Why surveys are perfect for securing coverage for your brand

We’ve all seen the headlines, ‘drivers spend 106 hours of their life searching for car parking space’ or ‘20% of brits prefer to holiday in the UK’ whatever the topic news organisations love stories which include information gathered from surveys.

Perhaps of more importance is the fact that audiences seem to love reading news stories which include this kind of data. With this in mind, PR agencies and brands are increasingly using results from surveys and questionnaires to secure coverage in the media.

Before understanding the reasons why these methods are successful it is important to recognise the process that takes place when conducting a survey.

After identifying a newsworthy topic, the brand will identify some key questions within this before distributing the survey to a wide range of people in their target audience.  

When the results arrive, the brand will then transfer them into the format of a press release, adding a celebrity face to the information which amplifies the research’s level of interest and credibility making it more likely to be picked up by a larger amount of press.

There are a variety of reasons as to why these type of PR campaigns are more effectively picked up by press. One such reason is quite simply that this kind of information is more interesting than the more orthodox releases out there.

Adding a statistic or a fact to a brands release makes people more likely to want to read that piece of information and learn more about the reasons behind it. Hence, an increased likelihood of coverage being secured.

As well as this, surveys are also a great source of debate and discussion and not only does this mean coverage can be easier to secure, the amount of people the brand will be exposed to is also increased.

A great example of this is our very own Craig Phillips who this week is taking part in a radio broadcast day as part of his ambassadorial duties with domestic and commercial paint sprayer manufacturers Wagner. The group conducted a survey into the attitudes of the British public in regard to garden renovations.

They discovered that nearly 27% of the 1,300 people surveyed have never revamped or painted their gardens. 40% put this down to poor weather, 31% to lack of time and 30% due to costs.

Craig will then visit the Markettiers broadcast studio and contribute to a number of radio interviews including with Talk Radio where he and the Wagner brand will reach 400,000 listeners. This is a perfect example of how brands can both secure coverage and be exposed to large audiences all through the use of surveys as a PR tool.

On the back of the broadcast day, Wagner will then release another press release highlighting Craig’s involvement to maximise their coverage potential.

Champions senior talent manager Benoit Lawrence gave his perspective on the benefits of doing these type of broadcast days in conjunction with surveys and using celebrities to enhance brands.

“Teaming up a brand with talent for a broadcast day is a very cost effective way of generating credible media coverage. There are a number of broadcast specialists that have built excellent relationships with the media and can essentially guarantee coverage for the brand.”

This activity is in some cases five times cheaper than if the brand were to buy advertising to target the same number of people therefore making it a very economical way of communicating with the consumer on a large scale.”

Similarly, other brands have reaped the rewards from using surveys in their campaigns. Drinks brand Innocent aimed to find out how much people knew about when fruit and vegetables were in season discovering that One in ten believe all fruit and veg are available all through the year.

From this a release was produced which achieved coverage in national press both online and in print.

With brands competing in an extremely competitive industry, it is imperative to achieve as much media coverage as possible and undoubtedly the use of surveys and celebrities are a fantastic way to give you the edge.    

If you would like to secure media coverage for your brand or use a celebrity for one of your campaigns, then get in contact with Champions Celebrity Talent Management. Call us on 08453 31 30 31 or email talent@championsukplc.com and one of our dedicated team will get back to you.