Measurement

For years, PR measurement suffered as the forgotten stepchild of communications. It’s a bit different now, measurement advocates say. In anticipation of PRNEWS’ Measurement Conference later this month, we asked several people scheduled to speak at the Conference about C-suite expectations of measurement and what they see ahead for measurement.

In each edition of PRNEWS we highlight takeaways from select articles as well as important notes for subscribers and additions to the PR News Subscriber Resources Center. This month we have takeaways from several articles and a reminder to PRNEWS subscribers to take advantage of the 33 percent discount on all PRNEWS events and webinars.

Most measurement initiatives proceed in three stages. First, you need to define your business goals, then you need to determine the key performance indicators that align with them. And then comes perhaps the most important, and difficult, part: Communicating the outcomes to senior leaders in language they understand and tied to the goals they are prioritizing. Here are some sample KPIs linked to three business goals popular with the C-suite.

By most accounts, PR is making progress on its measurement journey. Unfortunately, many PR teams focus solely on counting impressions to assess the effectiveness of earned media. PR data science company AirPR argues more context is necessary to form a truer picture of Share of Voice and how it contributes to business goals. Today it’s releasing a product to facilitate adding that context.

Admit it, PR measurement has a PR problem. It’s particularly bad because some communicators resist working with data. Yet communications’ reliance on data is growing. The good news is data expert John Glinski says communicators need not be data experts to garner answers with data to important questions.

With March Madness permeating the zeitgeist in a few weeks, we asked some of the 2018 PR News Rising PR Stars to answer our roundtable questions this month. We asked, “What gets you mad about PR and communications?” And, “What can be done about it?” Their edited responses follow.

Too many PR pros look askance at measurement. That’s not the issue with measurement advocate Graeme Harris, but he wants to know the most cost-effective way of measuring. Is it preferable to have your in-house staff do the collection and analysis, or contract with an outside firm to handle things? Harris does the math on both options.

The art and science of media monitoring has been around in one shape or another for more than a century. While it may have been a nice competitive advantage when practitioners were cutting and pasting newspaper clippings, today it’s a requirement. Here are three essential considerations.

Prior to PR News’ Media Relations Conference in December, PR News and partner PublicRelay, a media monitoring and analytics firm, convened a Communications Leadership

Maintaining valid influencer relationships for your brand will only continue to be a crucial media relations strategy in 2019. But in this time of bots and paid followers on social, what’s the best way to make sure those relationships are on the level? How do you know you’re working with an influencer whose digital persona, and engaged followers, are legit?

We asked some influencer marketing experts to find out.