It feels like prospects and clients ask the measurement question in almost every meeting I’m in these days. It goes something like this, “My boss or CEO needs to see some type of return for this program….especially while we’re all just trying to survive this rotten economy. Uh…how could you…or would you propose measuring this in a way that is meaningful?”
Then we typically have a pretty substantial 15 to 30 minute discussion on how Peppercom creates tailored measurement programs for specific campaigns. Usually, I find myself either raising a few points or correcting some misconceptions about how measurement can and should work to really help assess ROI. For those interested in metrics, here are five of those tips or guiding principles to set up the right metrics system for your company.
1) Stop equating media relations to advertising buys – There is absolutely no correlation between a half-page article in Business Week and a similar sized advertisement in the same publication. Readers assess the two completely differently because they are 100 percent different. So, just because an ad in this publication costs $60,000, it doesn’t mean that the value obtained through your article will equate to the same. Please stop measuring your media relations campaign as if it were a corporate ad program. It simply doesn’t compute, and you will be just fooling yourself.
2) It helps to understand what your white space could be – We’ve found that a really effective measurement program needs to begin by understanding where the clear openings, opportunities or “white spaces” are from a communications ownership standpoint. Once identified, then the metrics program can be very strategic by periodically measuring how the public relations program is moving the needle (or not) in helping said client own a larger chunk of that opportunistic space.
Too often, broad assumptions are made as to what themes/messages/categories should be measured without enough proper due diligence to really see what actual opportunity exists versus how saturated that space may be with three or twenty-three other competitors owning it. So, measurement for measurement’s sake really doesn’t mean anything unless there is a very real possibility that the program being paid for is helping to achieve real marketing and business goals.
3) If you really want to measure ROI, then do it - So, many communicators talk about the need to show their financial executives that the company’s PR program is having a direct impact on something important. It might be reputation, sales, employee retention, or whatever. But, when the rubber hits the road, my experience continues to be that many of these same executives really only want to measure the quality and quantity of a media relations campaign (or outputs), but never really desire or intend to see if these outputs had any direct or indirect impact on outcomes (that impact business).
It really makes very little sense because C-level executives (mostly) want outcomes. They aren’t only interested in seeing if the stack of national media articles Is rising, or even if the message quality is improving as well. I’ve said it before…so here it comes again. A good measurement program can and should be able to show whether business goals (ROI) are impacted by a particular program as long as relevant data is tracked and assessed the correct way. I’d love to see more organizations stop talking and start acting by connecting communications to business in this way.
4) Measurement doesn’t work well through constant starts and stops – There’s a hell of a lot of change going on right now in the corporate world. People are losing jobs, divisions are being consolidated, companies are being sold. So many campaigns and their measurement programs are terminated or temporarily halted in mid-stream. That’s understandable. However, it’s important to understand that it really doesn’t make sense to implement a measurement system unless it can operate for a continued period of time (hopefully for 18 months or longer) for an ongoing campaign. Only over time can one correlate whether a target campaign is really having a direct impact on those important business outcomes versus what could be a momentary spike, or accidental lapse in results.
5) Now that we’ve got the analysis, let’s make some real changes – Even the most rudimentary metrics systems (like ones that simply track media by amount of impressions/quantity of messages) should have some sort of analysis step when the metrics results are in. I’ve seen how organizations love to track the attention they are receiving, but they never truly sit down to analyze the good and bad to make needed changes that can maximize ROI. This is kind of ridiculous, right?
Assessment seems obvious. But, sometimes it’s all about having an objective third party sit down with measurement findings to analyze and then offer some real feedback to those communicators in charge. Then, it’s up the agency team or corporate communicators to use that information to improve and focus continual efforts on those areas where ROI can be greatest, etc.
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