Comments on: Think PR People Don’t Need Math? Think Again

By: Lies, Damned Lies and Mis-understood Statistics | davefleet.com

Lies, Damned Lies and Mis-understood Statistics | davefleet.com — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:01:50 +0000

[...] comments; just an assumption that the numbers are correct. This is a great example of why I think math is a critical skill for PR professionals. PR pros need to understand the different between valid statistics and invalid ones, so they can [...]

By: Can social media turn PR from dark art into a science?

Can social media turn PR from dark art into a science? — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:11:02 +0000

[...] has bought a level of science to the somewhat dark art that is PR. A recent (and excellent post) by Dave Fleet offers some really good examples of how and why PRs need to stop hiding behind the ‘creatively’ [...]

By: Writing - Critical For Communicators, But It's Not Everything | davefleet.com

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:01:49 +0000

[...] – strategic planning, time management, inter-personal communications, math (sorry – it’s true), media relations and others come to mind, for [...]

By: Turning News Into Knowledge » Demonstrating and sharing the value of news coverage in your organization…

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:24:13 +0000

[...] Public relations often gets a bad rep as the department that makes ‘warm fuzzies’ since it’s hard to put the value of managing relationships into dollars and cents. (Sometimes PR can be to blame as many in the industry are ‘math-a-phobic’, as Dave Fleet points out) [...]

By: TravisV

TravisV — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:43:37 +0000

Great post.

I have a related beef – which is that PR people too often draw conclusions based on inadequate sample sizes. Reading two stories about something does not equate to understanding a trend.

Before numbers can be crunched and trends analyzed, the volume of data needs to be substantive and comprehensive. I think too many PR folks out there are making willy-nilly guesses based on very partial sample sizes (a story they read; what a single exec whispered in their ear was important).

By: erob1 (Evan E. Roberts)

erob1 (Evan E. Roberts) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:43:28 +0000

Twitter Comment

@adam3cc that's for sure. I'm def going to have to brush up on my analytics after reading that

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By: adam3cc (Adam Deardurff)

adam3cc (Adam Deardurff) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:53:28 +0000

Twitter Comment

@erob1 yea... when it comes down to it, proof is in numbers and no one can argue with that.

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By: erob1 (Evan E. Roberts)

erob1 (Evan E. Roberts) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:12:28 +0000

Twitter Comment

Just got my butt kicked by @davefleet's "PR People Need Math" [link to post] (via @AKHIA)

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By: JBwrites (Jon Boroshok - JB)

JBwrites (Jon Boroshok - JB) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:50:52 +0000

Twitter Comment

Semi RT @ValerieSimon RT @arikhanson: Think PR People Don’t Need Math? Think Again [link to post]

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By: Wendi Taylor Nations

Wendi Taylor Nations — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 06:05:22 +0000

Dave Fleet is absolutely right. It’s not about understanding a blended rate or building a budget [DF: comment edited to comply with comment policy].

It’s about understanding strategy: HR strategy, legal strategy, finance strategy, etc. Financial Dynamics just did a study about how communications people are involved in business strategy. The discussion at last week’s PR Council/PRSA breakfast devolved a bit into whining about why we aren’t included. Someone from Northwestern’s undergrad biz school made the point that MBAs who understand the bigger business picture are absent from the discussion. He’s right. Our industry has abandoned, or never embraced, bigger picture business thinking. And that MUST change.