Jim will expand these conclusions during his keynote presentation at the International Association of Business Communicators Global Conference in Hong Kong on April 8th.
There are six golden rules for media and communication measurement – an activity that has bedevilled the PR and corporate communication sector for decades. Without them, measurement is meaningless mumbo-jumbo or untrustworthy ‘smoke and mirrors’.
1. Measure outcomes, not only outputs – or at least link your outputs to outcomes.
No one cares about how much stuff you put out. Effective communication is more about what arrives in the minds of your target audiences and what they do with it than what you send out. And it’s not just any outcomes that should be measured. Measure and demonstrate the outcomes that matter.
How do you know what outcomes matter? These are the outcomes specified in your organisation’s corporate and marketing communication objectives. For example, if the desired outcomes are increased brand awareness, creating a positive reputation, and/or generating inquiries, that’s what you should measure. If you are part of an integrated communication effort responsible only for parts of it – such as generating publicity or keeping employees informed – measure your specific outcomes and then link them to overall organisational objectives. For instance, if you can show through customer surveys that they are influenced by product publicity and your media analysis shows that you generated favourable publicity in the media they read, you have linked your outcomes to the organisation’s desired outcomes. You have contributed value.
The issue of ROI comes up in such discussion and causes considerable confusion. Return on Investment is sometimes perceived only as dollars made from sales or ultimately in profits. Revenue is typically and appropriately the ROI for sales departments. But, it is illogical to measure support functions in terms of dollars generated. HR, accounts, and legal departments are not measured in dollars generated. Similarly, PR cannot be measured in terms of dollars if its objectives are related to awareness, perceptions, inquiries, loyalty, and such like. But each of those important outcomes can be measured.
2. Measure what’s relevant.
You don’t have to measure everything. Not every person, channel, medium, or issue in your marketplace matters. Some hardly matter at all, while others matter a lot. For instance, news and comment may appear in media ranging from national dailies and networks and important vertical market publications to ones that hardly impact your key stakeholders. Similarly, media will report on issues vital to your organisation as well as issues of no strategic concern. Measure what is most relevant – that is, relevant to key markets and stakeholders and your key objectives. This means you should establish a clear, precise brief for your measurement. Do less better – which leads to the third golden rule.
3. Use reliable methodology to measure.
When you come to measure, remember the warning: ‘Garbage in, garbage out’. All measurement uses instruments (the tools) and methodologies (how they are used). If you use an inappropriate instrument, or – as is more often the case – you use an instrument without calibrating and applying it correctly, the findings will be inaccurate and can even be seriously misleading. You’ve no doubt also heard the phrase: “There’s lies, damn lies, and statistics”. That criticism is not levelled because statistics are wrong; it’s because the wrong statistics are too often used. Metrics generated from inadequate or distorted samples, invalid calculations, flawed analysis, and even from some ‘black box’ measurement methods based on algorithms hidden in computer code (or the researcher’s fertile imagination), put you and your management on a dangerous path. Flawed data can misinform decision-making – and eventually you will be found out and face career-limiting embarrassment. If you can’t do the math, use someone who can. The next golden rule makes this rule about reliable methodology even more important.
4. Measure qualitatively, not only quantitatively.
It is self-evident that brands, reputations and public image have a qualitative as well as a quantitative dimension. It is very unlikely that your organisation wants lots of brand awareness, public discussion, or publicity if its bad. Yet many PR and even some marketing practitioners measure only quantitatively. A fundamental aspect of public relations measurement, in particular, is deploying qualitative analysis. Media publicity, as every executive knows, can be positive, negative or neutral. It can be in highly important media, or down the back of unimportant ‘rags’ or programs. It can be ‘on message’ or inane twaddle by a misinformed commentator.
Qualitative measurement is more complex than generating and capturing quantitative data (which is largely counting), as it requires a rational and reliable basis for assessment. This is where methodology becomes paramount as, without use of an established method of qualitative analysis, findings can be subjective and invalid. This is where professional researchers and analysts earn their keep as they can bring specialised knowledge in rigorous methods and independence to the measurement table.
5. Track social media.
Today it is essential and highly beneficial to track social media. Even if you are not using social media for outgoing communication, there is a good chance that there are people talking about your brand, products, organisation, management, and relevant issues in blogs, social networks, on YouTube, or Twitter. Social media provide, first and foremost, a vast site for free market research. You can find out what people think just by tapping in to online conversations. Second, you can track specific issues or conversations to identify key influencers – what network specialists call nodes and hubs – thus informing your future communication planning. A range of metrics are readily available for measuring social media including visitors, page views, duration, downloads, and rankings, as well as qualitative analysis of content.
6. Present findings in management language.
The language of management is not English. It’s not even words – they’re cheap in the C suite. It’s numeric. Management want and believe numbers. Numbers presented as numerals such as percentages or after dollar signs are impressive. But also numbers illustrated in charts and graphs get management’s attention and speak to them in terms that they understand. Most senior managers are accountants, economists, engineers, IT specialists, or sales and marketing number-crunchers.
Also, senior managers are time poor. So present your measurement in brief, visual, numeric terms, ideally in graphics. Then management, and you, will be in the picture.