96% of journalists search for company
information via Internet Corporate websites are prime source of information
96% of media organisations use the internet to track down company information,
demonstrating the importance of maintaining up-to-date websites.
The internet has surpassed telephone and direct personal contact as the second
most important source of information for journalists after their own internal
sources. These results also confirm the importance of promoting the image of
companies in the digital arena via intranet in addition to their main public
websites.
These conclusions are revealed in a survey of 23 journalists from the Asociación
de Periodistas de Información Económica (APIE) on the use of digital
press offices. The survey was conducted by Inforpress, one of Spain's leading
public relations firms.
According to the survey, studies, company histories and annual reports are
among the documents most frequently requested by the news media. In spite of
the high demand for such information, the media doubts the effectiveness of
modern day press rooms and only 74% acknowledged having "occasionally"
found what they were looking for.
Media professionals felt strongly that companies should update their digital
Press Offices on a daily basis, to offer a wide variety of documents and to
provide fast and reliable servers. According to them, the design and layout
of the site is considered to be of least importance.
78% of journalists surveyed were irritated by companies that failed to reply
to e-mails sent to their press sites and who failed to provide e-mail and telephone
contacts.
55% of those interviewed claimed to have "never" received a reply
from a digital press office,18% said their messages were responded to within
one week and 23% received a response in 24 hours. These results, said journalists,
damage the credibility and efficiency of a press office, relegating it to a
secondary role as an "information archive".
Fewer than half the journalists consulted had ever attended a video press conference
via a digital press office although 87% believed it to be a necessary tool due
to the savings in time and travelling costs.
Using the data collected from journalists, Inforpress has established twelve
conditions that need to be met in an ideal press office. These include the need
for them to be brought up to date on a daily basis along with fast password
free access, multi-language support, detailed information about the company
(annual reports, studies, biographies), image download facilities, access to
audio-visual corporate information, a search tool governed by date and subject
and a section dedicated to FAQs.
In addition, Inforpress stresses that it is vital to include e-mail and telephone
contacts as well as on-line interviews, free subscriptions to business magazines
and newsletters and links to related sites.
The PR and Communications Consultancy, Inforpress, has a team of 70 professionals
in offices in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Lisbon. The company has 14 years
of experience, is a partner in Public Relations Organisation International,
Inc. (PROI) with partner agencies in Europe, Asia and the Americas and offers
internal, corporate, product, financial and crisis PR services. Inforpress is
one of the fastest growing public relations agencies and is ranked 7th in the
Spanish Association of PR and Communications Consultancies, ADECEC´s list
of the top PR firms in Spain.
