PR measurement should be a top priority this year, experts say. Photo credit: Biking Nikon SFO
Most everyone in PR now accepts the need for and value of media measurement. Yet ideal PR measurement remains elusive. Different organizations have widely varying PR goals. Many PR goals are innately difficult to measure. It is difficult to establish values for many types of PR successes. Consensus of what to measure or how best to measure it doesn’t yet exist.
Improving PR measurement design, processes and analysis is among the most important PR resolutions for 2015. Some PR experts believe measurement should be the top priority in 2015.
The following steps will enable your organization to improve your PR measurement and progress closer toward the still-undefinable ideal PR measurement program.
Set PR objectives aligned to corporate goals. PR measurement starts with setting clear and measurable objectives that advance corporate goals. Without results-focused objectives that match corporate goals and key performance indicators, PR measurement produces only disconnected data points that prove nothing.
The now-accepted standard approach measures outcomes (results), not outputs (amount of work). That means measuring results in terms of return on investment (ROI) or return on objectives (ROO). Both ROI and ROO require techniques and metrics that assess PR in relation to corporate or brand goals including awareness, perception, demand creation, brand preference, lead generation, and increases in website visits and sales.
To start the objective-setting process, it may be helpful to list the company’s top three objectives for the year and determine how PR can help the company meet the targets. Measure PR initiatives against those objectives. How well, for instance, does a media relations campaign meet the overall corporate objectives? Even if you miss meeting your objectives, the measurement results provide insight into how to tweak the campaigns to produce results that better advance the company’s goals.
Monitor. Valid PR measurement is impossible without comprehensive and accurate media monitoring. Use news and social media monitoring tools to monitor mentions of your brand and the effectiveness of media placements.
Some free media monitoring tools like Google News may suffice for some organizations, but subscription media monitoring services include crucial features not available from free services. Most importantly, they include circulation/viewership/readership data about each news source and social media site. Without that data, valid measurement is unattainable. Assembling the data yourself is unbearable.
Subscription monitoring and measurement services such as Glean.info and NewsTrak Clips also enable clients to segregate different types of clips or clips based on different keywords, and then measure them separately. This type of filtering and parsing produces more finely grained measurement results and better insights. The software behind the services’ dashboards automatically calculates all the quantitative metrics most any PR pro would want.
Choose keywords carefully. Accurate PR measurement requires careful choice of keywords and phrases. Most organizations follow the corporate name and their brand name. The PR department of Procter & Gamble would follow Procter & Gamble, P&G, pg.com, its stock symbol NYSE: PG and any common euphemisms of the company name.
The staff or its agencies would also follow brand names like Pampers, Tide, Head & Shoulders, Clairol, Secret, Tampax, Always, etc. As generic words, “secret” and “always” require Boolean queries in which the brand name is combined in a query with descriptive terms such as “deodorant” or “feminine protection.” Many companies also monitor for competitors or industry issues, even if their corporate name or brands are not mentioned. The media monitoring results can and should be measured for each individual brand – against that brand’s objectives and its competitors.
Assess media clips qualitatively. Today, PR must measure more than reach, opportunities to see, or impressions. Not all media clips are of equal value. Valid PR measurement requires qualitative assessment of each media clip for sentiment, messages, prominence, dominance, spokespersons and other key parameters that affect how the story resonates with readers or viewers.
Go beyond news measurement. In today’s communications matrix, traditional news media have become less important. While many PR practitioners continue to emphasize news placements, circulation of traditional news media has plummeted while the reach and importance of social media continues to surge. Most consumers now make purchase decisions based largely on word of mouth and recommendations of friends and family members obtained through social media.
PR, then, must actively participate in and measure social media. To assess the contribution of PR to corporate goals, it’s important that PR work together with the organization’s digital marketing team before, during and after an announcement or campaign launch in order to measure how the PR program influenced traffic and views.
Other PR objectives
In addition to setting goals that support company or brand goals for awareness, perception, demand creation, brand preference and lead generation, PR can also consider these goals for PR and PR measurement.
Block the competition. Keep the competition out of the media. Every one of your placements keeps your completion out of the media – and vice a versa. The metric can be expressed as share of voice.
Build the brand. Help consumers understand what differentiates your brand from competitors and what is unique and compelling about it. This measurement can be expressed in terms of positive message delivery.
Better target audiences. Mass communications is fading. Reaching smaller but better qualified or more influential sub-segments of your audience can more directly impact corporate goals. PR measurement based on quality of audience is difficult, but worthwhile.
Encourage endorsements. Consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than other sources. Measuring engagement and endorsements in social media demonstrates added value for typical corporate goals.
Bottom Line: Using these newer techniques for measuring PR delivers the data that decision-makers need to better understand and appreciate the value of PR in meeting corporate goals.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
