The fly in the punch bowl at most measurement parties is still the issue of money.
So it was little surprise when the topic came up at PR NEWS' "Best Practices in Measurement" seminar last week. Echoing the recommendations of Ketchum's long-standing research guru Walt Lindenmann (PR NEWS, Nov. 1), Delahaye Medialink president Katie Paine reported that the Institute for PR's recommended budget allocation for measurement is about 10 percent. She added that 5 percent is the current norm among companies that are conducting research to gauge the effectiveness of their PR efforts.
A live poll of event attendees revealed that 68 percent of those present were engaged in measurement research. Of those, 58 percent said they were spending less than $100,000 annually on the function. But not by choice. For most, the goal was to bolster the size of their measurement budgets.
Recognizing the limitations of the fiscally-challenged, Cindy Landers, director of PR and marcom for Jiffy Lube, recommended economical research techniques such as omnibus or inter-departmental surveys,inhouse analysis of incoming mail and phone traffic, and secondary analysis of existing reports by Nielsen, Arbitron and Roper.
Bill Novelli, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, cautioned the audience to use recommended budget numbers only as a general rule of thumb. "The 10 percent figure shouldn't be set in stone," he said.
For those faced with budget limitations, Novelli recommended the book, Cheap But Good Marketing Research, by Georgetown University Professor Alan Andreasen (Irwin Professional Publications, ISBN 1556236875).
(Paine, 603/431-0111; Landers, 800/252-0554, x6272; Novelli, 202/296-5469)