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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There’s no denying it, I love a good TV show. I was brought up in a household with a fine taste for television – from cheap reality to thrilling dramas, there’s nothing I’m too proud to check out. I remember being a young lassie watching X-Files with my father and thinking “the truth is out there!” then hopping on my mothers lap and watching Brian Boitano do a triple sow cow with the greatest of ease.

Today, I have a few shows that I really truly follow (and trust me, it’s an effort now that I don’t have cable TV) In my humble opinion, some of the best shows out there are Mad Men, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Breaking Bad (close runner-ups include Community, 30 Rock and the always classic Seinfeld).

These shows, I believe, can teach us a little something about PR. For those who have never seen these, I’ve precluded my takeaways with a brief overview, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Mad Men:
Mad Men is set in the 1960s, initially at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on Madison Avenue in New York City, and later at the newly created firm of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. The show centers on Don Draper (Jon Hamm), creative director at Sterling Cooper and a founding partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, as well as those in his life in and out of the office. It also depicts the changing social mores of 1960s America.

PR Takeaway: Creativity
The advertising industry is charged with the task or being creative. Some people are naturally creative while others have to work a bit harder. At Sterling Cooper, it seems some of the more successful campaigns have been hatched by none other than Don Draper – the embodiment of an always-says-the-right-thing businessman. Don Draper seems to be able to find the “wow” factor for every campaign – something we’re often faced with doing in PR. If you’re like myself and don’t necessarily have the wow-ideas flowing like wine, try a brainstorming session! I find that being creative comes much more easily when you can bounce ideas off your colleagues. The more dialogue you have going the more creative you can become for your client.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
The series follows The Gang, a group of five depraved underachievers who run Paddy’s Pub, a run-down bar in South Philadelphia. They are dishonest, egotistical, greedy, unethical, lazy, arrogant, and antagonistic, and are often embroiled in controversial issues. Episodes usually find them hatching elaborate schemes, conspiring against one another or others for personal gain or the pleasure of watching their downfall. Their tactics often rely on inflicting emotional and sometimes physical pain on individuals both deserving and undeserving. They regularly use blackmail and manipulate one another and others outside of the group. Their unity is never solid; any of them would quickly dump the others for quick profit or personal gain regardless of the consequences. Almost everything they do results in competition between them.

PR Takeaway: Don’t take yourself too seriously
Yes, they’re crazy. Yes, they’re wild. Yes, I love them anyway. The antics of these five friends are truly outrageous, making for great TV and often leaving the audience both slightly offended and majorly entertained. The pilot show was filmed on a hand-held video camera and reportedly shopped around from network to network, where the pitch consisted of the creators simply showing the video to the executives.

These guys had a product they believed in, but didn’t overly exert themselves to make other people feel the same. The bottom line is if you have something good, other people will see the value in it as well. In PR, this can relate especially to social media, as many companies are slow to adopt or nervous about what to say. The important thing to remember is not to take yourself too seriously. The first and most critical step is just getting out there and start participating!

Breaking Bad:
Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer at the beginning of the series. He breaks down and turns to a life of crime, producing and selling methamphetamine with his former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) in a desire to secure his family’s financial future.

PR Takeaway: Grab the bull by the horns
I can’t say enough about this show – perhaps my all time favorite. When Walt realizes his impending death, he becomes fearless. He decides to do anything and everything to make sure his family is provided for once he is gone, even if it means doing something he would never normally do – manufacture drugs. I’m by no means advocating illegal activity, but I do admire Walt’s take-no-prisoners attitude. In PR, I see this a couple different ways. In one regard, it means rolling with the punches, taking whatever is thrown at you and making lemonade out of lemons. On the other hand, I feel like we can learn something from Walt – be fearless. Do what you need to do (within the legal limits of course) to be successful both for yourself and for your client. You never know what can happen if you don’t take a risk from time to time.

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Technorati Tags: Always Sunny, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, public relations, Social Media