UK companies are wasting millions of pounds a year due to poor PR
planning, according to research conducted by communication research
consultants, Metrica.
The study, which looks at the use of PR planning and measurement among
the UK’s top 1,000 companies, reveals that almost one in three (29 per
cent) of the UK’s top organisations never define the business objectives
they hope to achieve with PR activities. Companies are failing to decide
who they need to target with what specific message.
However, 61 per cent of those which don’t measure the extent to which
business goals have been achieved still carry out measurement of PR
programmes.
More than half of the companies surveyed believe up to 10 per cent of a
company’s PR budget should be spent on measurement.
Metrica MD Mark Westaby said companies need to agree business objectives
for PR activities at least every quarter. ’Companies need to replace the
blunderbuss approach with targeted missiles, and realise that it is
better to get three or four pieces of coverage in the right media than
30 pieces off-target,’ he said.
The survey revealed that over half of PR professionals support
Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs), but little over a quarter (28 per
cent) of companies use them.
The study was carried out through telephone interviews with a random
sample of 105 of the UK’s top 1,000 companies, measured according to
turn-over. Financial wastage was roughly estimated in terms of time,
effort and expense of carrying out PR activities, set against their
effectiveness in getting a specific message across to a target
audience.
Leader, p9.
