An interesting new Online PR report has been published by training, events and publishing organisation, e-consultancy. The Online PR Industry Benchmarking Report by authors Michelle Goodall and Aliya Zaidi is based on a survey of 300 PR and marketing professionals and, according to the report, is the first of its kind in the UK to establish the importance of Online PR within the PR mix; benchmark the percentage of PR budgets being spent on online activity; define who is driving strategy and implementation; explore its growth and highlight the challenges that marketers currently face. Here are some of the key findings: (my comments in brackets)
* The results show a surprisingly large percentage of retained PR budgets are being spent on Online PR. Company respondents report 39% and agencies report 47% of total PR fees.
(Quite surprised at how these numbers are. After all, and as many people keep banging on, online isn’t the be all and end all of the profession)
* The results also show that when companies outsource Online PR to agencies or specialists, 51% of companies are using PR agencies but a significant percentage are using search marketing agencies (29%) and web development agencies (22%) to develop and deliver Online PR strategy.
(My goodness, relying on two unrelated industries to deliver your online PR strategy. You’re shooting yourself and the industry in the foot, guys)
* The most popular definition was “maximising favourable mentions of your company, brands, products or websites on third party sites”, indicating that current Online PR objectives are more outreach and engagement-based than identifying, listening to and understanding stakeholders.
(I’m sure the same results would occur if this was an offline PR survey. IMHO there are more in the industry that look to score hits as opposed to changing attitudes.)
* Online PR is still clearly viewed as a specialist and technical PR function by many respondents. Two thirds of agencies surveyed (64%) have a separate Online PR division. Delegates at our November 2008 Online PR Roundtable agreed that many PR agencies consider online activity as a specialism but predicted it will become immersed into the overall PR strategy over time. How many PR agencies have a separate “broadcast PR” division after all?
(I’m sitting on the fence on this one. There’s no doubting that everyone in the industry should have an understanding of online PR, but speaking as someone who focuses solely on this area I often find the more I learn the more I realise I don’t know. It’s ever-changing too. I don’t think a generalist PR could ever keep up to speed and the complexity it sometimes brings)
* Agencies and specialists should note that levels of client satisfaction are not encouraging and they may need to improve their Online PR knowledge and offering. A fifth of clients (20%) are very satisfied with their agency’s level of Online PR knowledge, 28% are moderately satisfied, 19% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 15% are mildly dissatisfied and 13% are very dissatisfied. Equally, clients recognise that their own knowledge could be improved with 49% saying that their Online PR knowledge is good and 12% poor.
(Can’t really comment on this as I have a vested interest but, yes, it often feels like one is banging one’s head against a brick wall)
Stephen is a communications consultant based out of the UK. You can connect with him on Twitter or check out his LinkedIn profile. | Email Stephen
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Michelle Goodall
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for highlighting E-consultancy’s Online PR benchmarking report.
Possibly not as ‘comprehensive’ as you state as it is intended as an industry benchmarking report. We hope that it highlights some of the key issues facing marketing and PR professionals integrating online pr into their marketing and communications strategies.
I personally think that the most interesting statistic is that clients are not necessarily outsourcing online PR to PR professionals and that search and web developers are benefitting.
This is in line with your post a few weeks ago about the PR industry not defining online PR quickly enough.
”Traditional’ PR agencies need to adopt metrics that combine web analytic, search, engagement as well as sentiment, buzz and coverage based metrics and demonstrate the value of good PR beyond media and online coverage and AVE models.
Interesting times………
Stephen
What? It’s a comprehensive benchmarking report.
No, seriously Michelle, it’s a great report and full praise to you and the rest of the folk at E-consultancy for bringing the forefront the issues facing Online PR (as us PR people know it). Was chatting with @adparker today about it and like me he got a lot out of it too.
Thanks again,
Stephen
The Red Rocket
I have to say I’m surprised by these results, espcially the fees one. Our own research amongst marketing managers and directors told a completely different story: very little of PR budgets is currently spent online. Likewise, I’m not sure about the two thirds of agencies have a specialist division – I wonder what Big Mouth Media make of it, going on their recent survey..?
I do agree with Michelle’s comment, however, about the metrics side of thing, which often gets ignored.