Proving the Most Accessible and Efficient Path to PR-ROI

Mark Weiner, IPR Measurement Commission/Chief  Insights Officer, Cision 

Most PR practitioners conflate generating a return on PR investment with proving PR value. The two, however, hold very different meanings. ROI refers to a quantifiable financial return. Value is a subjective measure that changes from one organization to the next.

PR-ROI comes in three forms: connecting PR with sales (the sexy one); avoiding catastrophic cost (the big one); and efficiency (the most accessible). In this column we'll focus on PR efficiency as a contributor to ROI. We'll use a case study from software company Adobe.
Objectives
For years, Adobe's executive team held that a higher volume of coverage across all media drove better business results than a lower volume of high-quality coverage in target media. Adobe communicators explored this perception through a data-informed, fact-based communication analysis. Objectives included:
Assess Adobe’s relative performance against competition
Measure key reputation attributes
Provide Share of Voice on the quantity and quality of coverage vs the competition
Uncover opportunities to reinforce Adobe’s advantage and mitigate competitor’s advantage
Simplify monitoring and evaluation through consolidation, integration and research-based decision-making
Strategy
To achieve these objectives, Adobe implemented a media insights framework applying traditional and social media analysis methods. Data science methods supplemented the effort.

 
Audience and media segmentation research
Hybrid automated/human media analyses
Attribution analysis
 

Research of Adobe's Dr.