PR News Q&A: Tim Marklein Gets to the Meat of Measurement

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March 10, 2010

Tim Marklein, who will be a presenter at PR News' Measurement Conference on March 23 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., has developed with his team at Weber Shandwick an integrated measurement model that can be deployed for weekly and monthly insights. Marklein, who leads the Measurement & Strategy practice for Weber Shandwick, recently spoke with us about the importance of aligning PR measurement with business goals, and more.

PR News: What is your coolest PR metric?
Tim Marklein: The National Pork Board is a client of ours, and they have a metric called Share of Protein. It measures share of pork against total coverage of protein. It’s fun, and the more you can frame metrics in the context of your own organization, the more they’ll matter.

PR News: What’s your take on PR measurement and the ability to prove value to the C-suite?
Marklein: I think PR tends to have metrics that makes sense within PR, but those metrics don’t make much sense in terms of the business. For example, I’m a big believer in media content analysis, which gives us good media metrics, but such analysis doesn’t match up well with business goals. We want to bridge the gap between PR language and the broader business language. It’s a big challenge to be able to change the language and the thinking, and make the metrics connect.

PR News: In your measurement work with clients, what myths are perpetuated?
Marklein: One pervasive myth is that measurement is a tool. The first thing many clients ask is, “What tool should I buy?” The tool set is the wrong place to start. They should be asking what their business goals are. Another related myth is that once they’re ready for tools, they think about it in terms of one tool, and how much that tool going to cost. PR measurement is not done in a silo, so normally it’s going to be a set of tools—social media monitoring, Web analysis, survey instruments, brand tracking—and you need to think of a good measurement structure and process before looking at the cost.

PR News: Going a step further, how do you effectively measure across media platforms?
Marklein: It’s not easy. For us it starts with inventory of existing data sources, and then closing the gaps that might be there. We look at five to 10 data sources for each client. It has to be an “inline” approach—it can’t be online and offline separate discussions. And there has to be a communications workflow and touch points for customers, investors and employees. It really requires a different approach to measurement than what has been done before.

PR News: What would be your first piece of advice for a PR executive looking to ramp up their measurement program?
Marklein: Define clear, crisp, desired outcomes for your communications objectives. That usually is done, but those outcomes are not normally as measurable as they should be. For example, what is your baseline of media awareness? And, get more specific about your target audiences, and clearly define each one. The nice part about this step is that it doesn’t require a real understanding of analytics.

PR News: What measurements don’t work?
Marklein: There are some long-held measurement assumptions that are being called into question—one is impressions. People talk about generating “X number of impressions,” and it’s important to know where that data is coming from, and just how much you can rely on it. Just because The Wall Street Journal has 2 million readers doesn’t mean that 2 million people saw an article that positively mentioned your business. Those kinds of assumptions are numbered.

Attend PR News' Measurement Conference on March 23 and learn more from measurement experts like Weber Shandwick’s Tim Marklein.

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