Posts
Nielsen Media Research says they are measuring ratings for TV shows “regardless of the platform on which it is viewed.” That means they’re tracking not only couch potatoes, but also folks who watch shows online, on their phones, on the ole m-3 and “outside the home” (whatever that means), thus plugging the absolute hole in advertising metrics.
Ah, advertising metrics. How many people saw your ad and when. Share of voice. Lovely stuff, that. Makes the suits on the board feel all warm and fuzzy about the millions they’re allocating to the ad budget.
What about PR? Despite noble efforts, we still don’t have clear (read obvious) metrics to measure our efforts. Why not? If your PR program is working, everyone knows it. Witness: How do you know a trend is a trend? Do you talk with thousands of 18-24 year olds? I doubt it. The answer is simple: You hear about trends via third-parties, most often via media.
Sure, you see ads for products and services all the time. But permission to purchase said product or services comes when you read about its use or adoption. If your communications program is educational, you see your messages accurately reflected and, yep, witness shifts in audience behavior.
The best PR programs are those that find messages that work with the media and key audiences, and deliver them through the channels that reach their audiences most effectively. That means knowing which media influences the people you need to reach (Trade? Consumer? Print? Broadcast?) and which tactics will deliver real value (Events? Unbranded educational sites? Blog postings?). Long gone are days of PR for sake of PR. The dude holding the purse strings won’t stand for that. Now we have to balance the fact nobody will buy or use our product/service unless they’ve heard of it with a need to provide a monthly or quarterly spreadsheet that illustrates the value of our efforts.
So you want to know: how do you take your PR program’s temperature to discern whether it’s working for (or against) you? It’s not as hard as we all think it is. First review the basics: Do you have lucid (that means two pages max) messages in place, and does every component of your program reflect those messages? Are your audiences clearly defined? Are your objectives or strategy unambiguous?
Do you have a calendar of communication activities that is no more than 90 days long? It’s OK to have a longer-term plan, but tactics for the next 90 days should at all times be defined on a calendar that outlines all five W's.
As we always say at BPB, take a harsh look at your spokespeople. Are they strong enough? Regardless of industry if they’re all within the company, you’re missing an opportunity. Find some third-parties…KOL’s [key opinion leaders]…influencers. These are the people who will enhance your credibility by speaking directly to your target audiences. And they’re fantastic sources for media.
When that’s all done, take a quiet moment to consider language: Whether your company is dedicated to inventing new technology, developing new drugs, or saving the oceans of the world, chances are that you have an internal lexicon that might—or might not—be understood outside your walls. Make sure your communications tactics—every single one of them!—make sense to your audiences. If you have sales reps in the field, talk to them. Make sure they’re also being trained to talk “on message.” (At our firm we train all customer interfacing folks--in a big happy group.) After all, aren’t they interacting with your audience daily — more so than you?
Here’s one radical thought: Hold focus groups yourself. Traditionally considered domain of advertising, there is no reason that PR types can’t use focus groups to get feedback on messages and how they’re delivered. It's scary to interact but you'll be happy at what you learned. You can include media in some of these groups.
There you have it. Your checkup’s complete. These steps are meant to cause you to make changes. If you don’t amend anything, well, you might have to do it all over again! Good luck with that.
REMEMBER: Bad Pitch Night School During The Day--July 29--registration is open: www.CrappyPR.com
Twitter @laermer.
8 comments:
I would very much like to know how Nielsen measures anything with any degree of certainty.
Wow, what a great post! This concisely provides accurate guidelines for measuring and evaluating our PR efforts. In a fast paced industry, we often forget the simple tools and resources available to advance our work to the next level. With a precise measurement plan, we can grow with our clients.
Sorry, Richard and Adrienne, you are both wrong. This list has nothing to do with measurement, and if it is, is a terrible way to measure PR. First of all, you have to start with measureable goals and a target audience you are trying to reach. The right way to measure is to gauge the change in opinions and behavior of that audience. When I provide metrics for my clients, they are always tied to organizational goals -- revenue, positioning, market share. You are advocating practices that will not help build PR's credibility (or budgets.) Never mind that focus groups are not statistically accurate unless you actually do a LOT of them.
In theory this check-up sounds great. The problem I have with it is how do you get your clients to buy off on it? What CEO or marketing executive will believe that as long as you are covering your messages, you are doing fine? Also, in my experience, spokespeople are handed to you, not chosen by you. Are you supposed to tell your client that they are bad spokespeople?
I think KDP is right except that focus groups will work for PR in a big way--you get story angles more so than anything. But metrics to clients are hard, so here's a start. I say let's all agree to agree that we need to make them happen NOW., Measurable goals? Of course. I think BPB has said that a few thousand times, baby!
:)
I love this argument.
RULE 1: If we measure activity (and we perform the right activities), good things happen.
RULE 2: If we measure activity (and we don't perform the right activities), then bad things happen.
RULE 3: PR should be tied to measureable goals and compensation of the agency should be attached to visible positive changes in behavior and opinion.
RULE 4: Yet PR is part of a much larger marketing effort and as such, it is difficult to measure PR's overall contribution or lack thereof to the success of a multi-channel campaign.
So what do we do?
I propose that the conversation we have with our clients about measurement and metrics are actually more important than the actual measurement or metrics.
Huh? The conversations with the client about what they "really" value means that we can design campaigns that help them achieve their goals faster and easier because everyone is on the same page.
This is a basic concept of project management. In project management, projects (read as "PR campaigns") fail because:
1) Objectives are not clear
2) There is no good way to measure success
3) Plans too optimistic
4) No accountability
5) Poor execution
What do you think?
Perhaps measurement is the wrong word, but I perceived this post as a personal check-up; are you covering the right ground? Is there more you can be doing to reach your target audience? Strong opinion leaders can help clients enter new verticals, if that is something your client wishes to do. I agree, there are a vast number of other ways to accurately measure PR efforts, but I believe this post is suggesting a simple foundation for some quick internal measuring tips to remember. As you said, this does not provide steps to measure behavior and opinion, but it does help check the appropriateness of our messages. No PR efforts should ever be out of line with an organization's goals, which is why we need to be personally accountable for providing and producing accurate and concise messages that meet the goals of the organization’s overall PR plan.
I keep on having the same question pop into my head whenever the words "audience" and "messages" pop up, and I can thank Brian Solis's new book for that: Does thinking in terms of audience and message limit a campaign or project in that the words box you in and leave little chance for flexibility?
To stay flexible and ready to adjust a project if new issues arise, measurement (or status-check) is something that needs to occur at every stage of a campaign. This means that the target "audiences" and the "messages" must be able to be altered if necessary. Constant measurement and observations throughout a project will help a PR pro realize what is working, and what needs to be fixed.
Holding off on metrics until all of the materials have been released can set you up for some surprises, possibly some unpleasant ones.
Post a Comment