Comms professionals still rate traditional media, almost as much as digital and corporate communications, when it comes to getting good value. These are the findings of a recent survey of communication directors commissioned by executive search company Whitney Murray.

The first question of the survey asked what communications directors saw as the biggest threat to their success. The top answer was proving that what they do has a positive return for the business. This prompted a second question which asked which communications discipline provided the best return for them. Of the seven options provided, digital and social media (14%) and corporate communications (14%) won the majority vote. This was closely followed by traditional media at 11%.

Traditional value
Commenting on these findings, Rebecca Whitney, managing director of Whitney Murray, says: “Whilst this reflects how the communications environment is in a state of perpetual change, it’s interesting to see how traditional media still retains value. Certainly, audiences are now choosing to access news through different platforms such as Twitter and Facebook yet the results suggest that traditional corporate communications is equally valued. 

“What is clear is that there are now far more ways to reach your stakeholders and you can cannot replace one channel with another. Whilst the reliance on traditional methods may be driven by the board who still place value on media coverage and seeing their company in physical print, there is considerable traction towards the ‘new’.

Covering the bases
“It would seem that most communications directors rely on a combination of digital and tried-and-tested methods to promote their organisations and get the message across. It is not that one is better than the other; you just need to make sure you cover all bases. For us, we wonder how these disciplines will flex to deliver value as we become ever more reliant on handheld devices and on news delivered in bite-size chunks.”

Whitney concludes that there is also one burning question remaining: “Is there still a place for the annual report and if so, for how much longer?”

Methodology
The Pulse Business ran the Whitney Murray Insight Pulse from 12-17 September 2018 across a sample of c300 corporate communications directors in the UK.