Measurement

Data is data, right? Not if it’s dirty. Considering how many businesses have downsized, closed temporarily or shuttered completely, it’s a good bet that a significant number of contacts on your marketing lists are out of date. Ditto employees, some of whom were furloughed, terminated or work from home (do you have their correct address and phone number?). Now’s the time to begin cleaning.

While counterintuitive, broad acceptance of technology to advance productivity and efficiency reveals a greater need for the human elements required to manage tools and think about data they generate.

Each year, the public relations profession celebrates the role of communications research during Measurement Month, an international collective of free educational content organized by AMEC. To recognize the importance of measurement and evaluation in public relations, we assembled a virtual roundtable to explore the latest developments and best practices of the PR Measurati in the US.

Our measurement column looks at another route to ROI. This one centers on the value PR brings to the enterprise when it helps maintain reputation in the wake of a crisis. It’s all about market capitalization.

IPR Measurement Commission member Mark Weiner examines how Ford Motor Company’s launch of the Ford Mustang Mach-E generated media coverage, awareness and sales. It’s an exercise that he argues proves PR’s influence on sales can be measured.

PR measurement need not be expensive or difficult. Moreover, with data proliferating in the digital environment, PR needs to measure its effort and demonstrate value. NRPR chief Nicole Rodrigues offers a review of measurement basics.

Well-known publications with large circulation figures and numerous unique visitors to their online sites seem attractive targets for generating sales leads. However, placement in publications with small, targeted readerships might be a better route to generating leads and proving PR’s value.

For years, Adobe executives believed that getting a large volume of media coverage across a wide range of publications was more beneficial than fewer articles in targeted media. Using media measurement and analysis, Adobe’s Dr. Jennifer Bruce showed this was not the case.

It’s a constant struggle for digital strategists. Do you present shiny but ultimately useless vanity metrics? Or do you explain to those in charge that engagement rarely happens overnight, but is a long-term process? Our authors argue that there are ethical ways to demonstrate short-term value.

Weber Shandwick did a very good thing last week. It released diversity data for its senior levels. The data were dismal and the agency said as much. It also made the correct point that benchmarks are needed before you can make improvements. Though the agency needs to offer detail about how it will improve, Weber has taken a bold first step.