"Return on Investment" has become Topic A in the corridors of corporate communication departments. The debate about ROI centers on two elements: the desire to "generate" ROI
and the need to "demonstrate ROI." While the two are linked, they're not the same: Generating ROI means using PR to drive a behavioral outcome such as sales, legislation,
investment, etc., while Demonstrating ROI means proving value. To get a better handle on PR ROI, we asked Mark Delahaye, executive VP and chief executive of Delahaye Medialink,
to provide some advice on the best way to unlock the public relations values of your organization. The best way to do this, he says, is through a survey of executives who fund PR
programs.
#1 How does PR compare: Begin by listing a variety of functions within the organization: advertising, sales, HR, legal, etc. and simply ask how important each one is in
helping the organization achieve its overall goals. Once you have the answer, you can begin working with colleagues from within "the most admired" departments to learn more about
how they prove value. Adapt to and adopt from their practices.
#2 How should PR be measured: List the possible ways of measuring PR effectiveness: increased awareness, clip volume, ad value, increased sales leads, meet or exceed
objectives, etc. and ask which are the most meaningful gauges of PR success using a scale of 1-5. If the consensus is reasonable -- deliver key messages to target media or raise
awareness, for example -- use the information to prioritize what you report to internal clients and to bring "outliers" in towards the mainstream.
#3 How does PR perform on the measures that matter: Using the same list of measures, ask internal clients the extent to which the department actually delivers on these
measures. Use this information to determine whether the department is over-invested or under-invested in particular measures. Typically, clip volume and ad value appear as
"over-invested" in that departments often put significant resources against the volumetric measures at the expense of more meaningful alternatives. Conversely, raising awareness
often requires more attention; use this directive to reach out to the market research department, if you have one, to piggyback PR awareness-tracking onto advertising or brand
awareness-tracking which may already be underway.
#4 Key Messages and Key Message Delivery: Provide a roster of corporate and brand messages, and ask that they be rated for importance on a scale of 1-5. Provide the same list
to learn the extent to which PR actually delivers on these key messages. Use this information to both educate internal clients (e.g. certain messages are being delivered as
demonstrated through an independent content analysis) and to communicate results in the way they prefer to see them.
#5 Key Media and Media Penetration: Provide a list of media categories (e.g. "national business publications like Forbes, Fortune and BusinessWeek) and ask for their relative
importance. Second, provide the same list to uncover internal clients' perceptions of how well PR is finding its way through these key media. Again, use this information to
educate internal audiences and to build the dialogue for communicating success.
#6 Frequency and Method of Reporting: Inquire as to how often results should be formally presented and in which format. Stick to it.
#7 The Best PR Programs: Ask which competitor/peer from your category has the best PR department and ask what it is that makes them "the best." Extend this probe to inquire
about all companies - from within your category and from outside it. Use this information to benchmark competitors and peers on the measures, media and messages that matter. In
the case of peer companies, you may be able to forge a relationship with their PR department to safely explore alternative methods and strategies with one another. Additionally,
many of "the best PR programs" are on file for reference among PR's professional associations. If you are a member, you can review the archives to learn more about individual
programs, the tactics used and the results they generated. Nothing proves value like "beating the best."
Contact: Mark Weiner, 203.663.2446; [email protected]