2006 "Getting Paid In America" online survey were compiled from the responses of more than 33,000 people and revealed that:
- Only 52 percent think they'll continue to get paid in the event of a natural disaster
- 40 percent doubted they would get paid at all
The results are an impetus for action among PR professionals, who should help their organizations foster as sense confidence in employees.
"Unfortunately, America's workers are not confident in their organization's ability to effectively recover in the wake of a natural disaster," said Aron Ain, CEO at Kronos Inc., in
the release. "Organizations must understand that having a disaster recovery plan in place is integral in easing employee concerns.