Media & Marketing:  The web is a media channel where marketers can get ‘editorial’ coverage

published 2006

How many marketers and PR managers are using the fourth major media - the web - to reach key audiences?

How many marketers and PR managers are aware of how much Australians have come to rely on the web as a source of news and current affairs, and to research and evaluate products and services?

A study undertaken by Galaxy Research, and commissioned by Network PR, publishers of PR Influences, shows that Australians are turning to the web in increasing numbers.

Consider these figures:

• More online Australians (79 percent) use the internet as a daily source of information than television (68 percent),  radio (52 percent) and  newspapers (33 percent).
• When online Australians want information or an update about news or current affairs 66 percent turn to the internet compared to television (23 percent), radio (7 percent) and newspapers (3 percent).
• Eighty-five percent of online Australians say they use a search engine to find what they are looking for.  Fifty-five percent use them daily and 93 percent once a week.

Note:  Eighty-six percent of Australians aged 16 and over have internet access from any location - the second highest access in the world (Source: Nielsen/NetRatings -‘Information Economy Index 2006 - Australian Department of Communications).

Consumers are also heavily using the internet for researching products and services according to the study.

• 70% use search engines and internet to check an item to make sure it meets their needs
• 63% look for reviews of items they are considering buying
• 60% look for the lowest prices
• 44% check out advertised items

The most heavily researched products and services are:

• Travel and accommodation - 92 percent
• Personal electronic - 90 percent
• Motor vehicles - 81 percent
• Furniture and appliances - 72 percent
• Finance and insurance - 70 percent
• So what relevance does this have for marketers and PR?

Simply stated, search engines on the web have begun to resemble traditional media.  The listings in the centre of a search results page are like traditional media ‘editorial’, while the sponsored links, normally in the right hand column, are paid for and thus are simply ‘advertising’.

Therefore getting your product or service on the first page of Google or any other major search engine is as much a PR responsibility as getting on the preferred page of the Australian Financial Review or the Sydney Morning Herald.

And it’s done by using the normal PR tools - researching how your area of interest is being covered, writing copy/editorial that is targeted at the end audience (in this case the keywords employed in searches), but doing it so the copy is ‘search optimised’ so it can be easily found and ranked by search engines such as Google.  Also it’s necessary to distribute media releases and other materials to online news sources and aggregators read by search engines.

The Galaxy Research demonstrates that consumers already recognise the importance of ‘editorial’ in the search engines.  In fact it shows that online Australians are increasingly able to identify paid advertising on search engines with 71 percent recognising ‘sponsored links’ as paid for by organisations.

As a consequence, when using a search engine, 85 percent of online Australians click on the ‘natural search’ listings as opposed to only 15 percent who click on sponsored links.  This is similar to the way in which people view a newspaper page, with most concentrating on the editorial rather than the advertising content.

In fact around 90 percent say they trust natural search more or find the information from this source more relevant to their needs than from paid ‘sponsored links’.  Again similar to research done regarding editorial and advertising in traditional media!

So the challenge is there for marketers and PR managers to begin to see the web as just another media channel - but an important and growing one that is equally as important as the traditional media they always think about.

Note: The author of this article is a Sydney based senior independent corporate PR consultant who works exclusively with PR Managers helping them with management of the PR Department or their relationship with their PR agency. In addition he provides specialist corporate PR and communications advice where issues or change are impacting on an organisation. He also blogs regularly on PR and communications topics similar to those in this article.

Update: A comment and discussion in 2010 about the relevance of the web