A few people could argue that PR was, in the very distant past, demonized as a practice grounded in spins and cover-ups, but that has long since changed as the industry asserts itself firmly into
the business landscape, playing crucial roles in every organizational function. But no matter the specific point on PR's timeline - and regardless of the increasingly scientific nature of its
application - it has always been a business of relationships: between agencies and clients, senior management and employees, corporations and their stakeholders, practitioners and educators.
The last relationship was ubiquitous at the 10th annual International Public Relations Research Conference, which was held March 8-11 in Miami and co-hosted by the Institute for Public Relations
and the University of Miami. The world of academia melded with PR practitioners to review the research that is propelling the field even further into organizations' centerfolds. At the forefront of
many discussions was the idea of relationship management relative to public relations, and its evolution over time.
For example, there were discussions of communicators' relationship with changing technologies - namely employee bloggers - led by Don Wright (professor of PR at Boston University) and Michelle
Hinson (director of development of IPR). Their research followed up on last year's report about employee blogs and management's monitoring and allowance of them (for specific findings, see page 3).
Fraser Likely, president of Likely Communication Strategies, explored PR professionals' relationship with strategic management; specifically, strategy design versus strategy execution. He argued
that, while academics and practitioners tend to focus on PR's contribution to strategy design, evidence suggests that organizational strategy fails most often because of poor execution rather than
design. This serves as an impetus for executives to shift focus to execution tactics, as well as creating follow-up plans to manage stakeholder responses.
Of particular interest to senior corporate communicators was a keynote speech by Matt Gonring, a consultant with Gagen MacDonald. The presentation highlighted research he has done on indexes and
how communications execs can use them to drive employee engagement and customer loyalty.
Gonring defines the indexes as "mathematical models based on select criteria - algorithms, econometrics and normative data." While he notes that they are extremely difficult to create in-house, he
emphasizes the benefits of hiring a research organization (if the resources are available) to compile the data and incorporate it into relationship-management tactics.
"Indexes basically assess data points and cross tabulate them, and then compare results to other companies, buying decisions, or feelings of engagement," Gonring says. "Communicators should be
looking for a good normative database from a comparative standpoint."
The key drivers for investing in research and creating customer loyalty/employee engagement indexes are as follows:
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Desire for fact-based decision making;
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Recognition of 360-degree viewpoint;
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Organizational influence;
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Need for benchmark analytics;
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Addition to a corporate scorecard;
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Greater ease of data compilation/analysis; and
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Better understanding of decision motivations.
These drivers apply to both a company's relationship with its customers and its relationship with its employees. Customer-wise, it centers on whether they would recommend the
brand/product/service; the markers are satisfaction, quality and value. As for employees, it depends on whether they would recommend that others work for the brand/company, with the markers being
compensation, benefits and rewards.
Indexes allow communications executives to map how constituents' loyalty is defined and driven, but it's not meant solely for internal purposes. While internal benefits exist (offering insight
into planning, programming and benchmarking), these indexes highlight an organization's macro problems in comparison with its peers, and then present opportunities for drilling down into the micro-
causes that can lead to solutions.
"The value of this info is, by analyzing data, one can adjust programming, messaging, media use and - most important - use it to articulate outcome-oriented programming to leadership," Gonring
says. "The macro results will tell you there is a problem, though they may not tell you how to solve it. Micro-indexes will help ascertain metrics around that survey, via a pulse survey, etc."
Additional benefits include:
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Alignment between employee delivery/understanding and customer wants/expectations;
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Movement from output metrics to outcome programming;
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An understanding of the brand and the ability to carry it forward;
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Tremendous leverage for the owners of the indices;
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An operational roadmap;
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Identification of supportive behaviors;
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Basis for programming/messaging; and
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Replacement for existing satisfaction metrics.
However, to avoid the pitfalls that can come with mapping, keep these points in mind:
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Successful indexing requires functional partnerships among communications and marketing, sales and finance for customer loyalty, and among communications and HR, marketing and finance for
employee engagement.
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When incorporating these indexes into corporate scorecards, complement the big picture with micrometrics.
The changes in relationship management, then, are prompted by complex, new capabilities that allow communications managers to drive business outcomes and to create quantitative information about
loyalty and engagement.
"Once the index is in the corporate scorecard, it's recognized as important," Gonring says. "Incentive compensation will become a pre-requisite. It calls attention to issues and makes people take
them more seriously."
These are just a few of the many IPRRC presentations that highlight monumental progress in the public relations field. While many findings will likely remain in the unreachable stratospheres of
academia, a number will find their way into the communications portfolios of diverse organizations (and into the pages of PR News, as we will continue to run research and findings from the conference
in upcoming issues).
Contacts:
Don Wright, [email protected]; Michelle Hinson, [email protected]; Fraser Likely, [email protected]; Matt Gonring, [email protected]