Surveys

It’s so easy to create news with a survey, that this should be a main weapon for you. It doesn’t have to cost a lot either. There are a few simple steps to follow:

1. Think up an angle

You should consider what outcome you want from the survey before you start it. And it should be something with sits well with your business. if you’re a shoe shop, maybe you want to find out how much parents spend on new shoes for their kids every September. If you sell cars, what percentage of women have the final say on the family’s new car? Brainstorm some ideas with colleagues. Your angle should be something that hasn’t been done before, otherwise the media probably won’t be interested

2. Gather information

The easiest way to do this is to survey your own customers. Set five or six questions that you can use to add flavour to your survey. So if you overall find out how much parents spend on shoes, you can also ask what colour they prefer, is there a style that’s most popular at the moment, how many pairs do they buy etc etc. You can station a member of staff by the tills with a clipboard to ask people a few anonymous questions. Or maybe put a short survey on your website with a chance to win £50, or free product. If you do this remember to set a cut off date to encourage some urgency in answering your questions. Because you’re looking for fairly authentic survey results, you should ask no less than 100 of your customers.

3. Write up the survey

Your survey results should go into a press release. As with any other story, make sure the headline and opening paragraph are the most interesting – if they don’t catch attention, your press release is going in the bin.

4. Put the survey results on your own website

People might read about the survey in the media and not connect it to you (particularly if the journalist doesn’t credit you; it happens sometimes). Stick the results on your website to make sure you get the credit for the survey, at the very least from your existing customers.

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