When Research Counts More than You Think!

This chapter of the book intruduces us to content analysis and the importance of unobtrusive research.  After reading I couldn't help but imagine the amount of data that has to be collected to successfully promote a country or destination.  The hospitality PR industry must explore every area to effectively target its audience and essentially- Make people want to go check it out!

Ferri & Partners is a full service PR firm with six locations throughout the U.S.  They have a section on their website focused on Cultural Tourism.

Cultural tourism is the reason people choose to go where they go on a vacation.  For a PR firm, it is a rewarding opportunity to "mold the image of a country and its people, as well as drive the growth of its tourism industry."  It is a learning curve for everyone involved in this process.


Ferri & Partners emphasizes the importance stating: "Our experience promoting cultural tourism is truly impressive, ranging from internationally prominent PBS Television Specials from America's National Park for the Performing Arts — including the heralding of the return of the Kirov Ballet to the US, and the spectacular French Bicentennial Salute — to a variety of multimedia and multicultural tours d'artes today."


They have written, presented and produced documentary television, museum exchanges, and performances featuring the music, the artworks and artists, the cuisines, natural features, religions, lifestyles, and people of India, Turkey, Italy, the former Soviet Union, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, England, France, Egypt, Israel, Venezuela, Brazil, and many other countries and regions.

The research had to have been lengthly and intensive.  The whole time they are committed to the understanding among peoples, person by person, through cultural exchange and the tourism it fosters.

Where would we be without Qualitative Field Research ?

Qualitative field research enables the PR professional to observe social life and what can -and will- happen in future instances. Our job as PR pros is to know what the next big thing will be.  We spend our days trying to find out exactly that for all of our clients.  


Campaigns need to be well thought out and well planned.  
A client, or a magazine article we are writing perhaps, doesn't want to know what happened three months ago- they want to know what is 'IN' right now and what will be.


I frequently read the J Public Relations blog because they are the exact company I would like to work for.  Their team and its goal directly correlates to what I want to do and where I believe my personality and experience would be the best match.  


A recent post dated October 4th titled JPR Fortune Tellers- Working with the Future tells us that they are working on their ideas for Valentines Day. 


The purpose of this blog post is to inform the reader about how it works in the PR world- "One Step and always One Season Ahead."  It emphasized “Lead time” and how it is one of the most often-used buzzwords in the PR industry.  Working with each media outlet’s lead time is crucial to a successful PR program. If you tell the news too late, you’ll miss the opportunity to be included.  This where the importance of the qualitative field research comes in- - we have to know what to deliver and exactly when.


-Andrea

Where to Stay in this Economy. . .

I read an interesting article by PRNewswire called Consumer Reports Hotel Survey: More Than 27,000 Travelers Rate 48 Popular Chains, which directly correlates to this week's chapter on survey research.  "The Consumer Reports National Research Center surveyed 27,506 subscribers who spent a collective 124,000 nights at 48 chains across all five categories from January 2008 to April 2009." 

Here's what Consumer Reports found:

It pays to haggle- 35 percent of respondents tried to negotiate for a better deal, but those who did were rewarded with a lower rate or room upgrade 80 percent of the time.

Booking Method doesn't attract satisfaction- No correlation between booking via phone, website, travel site or other means.

Suites have advantages- For approximately the same price as a regular room, the lodgings in an all-suite hotel give a more spacious, homey feeling.

Some beds are better than others- When they say plush, high end mattress this study proved worth it.

Most "bargain" hotels aren't- You get what you pay for.  Except for Microtel, budget hotels continue to earn the lowest scores for value, upkeep, and  ease of checking in and out. They also generate a disproportionate percentage of complaints about bedding, lighting, decor, and heating and air conditioning.

Readers found The Ritz-Carlton, Homewood Suites, Renaissance, Drury Inn & Suites, and Microtel Inn & Suites were among the most satisfying of 48 chains in their respective categories.

Consumer Reports hotel ratings are broken into five categories: Fanciest, Luxury, Upscale, Moderate and Budget. Travelers' expectations differ by category, but some moderate hotels pleased readers almost as much as the epitome of ritz, the Ritz-Carlton.

Choose wisely and read reviews!

DISTRACTION EXPERIMENT

Interuptions are EVIL was the name of this interesting article I came across.  My last blog post was about how social media- blogs, tweets, facebooking- is so important in a PR professional's job today. 

This article is a perfect follow up post because it talks about the negitive effects those exact things can have on a career.  They can be total distractions and we all know this is true, as much as we are SO happy we get to tweet and facebook in our perfect PR corner office with the waterview (oh wait, nevermind, cubicle)without hiding the webpages from our bosses- Lets face it- it does take up way more time than it should.

You’re not multitasking when you open yourself up to constant distractions.  You are merely working inefficiently.


"Multitasking suggests doing several things simultaneously — but when the Tweet Alert or Email Alert or IM window pops up, that’s not multitasking: you’re either going to check/respond or you’re going to continue on-task… if you are going to check/respond, you’re temporarily halting your current work; if you’re going to continue on-task, which you probably should, why would you allow yourself to be so easily distracted in the first place?"


This article inculded an experiment that was done to staff members:

• Turn off ALL alerts for IM, Twitter, email, Skype, etc.
• Set aside 3 blocks of time to check/respond to email; say, 9 – 9:30am, 12:15 – 1pm, and 4 – 5pm.
• Use Twitter, IM, Facebook, etc. in single-purpose mode, i.e., use the tools uninterrupted, and when you’re done, be done.  Let’s be generous and say that “engagement block” takes up 2 hours of your day — you social butterfly, you.

Assuming an 8–hour day-  that’s 2 hours, 15 minutes for email; 2 hours for Social Media engagement, leaving 3 hours & 45 minutes for assignments including writing, research, meetings, etc.

The author states: If this post resonates with you at all, try the experiment for 1 week.  See if it makes a difference in your focus, results, energy, and job satisfaction.