Why PR practitioners need a data reset

Data-driven storytelling

PR is about creativity and ‘storytelling’ – often a big push back against the perceived cold and clinical nature of data.

I argue that PR has used data since day one, whether it’s reporting core business stories like sales or growth, driving a social agenda by understanding public opinion or analysing government survey data or even more lifestyle-led stories such as the rise of virtual shopping preferences in the post-Covid age.

This is all data, and thanks to the growth in social, and now first-party, customer or business data, we can go broader and deeper in terms of identifying interesting stories to tell – and often we can get to the story quicker and more cost-effectively than in the past.

For example, analysing over 160 purchase data points for a DIY client helped us discover something fascinating about the way their customers behaved: can you believe that shoppers visiting their out-of-town retail sites were extremely likely to buy a new kitchen within weeks of purchasing birdseed? Well, believe it because through the power of data we found out it was indeed true! This helped with planning a targeted marketing campaign driving £23 million in additional revenue, but it’s not a stretch to see how this insight could also have generated an interesting and newsworthy story.

Supercharging planning through data

As well as helping surface interesting or newsworthy stories, data-driven analysis of audiences also helps us become more strategic in our PR planning.

It’s easier to fall back on broad demographic profiles based on instinct, but it’s possible to use readily available data to enhance communications planning across a range of actionable areas, from improving audience insights to helping shape content and channel strategies.

For example, we created sophisticated psychographic profiles of a target audience by analysing the content posted by their followers on social media. By analysing their followers’ social content using Natural Language Processing (NLP), we can create audience clusters with a range of different personality traits and then craft messages and content matched to their needs.

This insight meant we could understand how receptive the target audience would be to particular stories, enabling us to shape content and ensure it was strategically aligned to the brief – while also relevant to the audience’s mindsets.

We can also use social media data to help us plan relevant content and channels. For example, by analysing developer conversations through social listening, we were able to identify several influential digital platforms for a large client of ours, beyond the usual media channels. One channel that proved a prominent media space for developers was Reddit, the online forum. With this knowledge, the team were able to coordinate a Reddit AMA to establish a presence on this platform and drive visibility.

Finally, using more advanced data science, we can also create what we call ‘Mission-based Segments’ – target audience groups organised according to their specific behaviours. Using a client’s first-party data, we can analyse their customers’ behaviours and actions and confidently understand what outcomes they are trying to achieve with our client’s service, i.e., their ‘mission’.

This gives us a deeper understanding of audience needs and motivations and enables us to better craft our creative, messaging and campaign strategy. It can even help us discover new opportunities to engage and connect with consumers or create targeted promotions which previously we weren’t even aware would be of interest.

And finally……. Data-driven prediction

While we can use data right now to supercharge our day-to-day PR activity, related fields, such as product development, media and risk management, are opening innovative data approaches. This is the field of predictive analytics, used increasingly in marketing and other business domains to model the future revenue potential of a customer segment or to improve the efficiencies of media buying.

If we turn data-driven prediction towards PR, we can see several use cases with obvious benefits. Many of us see an understanding of cultural and social trends as an important and powerful way to help manage our clients’ corporate behaviour, their public perception and, ultimately, reputation.

All too often we rely on ‘future gazing’-type reports which speculate on possible scenarios that may (or may not) unfold. But tools already exist that can gather vast quantities of digital data, from social posts to relevant news articles, newsletters, review sites – even seemingly random data points such as restaurant menus.

Using data science and AI, these tools can accurately identify trends emerging in a particular cultural or social context – even before we can recognise the shift in public attitudes or behaviour. Not only that but the tools can also predict which emerging trends are most likely to gain traction and crystalise as longer-term shifts in the public sphere.

As well as cultural trends, companies are applying similar techniques to spot and predict the likelihood of social, political or financial unrest in specific markets or regions around the world. Imagine a crisis communications strategy where we can spot the potential crisis before it becomes a reality and take evasive action accordingly. The potential benefits for public sector, financial or corporate communications teams are huge.

Seize the opportunity

The shift in data availability is changing the way marketing and advertising operates, and with these changes come more opportunities for businesses to strategise the way they collect data to power their engagements and deliver stories. The great digital transformation that has coincided with these changes presents businesses with the tools they need to collect quality and relevant data by their design, which will better serve projects.

These opportunities all offer us a glimpse of an exciting future for PR – should we wish to seize it.