PR News Pop Quiz: How Do You Measure Up?

Measurement is critical in proving PR’s value to an organization. But just how much do you know about metrics? Measurement gurus Angela Jeffrey of VMS and Communication AMMO’s Sean Williams teamed up to test your metrics mettle with this quiz.

True or False

1. The best measure of PR success is a haystack full of clips.

2. The C-suite only cares about news media hits.

3. It’s impossible to measure organizational relationships.

4. There is one simple, all-encompassing research tool, technique or methodology that can be relied on to measure and evaluate PR effectiveness.

Mix & Match

5. Please match the definition (i, ii, iii) with the name of each of the following types of results (a, b, c) you can hope to achieve with public relations:

a. Outputs ___
b. Outtakes ___
c. Outcomes ___

i. A measurement of whether the program or activity changed opinion and attitude levels, and possibly behavior patterns such as leads, sales, survey scores or number of downloads of a white paper.
ii. A short-term measurement of a PR activity (such as the amount of press coverage received; number of meetings held; or number of blog mentions).
iii. A measurement of whether those to whom an activity was directed actually received, paid attention to, comprehended and retained particular messages.

6. The most important first step of a measurement program is:

a. Choosing a measurement vendor and/or measurement tools
b. Pulling all your campaign results together in one place for easy access
c. Setting measurable goals and objectives that support the goals of the company as a whole
d. Meeting with your management to ascertain what they are looking for in a measurement program

7. What percentage of my budget should be used for PR measurement & evaluation?

a. 2-3%
b. 5-6%
c. 7-10%
d. 12-15%

8. When evaluating media clips, it’s most important to:

a. Give the greatest weight to the number of potential readers/viewers
b. Carefully evaluate the tone of the article
c. Evaluate whether your target audience was likely to be reached by the article
d. Have a clear idea of what contribution to business objectives the article makes
e. Compare your media coverage to that of competitors

9. During a crisis, measurement must most importantly…

a. Focus on the volume of negative coverage
b. Compare the percentages of positive and negative stories
c. Include multiple publics
d. Focus on outputs, outtakes and outcomes
e. C & D only

10. Internal communication measurement…

a. Helps win credibility with leadership
b. Reveals critical information about the state of the workforce
c. Shows whether programs are effective
d. Is best when measuring impact on outcomes
e. All of the above

ANSWERS TO THE PR NEWS POP QUIZ

Contact: Angela Jeffrey, [email protected]; Sean Williams, [email protected].

Send your Pop Quiz ideas to: Scott Van Camp at [email protected].