Prof Dennis WilcoxPublic Relations Practices 2010

Public Relations Practices 2010

Strategic Communications & Public Relations Center

University of Southern California

Purpose of Study• Continuing monitoring of trends in PR practice• Provide practitioners with data to better

manage communications in their organizations.

• Identify Best Practices to Benchmark their own organizations.

Survey Sample: 380

Respondents by Region

Budget Responsibility

Top Five ResponsibilitiesUnder $1 billion USD1. Corp comm & reputation

2. Employee comm3. Executive comm4. Crisis management5. Marketing PR/Product PR

More than $40 billion USD1. Executive comm2. Digital/social media3. Crisis management4. Marketing PR/Product PR

5. Corporate comm & reputation

Top Five ResponsibilitiesGovernment Agencies1. Image/graphic standards2. Community relations3. Website 4. Marketing PR/Product PR5. Employee relations

Nonprofits1. Comm/reputation2. Website3. Image/graphic standards4. Advertising/image issues5. Marketing PR/Product PR

Use of digital/social media in rank order of use

Online videos

Social networking sites

Microblogs/Twitter

RSS Feeds

Blogs

Audio podcasts

Survey Findings• Respondents use digital/social media to

moderate degree – but anticipate greater reliance on them.

• Online video most popular – growing importance of visual communications.

• PR/Communication departments have emerged as strong player in digital & social media.

Use of Digital/Social Media

• Positively correlated with:– How seriously PR/Communication

recommendations are taken by senior mgt– The inclusion of PR invited to senior-level planning

meetings– The likelihood that the CEO believes PR

contributes to sales and financial success

The Future……• “We have entered an era in which

virtually all organizations must think of themselves as content providers, with that content taking multiple forms.”

– Gerald Swerling, director of Strategic Public Relations Center at USC.

Measurement/Evaluation• Organizations spend only about 4 or

5 percent of budget on measurement -- a figure that hasn’t changed for the past five years despite advances in sophisticated software and a greater number of tracking services.

Measurement/Evaluation• Continued reliance on:

– Total circulation– Total impressions– Total number of clips– Total clips in “top tier” media– But “ad equivalency” of clips ranks low by

respondents as a measurement tool.

Some Correlations Regarding Measurement

• PR recommendations taken seriously by the CEO correlated with:– Primary research – pre and post campaign analysis– Use of reputation tracking services– Digital/social media metrics– Crisis avoidance/mitigation– Influence on corporate culture/reputation

Some Correlations Regarding Measurement

• Size of PR/Communication budget correlated to:– Use of reputation tracking services– Metrics for digital/social media– Influence on corporate culture/reputation– Influence on share of voice– Influence on employee attitudes/morale– At bottom of list --- news clips and other similar

devices.

Some Correlations Regarding Measurement

• If PR is integrated with other functions such as marketing, this correlates with such measurement methods as:– Contribution to market share– Contribution to profitability– Influence on corporate culture/reputation– Influence on stock performance– Monitoring and participating in social media

Reporting Lines

Line ReportsCompanies under $1 billion

• 42 percent report to C-suite

• 17 percent report to marketing

Companies over $40 billion

• 60 percent report to C-suite

• 6.7 percent report to marketing

Line ReportsGov’t Agencies

• 68 percent report to chief executive of agency

• 18 percent report to multiple managers

Nonprofits

• 62 percent report to the head of the organization

• 21 percent report to multiple department heads

Integration With Other Units

• General Findings:– About 5 on a scale of 7 – Large companies tend to be more

integrated than smaller companies– Gov’t agencies and nonprofits tend to have

less integration

Contribution of PR to Organization Success

• Senior management’s perception:– 1. Marketing– 2. PR/Communications– 3. Sales– 4. Strategic planning– 5. HR– 6. Information technology– 7. Legal & Security

Key Findings• On a 7 point scale:

– PR recommendations are taken seriously by management: 5.8

– PR attends top level strategy meetings: 5.4– PR contributes to financial success: 5.2– PR contribution to sales: 4.8

The Most Successful Orgs

• Characteristics:–A good reputation–Being proactive–Thinking long-term for strategy–Being ethical–Innovative

Correlations of Data• Respondents reporting to CEO are more likely

to report:– They have bigger budgets/staffing– Their recommendations are taken seriously– They participate in senior-level meetings– Their organizations have better reputations

Correlations of Data• Respondents reporting their PR functions are

better integrated are more likely to report:– Their CEO believes PR contributes to financial

success.– They have bigger budget increases– Their CEO takes PR recs seriously– They participate in top-level strategy meetings

Key Findings• PR practitioners can no longer say, “PR

Doesn’t get the respect it deserves.”• “Instead they must ask themselves what is it

about this particular organization, my role in this organization, or my performance, that causes the function to suffer from a deficit of respect.”– Gerald Swerling, USC

Thanks for your attention

Dennis L. Wilcox, Ph.D.Professor Emeritus San Jose State UniversityCaliforniadenniswilcox@msn.com

Website for Strategic Communications & public Relations Center, University of Southern California (USC):www.annenberg.usc.edu/sprc