By Mark Weiner
Delahaye President Mark Weiner discusses the ways by which professionals can demonstrate and generate value-for-money.
People who fund public relations programs typically do so for the benefit of an organization, a brand or a product. Understandably, their intent is that their investment will
provide value and deliver a return. While these objectives for generating value and delivering a return-on-investment seem interchangeable, they are not: Each has a
distinct meaning and is approached differently in the planning and execution of PR strategy. In this first installment, let us discuss the two elements and what makes them
different before sharing how to apply them in subsequent columns.
Simply stated, "Value" and "ROI" are different. While each requires the use of solid PR research and evaluation as its core, ROI is rooted in the numbers: How many dollars
were either brought in to or retained by the organization as a result of spending one dollar for PR? Alternatively, Value is based on perceptions and preferences of the
executives who fund PR programs. And while ROI is frequently held in high esteem in terms of what PR investors consider valuable, Value can be insufficiently
specific when trying to achieve a common foundation for measuring performance.
For example, we know of an appliance manufacturer who sponsored a fishing tournament in support of its line of marine refrigerators (refrigerators that fit into the galley of a
recreational boat). The brand manager loved it, the participants found it irresistible and the boating media ate it up. Unfortunately, the event failed to sell refrigerators,
which was the key to triggering a meaningful ROI.
In this case, the conventional definition of PR value was that everyone was happy and there was a lot of press coverage. But when the head of PR dug a little deeper, he found
a number of inherent problems: First, appliance manufacturers depend on exposing prospective buyers to the full range of appliances, usually within department store or appliance
store settings. Instead of devoting precious resources to what amounted to a limited opportunity for incremental profits, the executive chose to end the tournament and devote
funding to programs that had a greater likelihood for driving sales.
While the stakes have never been higher, the process for proving value is not as difficult as most PR people believe. Beginning with just a few basic principals, proving value
and demonstrating return-on-investment are within the grasp of almost everyone in the profession.
The first step in proving value is to understand the value system of the organization in which one operates. In order to help clients uncover the secret value systems
at work, Delahaye created the Executive Audit, a telephone survey instrument directed towards key executives who either fund or affect funding for PR programs. While results vary
by organization, when thousands of executive interviews are analyzed in aggregate, we find that what constitutes "value" for executives is much different than how PR people
prefer to demonstrate value: Where PR people emphasize clip volume, executives prefer to see PR deliver on meaningful business outcomes (even if the executives realize
that "sales and profits" are not a practical objective, it is always at the top of their wish-list).
Once the survey is completed, the stage for dialogue with key executives is set: Executives are invited to review the results with the PR executive. Through this process,
outliers are drawn to the reasonable, measurable and meaningful measures that 90% of all executives interviewed seem to understand: delivering key messages to target media
and raising awareness, two outcomes that are well within the realm of what PR can affectuate. In some rare instances, executives don't know enough about PR to arrive at a
practicable definition of value. In such cases, the imperative is to educate not to adapt to their unworkable definitions.
That PR people do not align their value proposition with that of senior executives and PR investment decision-makers is a dangerous disconnect, especially when PR can and does
consistently deliver ROI in terms of the meaningful business outcomes that executives prefer.
Contact: Mark Weiner, 203.663.2446, [email protected]