BY KAREN LELAND / ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL CAMARRA

The following article interviewing Wakefield's Director of PR Polling Nathan Richter originally appeared in MyMidwest Inflight Magazine and at www.mymidwest.com. 

In today’s crowded PR landscape, businesses are constantly on the lookout for ways to stand apart from their competitors. Surveys, for example, are one of the most powerful and cost-effective methods of increasing awareness of your company. A noteworthy survey is more than just a few randomly asked questions. When done correctly, it is a carefully crafted instrument that can make the media sit up and take notice, and there are several effective ways to create one that a busy editor will be interested in reading.

Use a combination of questions. “A common belief among people who use PR for coverage is that they have to ask quirky and zany questions,” says Nathan Richter, PR polling director at Wakefield Research. While a few creative, attention-grabbing questions are fine, they need to be balanced with credible ones, which will compel an editor or reporter to cover a related story.

For example, when the Wi-fi Alliance sponsored a survey, the association asked college students if they would give up items like beer or their favorite T-shirt for Wi-fi access. But they also asked more traditional market-research questions, such as whether they would attend a college that didn’t offer free Wi-Fi.

Avoid obvious commercial messaging. Many business owners and PR executives assume that it’s OK to package their pitch as a commercial message, as long as they support it with substantial survey data. “Not so,” Richter says. “If company X wants to be branded as the ‘hip’ company, they shouldn’t write a press release with a headline that reads, ‘Survey shows company X is the hippest.’” Instead, Richter suggests conducting a survey on what’s hip in the country or the relevant field and connecting that data to the brand. “It’s hipness by association,” he says.

Emphasize the scientific. As more businesspeople include surveys in their PR strategies, they are turning to do-it-yourself tools to conduct them. But whether you administer a questionnaire yourself or hire a professional firm to do it on your behalf, the media and other outside parties need to know—in order to consider it credible—that it was conducted in a scientific manner and followed the proper research protocols. Richter says all surveys need to include the:

• Name of the research vendor  

• Margin of error  

• Dates the study was conducted  

• Sample size used  

• Methods used in conducting the survey

The media are constantly on the lookout for relevant and timely surveys to “hook” a story around. If you present a well-crafted, properly researched and interesting survey, your company could find itself swimming in ink.

We’re wired to think of portability as a function of how easy it is to carry something, and thus as a combination of compactness and weight.  It’s that simple, and probably has been ever since man thought to carry fire with him rather than build a new one each day after sundown.  

However, it’s wrong to apply this way of thinking to consumer electronics.  While once portability was defined by height, length and width, it’s now measured much more subjectively: by its functions.  

In a poll among 1,000 nationally representative American adults, we asked the following question: when it comes to tech devices, which of the following describes true portability, the functions of the device (meaning how much it does) or the compactness of the device (meaning how small it is). Only 33% said compactness.  A majority, 67% believe that portability is best defined by a device's functions.

The implications and opportunity for consumer electronics are enormous.  This means that the success of a portable device depends less on the sophistication of its components, and more on the imagination and insightfulness of its designers. 

Which devices do you think best typify this trend, and where do you believe it’s leading us?  

Why are younger Americans less likely to deem computers a luxury?

Perhaps it’s not surprising that roughly three-quarters (73%) of all American adults believe that computers are a necessity.  So let’s up the ante by asking a tougher question: Who do you think is more likely to believe that computers are a necessity, younger or older Americans?

In a refutation of conventional wisdom, older Americans are actually more likely than younger Americans to believe that computers are a necessity.

While this trend is initially surprising, it shouldn't be.  It's just a part of the research we've done mapping the technological worldviews of different generations of Americans.  For older Americans, computers are much like a toaster or a television – they’re a specific device that one purchases if they have the means and inclination. For them, to not own a computer is to be severed from the technological world.  

However, for younger Americans computers and technology are a natural part of their environment – owning one isn’t a problem since entre' into the tech world can be had anywhere. 

Apple unveiled its new iPad today and, in a matter of seconds, revolutionized an area of the digital lifestyle that is still only emerging. 

Ironically, it seems like Steve Jobs may have read an old page from the Bill Gates / Microsoft playbook.  A page that reads:

Sometimes it's better to be second in line.  Let others take a first shot at carving out a new category of device.  Watch how they do it.  They'll probably hit close to the target - but not quite hit the bulls-eye.  After they're done, aim for the bulls-eye and actually hit it.  Now, you've got a winner.

This is not to suggest that Apple isn't an innovator or a brand that paves new ground.  Clearly, they are.  This particular device from Apple, however, is less about offering something totally new and more about succeeding where netbooks and e-readers fall short. 

The iPad isn't a laptop.  It's not a netbook - which Jobs correctly portrays as being sub-par laptops that don't do anything all that well. 

Instead, the iPad is a true portable media device.  It's a better way to read e-books on the go.  It's a better way to watch movies on the go.  It's a better way to access the internet on the go. 

Wakefield's own market research confirms that Apple is likely heading in the right direction.  In a recent nationwide Wakefield poll, approximately two-thirds (67%) of Americans felt that portability was defined better by what a device could actually do, not by how compact it was. 

So...among those consumers who weren't able to get a Nook this past holiday season before it sold out, how many will now wait for the iPad to be released?  For those consumers considering a Kindle before today, how many of them are now thinking about an iPad instead?  And, for those consumers thinking about a netbook, how many of them are now Googling "iPad release date?"