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PR industry 'wasting its time' says survey

The public relations industry is wasting huge amounts of time and money by failing to communicate its message to the media in the right way, says a new survey

More than 100 journalists took part in the survey after it was featured on HoldtheFrontPage earlier this year.

The responses revealed that 83pc of those surveyed wanted to be sent less material from the PR industry, while 55pc said that more than 90pc of what they were sent was “irrelevant.”

It found that much of the material sent by PR practitioners via email was “unusable” either because it was sent in the wrong format, or because it was “simply not newsworthy.”

The research also found that journalists regard the practice of making follow-up calls to check whether material has been used as “intensely annoying and ultimately counter-productive.”

The survey, carried out by former PR manager and national newspaper journalist Iain Fleming, found that 80pc of PR material is now sent via email, and less than five percent by fax – the reverse of what was the case a decade ago.

Said Iain: “Technological changes in the last ten years have made it much cheaper and much easier to send out content to the media, but this has only resulted in huge amounts of material being sent to the wrong place, at the wrong time and in the wrong format.

“Due to the unreliability of email, a lot of material never gets there, and if it does, it can’t be opened. And if it can be opened, much of it is irrelevant and just wastes the time of the recipient.”

While email has become the dominant distribution method, the survey showed that almost 95pc of respondents had suffered problems with it.

One summed up the problems thus: “Sent in wrong format, unable to open attachments, too time-consuming to access, one-size fits all newspapers attitude, no knowledge of circulation area so content is irrelevant… shall I go on?”

Others complained of being sent large attachments which crashed systems or filling-up email inboxes so preventing other, more relevant, material from being received.

Iain said: “The reliance on email is perhaps the most worrying aspect of the distribution of material, particularly when it comes from organisations which are supposed to be using a robust form of communication.”

The research was carried out as part of Iain’s post-graduate diploma course in public relations, which he is studying at Queen Margaret University, near Edinburgh.

He is now business development manager for Wirefast, which provides the Newslink and Tradeclips newswire and multimedia distribution services.

Comments

Newt (21/10/2009 13:58:50)
Just this morning I was cursing the seven-Jpg e-mail sent through to me which caused my inbox to crash just as I was trying to send a deadline message to my boss. I don’t need seven different pictures of saucepans, and neither do our readers!
I hope this survey actually has an impact on the PR industry. It’s great when I can ask a reporter to follow up a good press release, one that involves a relevant and interesting news story. But 99 times out of 100 PR e-mails are the exact opposite – and a waste of everybody’s time.

Tom (21/10/2009 14:23:37)
Accurate survey. Especially the bit about ringing up to see if the press release has been used. Journos are gits to a lot of PR people only because their patience has been whittled down to a stump.

JimIV (21/10/2009 14:42:49)
It’s more irritating when they ring you up to tell you they are ABOUT to send you an email. Just send the f***ing thing!!

John (23/10/2009 09:37:04)
Since when was 100 people considered an adequate sample for the basis of a study (or, indeed, a piece of journalism)? I’m surprise HTFP hasn’t juxtaposed these ‘results’ with the findings of Cardiff University study on the PR content of newspapers.

MCIPR (23/10/2009 12:26:10)
I am still an MCIPR, even though I have returned to my roots as a reporter. How I agree with all the comments though, John, 100 seems to satisfy the de-ageing (for a few minutes) cream and wrinkle-removal makers.

Daz (23/10/2009 14:10:17)
Why do people insist on sending attachments nowadays, wouldn’t it be much simpler to provide a link to a website?

Jayne Warren (26/10/2009 11:01:28)
I have been on both sides now – as they say – as a PR and a journalist for over 20 years. I agree, most PR is a waste of time, mainly because today’s PRs don’t bother to carry out any research about the publication they are contacting and because their ability to write an articulate press release is probably about as good as Noddy and Big Ears. However, good PRs DO carry out proper research, know when NOT to call, and write coherent material that journalists can use easily. Surely this survey shows that there are a lot of rubish PRs – not that PR per se is a waste of time?