Sponsored events can be an excellent way to improve corporate reputation while providing a unique opportunity to spend time with key clients and develop relationships. If PR
"owns" the event, then every aspect of it -- from developing the idea to overseeing logistics to managing the invited client guests -- is our responsibility. If news coverage is
desired, then making this happen also falls to us. The budget for such events, including any evaluation monies, typically resides in PR.
In situations where the event is very large it's likely that PR people will huddle with other professionals in Marketing and Advertising to make the event happen. While these
other groups may take the lead role in announcing the event, PR teams can devise ways to make the event special: Making it attractive to targeted clients and prospects so they
will want to attend, drawing more customers, and making the event sufficiently newsworthy to garner media coverage. Handled expertly, PR can drive news coverage equal to or
greater than the number of impressions generated by advertising, since advertising is restricted by budget and news coverage is not.
But sponsoring events can be quite costly. In times of tight budgets, the demand for more accountability is leading many companies to question the return on their investment.
If the event in question is your own, then the task of determining its value falls to you. If the event is one that is being presented by your entire company, then the evaluation
budget should be shared.
While measuring outtakes is a fine first step in addressing accountability, it does not, in the end, really answer the question. Many top managers understand this, and upon
receiving such numbers are likely to say, "I'll grant you those are large numbers, but what does it mean to our bottom line?" Or on a bad day they might just grumble, "So what?"
Is this when you should turn tail and slink back off to PR land? Hardly. This is an opportunity. It indicates a certain level of sophistication that should allow you to move
to the next stage and measure outcomes -- the impact of all the numbers you just shared on your target audience and the bottom line. It's also an opportunity to develop data that
will document the event's effectiveness and PR's role in achieving these results. Here are some tools to use:
- Exit interviews. Exit interviews can give you immediate feedback on the event. If the event is strictly a PR event, exit interviews are probably your most cost-effective
means of assessing outcomes. Construct a questionnaire focusing on what people thought of the event, who they thought was the sponsor, what they think of your company, and how
attending the event impacted their perceptions of your company and interest doing business with you. - Piggyback on existing surveys. If your event is targeted to large numbers of customers and your company has target audience surveys, insert a few questions about exposure to
the event (e.g., attendance, hearing about it through via advertising, via news stories about the event, via posters or other PR-generated means, via talking with friends about
it) and awareness of your company's sponsorship/involvement. Have your researcher analyze the study's perception, attitude and purchase interest questions by the answers to these
exposure and sponsorship awareness questions. - Form a coalition to mount a survey. If there aren't surveys to piggyback on and the event was a large one involving other corporate groups such as Marketing or Advertising,
then propose the joint sponsorship of such a survey. With good planning a survey can meet several groups' information objectives and will be quite affordable for each individual
group. - Work with your sales team. You can use this tool whether your event is large or small. It is a way to assess the impact on the clients and prospects that your salespeople
invite to the event. Contact each salesperson and ask them to characterize the relationship they had with each client/ prospect they invited to the event. Then ask them about
their experiences with the client/prospect at the event, focusing particularly on the aspects of the event experience that you created. Finally, ask them about how their
relationship with the client/prospect changed after the event. - Conduct impact groups with target group members. These focus groups should have two objectives: to understand any ways in which participants' views of the company were
changed as a result of sponsoring the event and to understand how media coverage in particular shaped their views.
It's been my experience that the same top managers who ask the tough questions understand that it takes a little money to generate answers. Other groups request, and receive,
such funding. We shouldn't be ashamed of asking for it, or relegate it to secondary status. It should be presented on equal footing and with as much preparation and flair as the
PR program budget request. This will communicate that you recognize the need for assessing ROI, and that you have thought through precisely what it will take to ensure that your
programs are contributing to the achievement of your company's business objectives.
Contact: Bruce Jeffries-Fox is president of Jeffries-Fox Associates. He can be reached at 609.884.8740; [email protected]