As senior leaders seek higher levels of accountability from public relations, communicators are tasked with turning PR language into business language. Moving beyond loose measurements like Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE), PR has turned to performance dashboards that measure and visualize a wide range of key performance indictors for the purpose of connecting visibility, engagement and sentiment with bottom line revenue growth.
Yet data points and graphs alone do not deliver context and meaning. At best, these assets allow stakeholders to draw their own conclusions. At worst, they are misleading. Instead, for senior leaders to fully grasp how tactical achievements support strategic vision, communicators need to craft a compelling narrative that is backed up with defensible data.
To help communicate what you measure, here are five requirements for analytical storytelling to C-level executives, courtesy of Jake Finkelstein, founder and CEO at Method Savvy and contributor to PR News' Measurement Guidebook Vol. 7:
- An understanding of the emotional and rational drivers that motivate decision-making
- Consensus on performance metrics prior to launch of the campaign
- An accurate understanding of correlation and causation prior to crafting the story
- The concise presentation of takeaways, facts and findings
- A willingness to showcase the data that supports the narrative
To learn more about communicating PR metrics, attend PR News’ Measurement Conference, which takes place November 20 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
Follow Brian Greene on Twitter: @bw_greene