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MOSCOW — A survey of the Russian PR industry has found that big communications budgets have been slashed over the past year.
The annual survey, conducted by Buman Media in partnership with online recruitment company HeadHunter, polled 90 in-house PR and marketing directors across sectors including retail, IT, finance and FMCG to find out the challenges and issues for the industry in Russian.
While 22% of the respondents stated that they don’t have a separate budget for PR, of those who do, only 3% said they had a budget of more than $110K, compared to 8% in 2017 and 20% in 2016.
The number of respondents moving from the mid-size budget bracket of $32K to $110K moved up from 14% to 18%, and 26% of respondents said they would be spending less than $32K for PR this year.
In terms of how the budget would be spent, 20% said it would include social media advertising, 19% said it would include content creation, 15% include trade events in the budget, 12% cited special media projects and 10% said their spend would include working with key opinion leaders.
The survey also asked the in-house Russian PR and marketing community about the biggest challenges they are facing. The challenge mentioned most often – by 20% of respondents – was creation of high-quality, easy-to-understand, friendly and engaging content, while 19% said it was choosing the most efficient channels of communication.
Measurement is a challenge for 15% of respondents, while 14% said they would like to prove more value to their management team and 13% mentioned crisis communications.
The top three most effective communication channels according to survey respondents are the same as last year: 22% put social media first; 20% said online publications; and 15% said special trade events, especially those working within governmental organisations and the B2B, retail and marketing/advertising/design sectors.
Buman Media CEO Natalia Bucelnikova said: “Within the last year our colleagues have boosted their skills and put budgets into measurable tools and channels. PR professionals have realised that focusing on quality and putting measurement at heart will help prove the real value of PR to management and combine their own KPIs with those of the business. By developing additional competencies, fighting for bigger budgets and taking more responsibility – as well as offering creative and measurable business solutions – the role of the PR practitioner will become even more significant.”
The annual survey, conducted by Buman Media in partnership with online recruitment company HeadHunter, polled 90 in-house PR and marketing directors across sectors including retail, IT, finance and FMCG to find out the challenges and issues for the industry in Russian.
While 22% of the respondents stated that they don’t have a separate budget for PR, of those who do, only 3% said they had a budget of more than $110K, compared to 8% in 2017 and 20% in 2016.
The number of respondents moving from the mid-size budget bracket of $32K to $110K moved up from 14% to 18%, and 26% of respondents said they would be spending less than $32K for PR this year.
In terms of how the budget would be spent, 20% said it would include social media advertising, 19% said it would include content creation, 15% include trade events in the budget, 12% cited special media projects and 10% said their spend would include working with key opinion leaders.
The survey also asked the in-house Russian PR and marketing community about the biggest challenges they are facing. The challenge mentioned most often – by 20% of respondents – was creation of high-quality, easy-to-understand, friendly and engaging content, while 19% said it was choosing the most efficient channels of communication.
Measurement is a challenge for 15% of respondents, while 14% said they would like to prove more value to their management team and 13% mentioned crisis communications.
The top three most effective communication channels according to survey respondents are the same as last year: 22% put social media first; 20% said online publications; and 15% said special trade events, especially those working within governmental organisations and the B2B, retail and marketing/advertising/design sectors.
Buman Media CEO Natalia Bucelnikova said: “Within the last year our colleagues have boosted their skills and put budgets into measurable tools and channels. PR professionals have realised that focusing on quality and putting measurement at heart will help prove the real value of PR to management and combine their own KPIs with those of the business. By developing additional competencies, fighting for bigger budgets and taking more responsibility – as well as offering creative and measurable business solutions – the role of the PR practitioner will become even more significant.”
