Partner Article

Businesses say PR will increase in importance

Fourth Day publishes The Purpose of PR research report

Fourth Day today publishes its research report: “The Purpose of PR”. The research project reviewed the current and future status of PR; identifying which of its functions are valued most highly and assessing the role it plays in the marketing mix.

Key findings of the research include:

• 69% of respondents said that the main purpose of PR is to improve brand reputation.
• Online coverage is more highly valued than print: 56% vs 38%.
• Media relations is by far the most valued PR tactic:
• 53% put it first. 88% of businesses favour Twitter over other social media platforms.
• 91% said PR will increase in importance to them over the next year and beyond.
• Evidence of increasing crossover with other marketing disciplines.

“PR and marketing have undergone huge changes over the past decade with the emergence of new media and the decline of traditional,” said Xanthe Vaughan Williams, co-founder and director of Fourth Day. “We wanted to clarify how businesses are using PR now and what they want out of it going forward.”

The research was based on an online survey and telephone interviews covering more than fifty UK businesses from the education, financial, professional services and technology industries. It asked a variety of questions focusing on the purpose of PR, social media usage and the shift from print to online publications.

Xanthe continued: “It’s extremely encouraging to see that PR is still relevant to the vast majority of businesses and that its importance will increase. However, respondents had great difficulty in stating what proportion of their marketing budget is spent on PR and it’s clear that the boundaries between PR and other marketing disciplines are increasingly blurred, and that social media, SEO and content marketing are now frequently found under the PR umbrella.

“In spite of this, brand awareness was ranked as the number one objective, with media relations as the most highly valued PR activity, so it’s not a question of the discipline changing beyond recognition – and the traditional PR goal of communicating the right message to the right audience is well suited to these newer forms of marketing.”

Fourth Day’s French office, Quatrième Jour, conducted similar research last year and some comparisons can be drawn between these two inaugural annual reports.

The research report can be accessed here: http://www.fourthday.co.uk/blog/pr-research/

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Fourth Day Public Relations .