How Young PR Pros Can Maximize the Impact and Accuracy of PR Measurement

Sep 22, 2003

The mere mention of measurement can silence a room. The quiet usually lasts a few seconds before the eruption of dozens of differing viewpoints on approach, metrics and overall efficacy, as the absence of industry consensus continues to challenge senior public relations professionals in their search to prove the worth of their programs.

Commissioning a technically scientific survey of audience awareness, complete with representative sampling, segmented audience groups and full correlative reporting is too expensive for most companies. So our industry has reluctantly turned to the quantification of PR output, measured through the collection and weighing of media "hits," to answer the call of our clients and internal reports.

From clip lists to spot-surveys to near-algebraic formulas, senior pros are faced with a dizzying array of choices in deploying measurement initiatives. Junior pros also face the music when it comes to measurement, as it is their tactical work that is often weighed. Regardless of how stats are mathematically manipulated, the younger professionals who often carry out much of the heavy lifting of a measurement initiative have a much less confusing directive: Capture everything.

From clip counts to tone to circulation, the more information junior pros can provide to the senior pros, the more useful and relevant the measurement initiative will be.

Following is a list of tips for young professionals to help their teams maximize the impact and accuracy of PR measurement.

1. Insist on clear, consistent standards.

Junior professionals should press their supervisors to arrive at agreed-upon conventions for the entire measurement process. When trying to prove progress, the application of consistent measurement standards throughout the entire program is more important than are the individual decisions on method.

2. Start with an intelligent benchmark.

In order to prove you moved the needle, you have to show where the needle was when you started, so it's vitally important to capture a snapshot of visibility before you get on the scene, by beginning your measurement immediately. The more information you have about their status, the more you can claim a role in improving it. It's also an opportunity to inform the tactical plan for outreach. You will find not only where previous programs fell short, but also which tactics were actually effective.

3. During benchmarking, find the "misses."

So much emphasis is placed on capturing "hits" that we often omit missed opportunities. These go beyond the stories that feature competitors to include broader features that could have included your organization or issue. For example, a business journal story on new companies may not have included any direct competitors, but may have been a feature in which your organization could have participated, with the proper outreach. Misses are harder to track than hits, so demonstrate the value of your team's collective industry intelligence by searching editorial calendars from target media, using creative keyword searches on target media Web sites, and generally getting to know the editorial cycles within your region and industry.

4. Explore story tone quality.

A mere pile of media hits doesn't tell the full story. It's a good bet that FirstEnergy, the Ohio power company at the center of the blackout investigations, got more media coverage in August 2003 than in any month in recent memory, and it is doubtful that the public relations professionals embroiled in the work think that increased media coverage is a good thing right now. Some use point scales, some use positive/negative/neutral, but regardless of method, rating stories is vital to gaining a sense of relative impact.

5. Prioritize media.

All hits are not created equal, nor should media be categorized according to the size of audience. The best hits are in the media that are read or viewed by the right people and the degree to which reaching that group helps the organization achieve its business goals. A mention in The New Yorker, although very admired and highly circulated, will likely not help a small business in Houston rent out more bicycles as much as a notice in a Houston community paper.

6. Emphasize share of discussion.

There's a finite amount of ink out there. Unless your company is making real news, your media coverage is generally relegated to a share of the editorial planned for your industry. Even regular columns on a single topic rarely cover the same exact subject more than once a year. There's only so much ink, and your job is to grab the biggest share possible. So you need to measure the whole "communications pie" as well as the size of your organization's piece. Examine three vital pieces of information: the extent to which the organization has been featured in the media; how much the organization's competitors have been discussed and the how much discussion about the overall issue has occurred. An analysis may show that even though this year's outreach resulted in twice as many media hits as last year's, your competitors dominate the discussion more than ever. Or it may show that although overall discussion has dropped way off about your industry, when it is discussed, your company is referenced twice as often as any other. Surveillance Data Incorporated, makers of PRTrak, label this concept "share of discussion" (see PR NEWS, May 12, 2003).

7. Leave no stone unturned.

Most important, make sure you capture and measure every mention, feature and segment you have helped facilitate, and even those that came as a stroke of luck. Often print publications also put their content online, which represents a separate and additional audience, so count them as such. Keep an eye out for syndication of your stories. Look for discussion on message boards and blogs. Even check out online chats hosted by media sources. If people are exposed to it, count it.

While it is up to each senior professional to decide on the weight of tonality, media outlet significance and overall share of discussion, it remains the charge of young PR pros to provide all the data required proving the impact of their campaigns.

Contact: Ian Lipner, the founder of YoungPRPros.com, is an account manager at Washington, DC-based Stanton Communications. He can be reached at ilipner@stantoncomm.com.