An Omnibus Survey Consultant Can Create Opportunities from Headlines

When your company or brand captures the headlines—regardless if it's positive or negative — an omnibus survey consultant can help craft a timely response while you have the public's undivided attention. There's a correlation between today's fast-paced behaviors (I want it now mentality) and the way information is consumed, digested and ultimately discarded at warp speed.

What most people may regard as a life-changing event today may not be deemed relevant to them tomorrow. So how do you exploit that very small window of opportunity to ride the wave of public appreciation or, in case of negative publicity, institute damage control as soon as possible? One of the most effective ways is through the use of an omnibus survey, which will be discussed here.

This past year BP tried to contain both the oil spill in the Mexico Gulf and the public uproar that ensued? The negative impact caused BP's stock to plummet, governments called for resignation of its top executives, and BP spent billions of dollars to recover the sludge and begin rehabilitating the impacted ocean and beach areas.

This was all front page headlines at the time, but has since faded from public interest. This can be attributed to the often short-attention span of the public, but also to an effective PR campaign adopted by the company to lessen the massive negative windfall. Often the use of omnibus surveys can provide relevant information to help ongoing PR campaigns manage both the message and duration of the headlines.

The BP brand is now more known worldwide (although currently for negative perceptions) than ever before. However, the long-term impact from this public recognition can be crafted towards positive brand equity if the right communication and operational strategies are implemented. Ongoing consumer research can help guide these decisions moving forward and using an omnibus survey will provide a solid foundation from which to base future PR campaign strategies.

An omnibus survey may choose to address some of the following concerns:

What is the public perception of the company before and after the event?
How are changes in perceptions significantly affecting the company’s bottom line?
After hearing the news, what is the impact on behaviour – are consumers still supporting your company?
Did the company compose itself according to the public's perception of its image?

These and similar type questions can be further fine-tuned by an omnibus survey consultant who is adept at managing hot-button issues and distributed through an online omnibus survey this is both representative and contains a large enough sample size to allow analysis across varying demographic segments.