I attended a Mass Tech Leadership Council event last night focused on “the mobile data deluge” — a topic we hear about more and more these days. But some of the figures presented last night surprised me. Every 30 minutes nearly 23,000 mobile subscribers are added, and more than 73,000 cellphones are shipped (14,000 of them smartphones). Over the next five years, we can expect to see a 4000% increase in data traffic. I’ve seen alot of data on mobile use, but this surprised me. And it got me thinking about the impact smartphones and the mobile internet have had on PR (what also jogged my mind: during the hour-long presentation I was able to use my Blackberry to check email, text a team member and browse the net to get info on one of the speakers). Mobile devices are everywhere in our lives, but for PR people it’s making a big impact professionally. At a recent trade show, I’ve been able to access photos of the editor I was planning to meet, text my client when the editor arrived and later check for coverage. Now, I don’t want to sound like a PR dinosaur, but I can remember the day when my employer gave me a much-appreciated phone card I could use when calling the office from a trade show payphone (when did you last see one of these relics). I also remember the days when my four PR co-workers and I are shared a single PC that we rolled around the office (and we worked for a computer company); when I stood in line waiting to send off a news release using a tech PR agency’s single networked terminal to connect with Businesswire; when doing research meant pouring over huge bound directories or trudging off to a local library; when media pitches where printed and mailed; when we watched for the mailman to arrive with the latest issue of Computerworld, to see if our story ran. Laptops, email, the web, social media and other technology advances have allowed us to work faster, reach broader audiences, access more intelligence and disemminate more information than we ever thought possible. We have to add mobile devices to that list — and from what we’re seeing, it’s likely an even greater impact in the years ahead.

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USA Today’s Bruce Horowitz recently reported that consumer market researchers could get a little boost of help from the use of iPads when conducting surveys.

While the market research industry was hit hard during the recession, researchers are finding that when surveying people at shopping malls, more and more consumers are approaching them (rather than vice-versa) and will participate in the research based on the fact that they are able to try out the iPad.

Surveys are a great way to not only find out what people think about your product or service, but also a way to find more information about your target audience. This can be helpful in a number of ways including giving companies the freedom to alter their messaging or offerings to reflect the feelings of their customers. Survey feedback also helps target customers by their geographical location, interests, etc.

However, often times producing enough respondents – to make your survey data is more legitimate – can be a challenge. Your customers or potential customers have busy lives, just as you do. So how can you entice them to help you out?

While the iPad may not be feasible, especially if you aren’t conducting your survey at a physical location, you may find that offering something of value – like a discounted price off of a future purchase, an exclusive promotion or even something as simple as just giving them tips or advice of some kind – will do the trick and help to get more responses.

Do you conduct surveys of your customers? Do you offer them anything if they respond?

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Technorati Tags: iPad, Market Researchers, Surveys

Recent active topics of discussion have been about content in blogs. It’s a question asked by many: how do you create important and relevant content?

1. Visit other blogs in your field and voice your opinion. According to SocialMouths, it provides feedback to the blogger, it gives visibility to your own blog and — most importantly — it creates a conversation. After all, dialogue is better than monologue!

While this may seem like a time consuming task, the creation of content, as well as the dialogue, will speak for itself.

2. PR-Squared pointed to a method called POST that Forrester uses, which is an acronym for people, objectives, strategies and tactics. After knowing your audience (which is the number one lesson they teach you in college), you start to understand which topics cause a stir, and then you begin to engage people in those very topics you know will get a response. Because you’ve engaged in conversation with them before, then you know you have a group of peers in dialogue about your field left and right, all through blogging.

Not so coincidentally, forming relationships yields the same results.

I think it’s also necessary to note that these conversations should stay within your field. Even if you’re talking to competitors, you’re still relaying important information that you’re knowledgeable about.

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