The media world is moving quickly at the moment, and marketers across all disciplines are having to run pretty hard to keep up. This is well documented in the press, with significant strides now being made towards effective measurement of online, not least by Eulogy! client ABCe, who are constantly working to measure online news sites more effectively. It’s also occurring in PR, where methods of evaluating success and communicating results back to clients in a manner they can link to real impact on sales or demonstrably altered opinions, can be a much more difficult proposition.
Max Kindred, quoted on PRWeek.com recently, is quite right:
‘It’s not the most glamourous part of our jobs, and sadly, it’s all too often not considered until campaign review time. A shame, as evaluating how successful our work has been is so crucial to planning ahead for ongoing work, as well as giving that sense of satisfaction which can come from a job well done’.
The industry as a whole should now fully recognise that impact of activity can go much further than mere column inches generated or indeed coverage in print media (although, the tide drifts inexorably towards online provision of news and insight, you’d be amazed how many clients still just want to ‘be in the nationals’).
The constantly evolving online landscape offers some pointers – Twitter, social media and online buzz about brands is relatively straightforward to assess and is already giving amazing insight on how to track Word of Mouth accurately. However, as with so many things with PR, the best measurement technique is to get to grips with the client’s core – and hopefully clearly defined – objectives. While many clients still want ‘classic’ AVE measurement, possibly to compare year-on-year results for those of us lucky enough to have long-standing clients, this addition of technology now means we can trace the influence of our work much further than that.
The challenge lying ahead of the PR industry is making sure the client’s real drivers are properly understood, and reporting back to them using the most appropriate measures for their goals. It’s hardly rocket science: some objectives – like increased sales generated – can be identified simply by speaking to the client. The other usual client objectives such as generating buzz, helping boost online presence, or simply ensuring the news and core messages are getting ‘out there’ may be more intangible. Whatever the case, slavishly reporting back on rigid print coverage targets is likely to miss the point.
**Photo borrowed from Dave Fleet’s great post on Why Measurement is Important
