Conversation about measurements is commonplace at the Miss America Pageant, but usually it's about Miss Maryland's hips, not missed media hits. But when Robert Renneisen
recently stepped down from his role as CEO of the pageant, he said he and the board "differ in our definition of success and on the means necessary to achieve it."
PR professionals are finding themselves in a similarly confusing relationship with senior management as they struggle to figure out what senior management really wants. The
tendency among public relations staffs is to believe tying measurable results to the bottom line will impress the folks in the big offices. But PR pros are starting to ask who
really expects what of whom. And overall, it seems many CEOs don't have a deep enough understanding of public relations to know what to expect from the PR department.
"In my experience, CEOs are looking for qualitative analysis. They almost will never believe public relations will have a direct correlation to the bottom line," says Judi
Frost Mackey, chairman of Burson-Marsteller's U.S. corporate and financial practice. "When we show a correlation, CEOs tend to be skeptical. It seems to be the communications
people who like having the numbers. They sometimes feel a need to tie in."
At least as often, however, it's the PR staff that feels pressure from above, even if it's a misplaced desire from a CEO who is unfamiliar with the aims of public
relations.
"Unfortunately, I think generally speaking ... there's not enough understanding of public relations from senior management, and the measures they ask for are not necessarily
accurate. They're still looking for the cost equivalent of stories placed," says Nancy Engelhardt, senior communications officer for the World Wildlife Fund.
"Personally, I think measurement is incredibly important and often overlooked. And that's probably because [PR is] so hard to measure."
Mark Weiner, CEO of PR measurement firm Delahaye Medialink, thinks senior management is driving the issue, but in a reasonable and responsible manner.
"The movement is being driven by PR's internal clients. It comes from higher up," he says. "PR is late to the measurement table and internal clients - including CEOs - have
come to learn that there isn't much within an organization that can't be measured."
As PR gains credibility and visibility throughout an organization, a need for accountability comes with it, Weiner says. Senior management goes to the PR department with
requests for recognizable metrics.
Bud Grebey sees the answer to the who-wants-what quandary in communicating goals throughout the organization, and doing a little teaching. He has been VP of Siemens USA since
September, and he foresees a learning curve for both sides.
"The challenge is to come up with metrics that are linked to business results and to make sense of them for the appropriate people," he says.
"People don't necessarily understand the science of public relations. They jump immediately into the ideas of marketing."
Siemens, with more than 460,000 employees worldwide, manages the operations of 30 companies that design, develop and manufacture electrical and electronic systems in an array
of areas, from healthcare to transportation.
The corporation doesn't offer consumer products, so branding is a relatively low priority for the PR shop there.
"We'd rather do work that brings us to the attention of the CEO of a hospital and help him make a decision [to use our healthcare products] than to get a stack of clips,"
Grebey says. "If we are able to show senior management that our work is bringing in more business, they're going to understand that. We're very bottom-line focused, so if it
happens they're happy."
The Smarter CEO
But happiness can be fleeting. And for those companies that target consumers, PR professionals feel even more pressure trying to provide results that can be evaluated side by
side with other departments in the organization, especially marketing.
Even if that's not what your CEO wants.
Sometimes CEOs aren't as ignorant in the practice of PR as others.
"We pushed very hard for measurements of success from our marketing team with regards to advertising effectiveness," says Jeff Grass, who was co-founder of PayMyBills.com, a
highly successful online bill payment company that was bought out a few months before the dotcom bubble burst.
"With PR effectiveness, it's much more difficult (and arguably inappropriate) to use those same types of measures. It's more strategic in nature.
"Our evaluation of success was more qualitative and only weakly quantitative," continues Grass, who now teaches economics at James Madison University. "Much of your evaluation
of effectiveness will also be driven by your goals for your PR efforts. Is it to build awareness of your firm with your customers, suppliers, competitors, funding sources,
analysts, investment bankers, politicians, etc.? Your tactics and measurements of success will be different depending on those goals."
Obviously, each situation will play out differently. Some CEOs will demand a measured analysis of PR efforts and some only care about being named Time's Person of the Year,
measurements be damned. The key is not to guess at what senior execs expect from PR, but to establish an open dialogue and find out what it is they want from your department.
Ted Leonsis, CEO of America Online and owner of the Washington Capitals hockey team, is a numbers guy by nature, but he sees some necessary wiggle room for his PR
department.
Addressing a conference on electronic fundraising in March, Leonsis said that whether he's evaluating the success of his company by tracking new AOL members, his corporate
value via the stock ticker or the win-loss record of his franchise on the sports page, "We need to find more direct ongoing ways to tell people how you're doing."
Asked if this also applies to PR, he told PR NEWS, "Yes, but [public relations] does seem to be both an art and a science."
In a way, just like the Miss America Pageant.
(Nancy Engelhardt, World Wildlife Fund, 202/778-9556; Jeff Grass, James Madison University, 540/568-3075; Bud Grebey, Siemens, 212/258-4335; Ted Leonsis, AOL, [email protected]; Judi Frost Mackey, Burson-Marsteller, 212/614-4271; Mark Weiner, Delahaye Medialink, 800/227-7409)
Think Bill Gates. Think Lee Iacocca. Think Ken Lay.
Nearly half of a corporation's reputation is embodied in the behavior of its CEO, according to Burson-Marsteller, so it makes sense to do what you can to boost your CEO's
reputation.
The agency's CEO Navigator, based on an ongoing proprietary study of influential business stakeholders by the agency since 1997, is designed to help prioritize a CEO's
communication efforts.
"The CEO is under an unprecedented amount of pressure, with equally high expectations of transparency," says Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, B-M's chief knowledge and research officer.
"By prioritizing what were once considered intangibles, such as ethical conduct and communicating a vision inside the company, CEOs can make a huge impact that satisfies the
intensive scrutiny by all audiences, from Wall Street to customers to employees. These formerly considered intangibles have become the new tangibles that bring the best return on
reputation."
For information on CEO Navigator, visit http://www.ceogo.com.
(Leslie Gaines-Ross, Burson-Marsteller, 212/614-5181)