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Measurement is the largest skills gap for public relations professionals and over a third don’t measure their communications activities, a new survey indicates. Fifty-three percent of PR pros participating in the PR Academy’s Trends Survey 2015 named measurement as their biggest skills gap, even more than last year when 47% cited it.
Only 32% identified strategic planning as their top skills gap. “This is alarming because it is impossible to do strategic planning well without an excellent understanding of measurement and evaluation,” says Stuart Bruce, an advisor, author, and university lecturer on PR, and member of the PR Academy faculty.
The finding that 35% don’t measure communications activities was also shocking.
Of those conducting measurement, many (71%) said they collect informal feedback for measurement, even though more rigorous approaches are now recommended. Other popular methods are social/digital media tracking tools (76%) and quantitative research (online or face-to-face surveys) (67%).
Public-Private Sector Measurement Differences
The survey reported that 68% of those in the public sector measure their work, compared to just 52% in the private sector.
Measurement methods also vary by sector. The top three methods in the public sector are quantitative research (80%), informal feedback (77%) and social/digital media tracking tools (69%). Those in the private sector prefer social/digital media tracking tools (86%), media clippings (71%) and informal feedback (52%).
Other skills gaps were budget management (44%), crisis management (37%) and digital communications (35%). Despite measurement shortcomings, more survey participants named digital communications as the skills category they want to address in the next 12 months. That’s not surprising, considering digital communications and social media is changing rapidly,
The survey results may be hampered by the low number of individuals who responded. The survey polled 123 past and present students of the London-based PR Academy, who are practicing communicators.
The survey confirms his anecdotal experience, Bruce says. His most popular course covers digital communications and social media for PR and his fastest growing courses are PR measurement and evaluation and crisis communications.
Managers Don’t Understand
Over a third disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement: “My senior management team understands that public relations and communication management is not just a tactic but lies at the center of strategy and leadership.”
The PR Academy sees a link between lack of measurement skills and management’s view of communications as a tactic. If PR pros can improve their measurement, they can provide evidence-based advice on where senior managers’ communication skills need improvement to aid business performance.
Bottom Line: A survey points to a disturbing lack of measurement in public relations. Many PR teams don’t measure their results and many rely on informal feedback. Surprisingly, PR measurement seems more advanced in the public sector than the private sector. A more rigorous approach to measuring PR outcomes will confirm the value of PR expenditures in both business and public service.
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.
