Research
Ride the waves of our qualitative and quantitative research
What were our goals?
Diving into San Diego's ocean of opportunities is a vast and challenging escapade. Our Chapter decided to set sail on this adventure with the following goals as our compass:
Before we set out to reach our goals, our campaign team conducted primary research to assess the current awareness, attitudes and perceptions toward our Chapter and the SDSU PR program. The team sent pre-campaign surveys and conducted a content analysis and competitor analysis. The following research served as a benchmark prior to our conference and helped evaluate the campaign's success afterward.
- Increase overall knowledge and positive perception of our Chapter and SDSU's PR program
- Increase membership of our Chapter
- Increase a sense of pride among our members
Before we set out to reach our goals, our campaign team conducted primary research to assess the current awareness, attitudes and perceptions toward our Chapter and the SDSU PR program. The team sent pre-campaign surveys and conducted a content analysis and competitor analysis. The following research served as a benchmark prior to our conference and helped evaluate the campaign's success afterward.
Quantitative research: Pre-campaign surveys
The team used Qualtrics to send a pre-campaign survey to three different publics: PRSSA Chapters across the Southwest region of the U.S., PRSSA SDSU members and registered conference guests. The survey asked a series of questions regarding opinions about SDSU's PR program using Likert scales, including the good employer scale, word-of-mouth scale and relational identification scale.
Measurements included respondents' feelings about SDSU's PR program, the quality of SDSU's PR program and faculty and respondents' likelihood to recommend SDSU's PR program to others. The survey also asked respondents to indicate their feelings about SDSU's PR program on a seven-point Likert scale with various measurements from good (1) to bad (7). wrong (1) to right (7) and negative (1) to positive (7).
Measurements included respondents' feelings about SDSU's PR program, the quality of SDSU's PR program and faculty and respondents' likelihood to recommend SDSU's PR program to others. The survey also asked respondents to indicate their feelings about SDSU's PR program on a seven-point Likert scale with various measurements from good (1) to bad (7). wrong (1) to right (7) and negative (1) to positive (7).
Overall, PRSSA SDSU members had higher positive feelings and perceptions of SDSU's PR program compared to registered guests and other PRSSA Chapters. Although they had lower feelings and perceptions, PRSSA members from other universities were more likely to recommend the program to others and say good things about it.
Quantitative research: Content analysis
In 2016, there were nine regional conferences. The team's content analysis of each of the nine conferences evaluated messaging, logistics and publicity. The team used this information to create a unified message of what our Chapter stands for and what San Diego uniquely brings to the PR industry.
Qualitative research: Competitor analysis
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The team compared our Chapter's regional conference to the University of Nevada, Reno's regional conference. UNR's conference occurred April 7-9, 2017 and targeted Chapters from Northern California, Arizona and Southern Nevada. For the analysis, the team compared the themes, locations, speaker list, sponsors, messaging and cost of attendance for each conference. Both conferences had many similarities, including similar price points, networking and agency tour events, amount of guests and social media followers. Our Chapter overcame these similarities by focusing on our overall branding and messaging: the sea of PR and how San Diego is a prime location for PR practitioners looking to dive into the industry.
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