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DIGITAL PR REPORT 2015

#PRCADIGITAL

Lisa Elliott MPRCABoard Director and Partner, Lansons@lisaelliott82

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METHODOLOGY

• YouGov partnered with PRCA to survey 280 agency and in-house PR professionals

• Across business services, finance & banking, technology & telecoms, charities & NGOs, Government and other sectors

• In-house respondents include directors of marketing/comms, heads of marketing/comms, head of press/PR

• Agency respondents include CEOs, MDs, Partners and Directors

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KEY LEARNINGS

• In-house PR staff surveyed are now far less likely to point to negative reasons for embracing social media, instead pointing to general marketing and customer services

• The mean percentage of in-house marketing budget spend that goes on digital activities is 16% - no change since last year

• Investment in blogger outreach for in-house teams continues to grow and PR agencies increasingly entrusted with this work

• Top platforms remain Twitter and Facebook, but with growth in LinkedIn and less use of Pinterest and Google+

• Agency and in-house people still need training. For agencies, top need is SEO; For in-house, top need is blogger outreach

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CHANGING IN-HOUSE ATTITUDES

In-house leaders are now far less likely to point to negative reasons for taking their brands online, instead pointing to general marketing and customer services.

General marketing Customer service Being attacked on social media

Responding to disgruntled employees

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

2014 2015

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55%

CHANGING IN-HOUSE ATTITUDES

Lack of staff/budget/time to manage social platforms or digital campaign elements

But the main reason for not using social media more often remains the same as in previous years…

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16%

IN-HOUSE BUDGETS

Mean percentage of in-house marketing budget spend that goes on digital activities (no change since last year)

64% In-house teams that expect digital budgets to rise in the coming 12 months

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IN-HOUSE BUDGETS

The main digital areas of in-house budget spend are…

66%

Online advertising / PPC

59%

Content creation

55%

Web design and build

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IN-HOUSE BUDGETS

Over the last two years, we’ve seen the biggest growth in spend on blogger outreach, while the biggest drops in spend have been on SEO and web design and build.

Blogger outreach SEO Web design and build0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

2013 2015

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PR AGENCIES AND HOW THEY’RE BEING USED

The main digital service offerings from PR agencies are…

91% Content creation

85%

Social network strategy

82%

Blogger outreach

Web design and build0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

2014 2015

Biggest growth as a service offering

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PR AGENCIES AND HOW THEY’RE BEING USED

Huge growth in in-house PR staff expecting PR agencies to be able to deliver many digital service areas, with these the biggest growth in expectation:

SEO Blogger outreach Online advertising/PPC Online reputation management0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

2014 2015

SE0 Blogger outreach Online advertising/PPC Online reputation management0%

20%40%60%80%

100%

Agencies that currently offer these services:

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PR AGENCIES AND HOW THEY’RE BEING USED

22.9%

There has been some growth in digital services as a percentage of PR agency revenue over the past year:

22.1% 2014 2015

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PLATFORMS

Agency

90%

In-house

77%Agency

96%

98%

In-house

Twitter and Facebook remain the leading platforms for usage by in-house teams and agencies

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PLATFORMS

36%

In-house confidence of measuring ROI of LinkedIn:

93%In-house growth

The biggest in-house growth in platform usage has gone to LinkedIn, despite lack of confidence in measuring ROI in this platform. Most agencies expect further use in coming year.

LinkedIn0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

2014 2015

Agencies that expect touse LinkedIn in the coming year:

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PLATFORMS

The platforms that have lost most usage by in-house teams over the last year have been Pinterest and Google+.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

2014 2015

38%39%40%41%42%43%44%45%46%47%48%

2014 2015

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ROI

72% 67%

In-house confidence that they can measure ROI of traditional PR

In-house confidence that they can measure ROI of digital / social media PR activities

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EDUCATION AND INSIGHT

52%

48%

46%

36%

34%

32%

In-houseMain sources of training rated the highest:

Need for more education/insight:

Expert blogs Training courses Conferences and events

Blogger outreach Social network strategy SEO

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EDUCATION AND INSIGHT

76%

50%

41%

50%

43%

26%

AgenciesMain sources of training rated the highest:

Need for more education/insight:

Expert blogs Training courses Conferences and events

SEO Online advertising / PPC Web design and build

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DIGITAL PR REPORT 2015 PANEL DISCUSSION

CHAIRED BY ARUN SUDHAMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE HOLMES REPORT

Abby GuthkelchHSBC

Lisa ElliottLansons@lisaelliott82

Candace KussH+K Strategies@candacekuss