Measurement

As we celebrate Measurement Month, there’s much reason to be optimistic about the state of PR and communications measurement. Still, there are a number of hurdles blocking the profession’s path, including some communicators’ choice to avoid measurement. We explore some of the major roadblocks and offer advice about how to overcome them.

Data has given us the ability to put science behind what was once considered an art. It makes communications more customized and targeted, predictive and quantified, FleishmanHillard SVP Brendan Streich argues. He uses the example of higher education to make his point about how to use data to gain business insights.

To mark Measurement Month 2019, PRNEWS and partner PublicRelay surveyed some 350 communicators about their attitudes toward measurement. The findings indicate PR pros are becoming more sophisticated in their attitude toward measurement, particularly with regard to gaining insight from data.

At the PRNEWS Measurement Boot Camp on Oct. 17, representatives from Edelman Intelligence, Prudential, AMEC (the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication), APCO, UTC, and Paine Publishing urged communicators to eschew vanity metrics and metrics in isolation. They also expounded on the importance of measuring data that aligns with your company’s business goals and presenting data conclusions in clear and concise ways.

In part II of a series IPR Measurement Commission chair Mark Weiner discusses new, supplemental approaches to measurement that promise to revolutionize PR. The spark for this uprising, he writes, is attribution analysis.

Measurement is gaining traction in PR and communications, yet it remains a dark-haired stepchild in many quarters. Some of measurement’s pain points include the lack of budgets for data collection and tools, as well as concerns about how well those tools function, according to a news survey of some 500 PR pros.

To get you ready for PRNEWS’ Measurement Boot Camp next month in NY, we offer a preview of its luncheon session. Featured speakers will be Paine Publishing chief Katie Paine, Prudential VP, global communications/head of research and analytics Allyson Hugley and AMEC global MD Johna Burke. In a roundtable late last year, we asked this trio about the good and bad in communications measurement.

As professional communicators, we must align common practice with the business community’s demands. If executives require information and context to determine which investments are most likely to produce viable long-term success, PR’s earned media data stream must integrate with other business data. The good news is that new ways to measure earned media are at hand.

Our monthly roundup of data-related items begins with a 500-person survey about PR measurement. While it’s said to be common knowledge that the amount of data is overwhelming communicators, this didn’t rate very high in the survey. Next, a FleishmanHillard report shows consumers don’t expect companies to take stands on every issue. Last, a survey debunks the notion that coverage of the 2020 elections will make it impossible for companies to tell their stories on TV.

Nearly everyone in PR has heard the order from someone in the C-suite: “I want to be in The NY Times or the Wall St. Journal.” Getting your story in a major outlet is not a media relations strategy. Michael Brito, an EVP at the Zeno Group, proposes a balanced media relations approach, including pitching stories to smaller publications where they may resonate better with readers. He uses data to bolster the logic of his proposal.