A river, a train, a street, a bridge, a walkway, a building – each offers a way to get from one place to another.
How you determine your path, speed and method of transportation will measure how fast you get where you want to go. ROI is important, but first you have to know what and how to measure – especially in PR.
For help with that, I’m sharing a few clips from articles written by members of the Institute for Public Relations’ Commission on PR Measurement and Evaluation. The articles first appeared in the May 2011 issue of PRSA’s PR Tactics magazine. I found the information to be relevant and important and thought you might, too. Here’s the link to download the articles. How do you measure PR?
The strategic approach: Writing measurable objectives by Don W. Stacks, Ph.D. and Shannon A. Bowen, Ph.D.
During the last five years, we have judged several PR campaign competitions. There is one thing that most of these campaigns have in common: a lack of measurable objectives. In many cases, there weren’t even stated goals. In today’s world, clients want to know what the PR function has produced that leads to some type of return on investment (ROI).
Deliverable Objectives: Considerations for Creating Measurement Plans by Jackie Matthews and Pauline Draper-Watts
Spend time developing your objectives/KPIs and ensure that everyone involved is in agreement. For some projects, the objectives phase will feel like an incredibly painful process, but it is essential to create an effective plan. To begin, here are the first questions you need to ask yourselves . . .
Speak Their Language: Communicating Results to the C-suite by Marianne Eisenmann
Link PR achievements directly to business goals so that C-suite executives will see what PR results mean to them, and why they should care and continue to invest.
The Big Shift: Moving from Impressions to Engagement by Tim Marklein
Communication leaders will need to re-train their executives and marketers to think differently about how they evaluate communications. They will need to embrace new metrics and partner with sales leaders and Web teams to connect the data — and ultimately determine what matters most in the context of their business.
Measuring Influence in the Digital Age: Impressions, Likes and Followers by Katie Delahaye Paine
Figure out who is actually producing content that is relevant to your customers — survey your customers if necessary to find out where they get their information. Go through your old contact lists and track down anyone you’ve lost contact with. And don’t just read blogs. Read the comments, follow the links and use analysis tools like Twitalyzer or Traackr to help determine the reach.
Photo Credit: Barbara Rozgonyi [c] 2009 from the Cite Chicago Collection
When and how do you measure PR results?
English