ASK THE GURU: Frequently Asked Questions
Ask
Dr. Paine
How
does top management expect PR to be measured (ad value, etc.)?
There
are two types of top
management – those that really get it, and expect PR to be measured in
terms of
improved relationships, message communication, improved reputation and
contribution to the bottom line. Then there’s a whole bunch of C-suite
folks
who think PR is nothing but media placement, and measure success in
terms of
visibility in the media .
What
are your measurement preferences when it comes to measuring PR?
My
preference is always
to combine output measures like media visibility with outcome measures
like
click thrus, web registrations or downloads, contributions. In an ideal
world,
we would add a regular relationship survey at least once a year to
determine
the health of the organizations relationships with its stakeholders.
Which
work best for which media and why?
Which
type of measurement systems
works best depends entirely on the goals and objectives you set for
your
department.
Media
monitoring/clip collection
is not measurement. It is simply monitoring. While important, it is
pretty
useless unless you look at what the competition (or some other
benchmark) is
doing at the same time in order to put it into context.
If
you’re goal is to gain
visibility, or increase message penetration, or get your thought
leader’s
messages out there, media content analysis is a great way to go. If you
expect
your PR agency or department to deliver messages, make your brand more
visible,place high profile pieces,
or increase visibility,
then you need to be some sort of media content analysis.
If
your goal is to increase
awareness, consideration or preference, educate stakeholders and/or
improve relationships, you
will need to do
some sort of survey, be it online, by phone or by mail. Focus groups do
not
provide sufficient data included are pretty useless for measurement.
If
your goal is to increase share
of market, move product, or generate revenue you will probablyneed to
do some sort of
statistical analysis.
You will also need to have on hand web analytic data to understand the
impact
of web activity on those goals.
What
is your most effective measurable program and what were the benefits
derived
from it? How did you measure it?
Our
client at the ASPCA is
probably the best example of an organization that is tying PR results
to
organizational goals. They conduct a rigorous competitive content
analysis of
media coverage(including
on-line media
as well as blogs and social media.) They then look at the programs,
tactics and
strategies that contribute to that coverage. They
then correlate the PR activities to media
coverage to web traffic and ultimately to increased membership and
online
donations.
How
have measurement programs changed over the years? What was traditional?
Where
are such programs headed and why?
Twenty
years ago, it was enough
to measure print media and to count “eyeballs”(impressions or
opportunities to see.)Then it was critical to measure broadcast, but
again, all we were really
counting was eyeballs. Recently, the biggest change we’ve seen is the
shift in
tracking from traditional trade and broadcast media to online and now
social
media. Almost all of our clients are now adding social media to what
theyr’e
measuring. They simply can’t ignore the conversations that their
customers and
other constituencies are having. So they are adding metrics to better
understand the impact that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogs and social
bookmarking sites are having on
their
brands.
What
are some of the key principles of using each type of data to gauge PR
success?
For
media content analysis you
need to have a rigorous and transparent coding methodology. You need to
clearly
define the universe of media to be researched. You need to commit to a
defined
universe of publications, subjects, competitors and key messages, and
keep them
consistent over time. You need to conduct longitudinal research –
consistently
over time, so you can compare results against activities over time.
For
relationship and
awareness/preference studies you need a consistent universe of
stakeholders to
interview. Again, you need to measure consistently at set intervals
over time.
For
social media, you need clear
understanding of how you are prioritizing the blogs and sites you are
tracking.
Are
PR agencies and their clients of the same mindset when it comes to
measurement?
Not Very often.
Typically agencies are looking for their "Gold Star" - a
report that shows that they are doing a good job. What PR
people want is good data on which to make decisions. They
need to know what failed, what programs aren't worth it, and
what's not working. Agencies never want to show the bad
stuff.
If
not, what does an agency need to do to be part of the same mindset as
the
client?
The agency
needs to understand what
the C-suite expects PR to deliver to the organization, and measure
accordingly.
If the expectation is reputation and positioning, agencies need to
measure
results competitively to understand if they are having an im pact. They
need to
align bottom-line goals of the organization with the metrics that they
put in
place.
And, what does the client need to do
or
understand to be on the same wavelength as their PR firm?
Clients
need to be clear about
the role that the agency is supposed to play, and set reasonable
metrics and
benchmarks for the agency to meet. More importantly, agencies should
NOT be
measuring themselves. Just as the accounting department hires an
outside
auditor to confirm results, PR agencies need outside research to
confirm that
what they are doing is effective.
What
are the current challenges in developing, implementing and analyzing
the
results of today’s measurement methods and programs and what is the
solution(s)
you see for each challenge
The
biggest challenges is that media
is changing all the time. What was critical to measure last year –
MySpace and
Facebook for instance, may not be as important to your audience today.
Twitter,
YouTube, Flickr and all the other user generated media are dramatically
changing the way people get news and information. You need to make sure
that
you are measuring what matters to your stakeholders.
The
other challenge is managing
expectations. Just because you can program a computer to search for
keywords,
doesn’t mean that the cost of real measurement is going to drop.
Computers
alone are not sufficient. You need to have a human being to accurately
code for
sentiment, positioning and to check the quality and accuracy of what
the
computer has done. And, you still need to do solid research into what
those
stakeholders are thinking, believing and doing.
What
measurements are most controversial (ad value, PR multipliers, blogs,
social
media, etc.) and why? Is there anything new or coming down the pike
that is
going to be controversial in terms of measurement and systems and why?
Ad
Value Equivalency is by far
the most controversial measurement. There is no solid data that says
that any
given earned media story generates the same action or belief on the
part of a
stakeholder as an ad. So it is a completely made up calculation that is
increasingly irrelevant in a world where there is no “equivalent” ad
space.
The
challenge with measuring
blogs is that for most of the most influential blogs there are no
accurate
audience statistics, so you can’t really count
eyeballs”
in the blogosphere.
But I would argue that counting how many eyeballs doesn’t
matter., all that matters is
reaching the right
eyeballs at the right time.
Like
AVEs, there is no evidence
whatsovever for PR multipliers in today’s environment. It is pute
unadulterated
fiction.
The
need for a single “index”
number is another fiction. You
can
define an “optimal content score” or something that reflects your
specific
goals, but the notion that you can have a single number that measures
PR is
pure fantasy. Organizations have different goals and objectives for
their PR
programs, and different goals and objectives require different set of
metrics.
What do you see as the 12 immutable
laws of
measurement?
1. Match the measurement tool to your
objective
2. You become what you measure, so make
sure you’re measuring what you want to become.
3. It’s all about the conversation –
measure relationships and conversations, not “media” or “hits”
4. Size doesn’t matter so stop screaming,
start listening
5. It’s not how many eyeballs, it’s the
right eyeballs
6. ROI doesn’t mean what you think it
does, HITS = How Idiots Track Success
7. Measure only what matters.
8. You can’t divide by zero – some things
are so necessary they don’t need to be measured.
9. Measurement is a comparative tool. You
must benchmark against competitors, peers or some other
organization
that will put your results into context.
10. Don’t collect data on things that
can’t be changed.
11. The media will all change
tomorrow -- measure your relationships instead.
12. If your boss or anyone else says they
don’t want to budget for measurement, they are
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