Running surveys and involving employees is successful PR


News media exist to disseminate details, and also to entertain their readers and viewers. While it's often challenging to access news media (particularly television) with a straight news story, it can be relatively easy to do so with an entertaining piece.

Newspapers and TV news often run stories about amusing surveys that have been conducted, and surveys have the advantage of appearing factual (even if they have not been conducted very scientifically). In many instances, a survey does provide genuinely helpful information, needless to say.

Nescafé is Britain's best-selling coffee brand. For numerous years, the business ran a series of advertisements centered on a burgeoning love affair in between two neighbors who join each other for a coffee, in different circumstances. The romantic and indeed sexual connotations of sharing a coffee have become well established in the culture.

In Britain, as in numerous other nations, inviting someone in for a coffee after a evening out frequently has other connotations-it may just be an invitation to finish off the evening having a friendly coffee, or it may be an invitation of a more intimate nature. Nescafé ran a survey that asked individuals regardless of whether they thought the line "Do you want to come in for a coffee?" following a date was an offer of a refreshing cup of coffee, or whether it was really an invitation to move the relationship on towards the next stage.

The results were amusing, and also the topic itself was needless to say one that many people discovered relevant: it's certainly a situation that nearly all single individuals encounter on a normal basis. The survey was widely quoted on TV news, and also sparked numerous magazine articles-all great PR for Nescafé.

A lot of PR coverage is directed internally. Employees are, following all, one of the publics that a great PR exercise should be seeking to influence, and they certainly ought to not be ignored. Great staff relations are basic to effective working practices-but it isn't usually simple to develop an effective, friendly, sociable culture within the firm.

All too frequently senior management only communicates with staff when it desires something from them, forgetting that staff actually do not have the same agendas as management: for staff, work is about paying the mortgage, having social interactions, and performing interesting and useful tasks within a team. Management often focuses so much on the bottom line that it loses sight of the staff's needs.

Carphone Warehouse has, like many other businesses, established an in-house magazine for its employees. The magazine, In The Know, is kept fresh and relevant by committing time and expenditure: the emphasis is extremely much on articles and features that will appeal to CPW staff instead of on messages from senior management.

In The Know (or ITK, as it's more popularly known) usually features an employee on the cover. The content has information from senior management, but also has normal columns such as Out and About, which reports on business social events, and also the Dating Game, in which employees are invited to recommend who ought to go on a date with whom within the business. CPW has a predominantly young and single workforce, so this is a especially interesting and relevant function for them. Employees can ask to borrow a camera to record business nights out for ITK, becoming "spies for the evening."

In Job Centre, ITK reports on individuals who have been promoted, giving situation studies about how they have achieved good results. There are also cover mounts and giveaways, and regional stories from Britain and Europe.

The magazine was launched (in its present form) by CPW's PR company, GCI London, following consultations with CPW staff. CPW has a really powerful corporate culture and such great employee relations that the business has won awards including Retail Week's Employer of the Year award. Not surprisingly, the practical result of this is that staff turnover is extremely low, recruitment is simple and inexpensive, and employees are motivated by a team spirit.

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Note: This article was sent to us by: Jeff Brown at 01242011

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