[Editor’s Note: In the interest of transparency, the author runs a consulting organization that designs measurement programs. She’s also developed a framework that she uses in her business.]
I’ve just spent the better part of one day trying to navigate the hottest thing in measurement this month: the AMEC Measurement Framework, unveiled with great fanfare in July during the AMEC Measurement Summit in London. It’s an interactive version of the original AMEC framework, designed to make it easier for clients to implement Barcelona Standard-compliant measurement in their organizations.
It features multi-colored squares. Each requires you to provide information about your organization program or campaign. The squares are: Objectives, Inputs, Activity, Outputs, Out-takes, Outcomes and Organizational Impact. When you click on a square it asks you questions like, “What are the broad objectives of your organization? And what are your communications objectives?”
Visually, it is certainly an enormous improvement over the old version, which, I will confess, I have never once been able to get a client to comprehend. And the interactive nature of the Framework is a lot less daunting than the old PowerPoint version. Still, I love it. I will tell you why below. But be aware, in the end, it will be just as challenging to fill out as the earlier version. That’s because the problems inherent in the old framework remain, despite the sexy, new front end. Sure, there’s a taxonomy that offers examples of the type of answers it’s looking for, but the confusion will persist because the very smart people who created the Framework live and breathe measurement. Many, if not most, primarily work with large, sophisticated organizations that have staff with at least some background in measuring results. But that’s not your typical PR program. Despite the impression that Samantha Jones of Sex and the City left on a generation, the vast majority of PR is for small to medium-sized businesses. The people in these businesses are asking far more basic questions than the Framework will answer.
Taking the Plunge
I decided to fill out the Framework using a PR campaign I recently helped a client measure. I used the responses that members of its PR team gave me at our first meeting. In short, there was considerable confusion between inputs, activities and outputs, no clear connection between organization objectives and no clue what the actual impact would be. The good news is we eventually identified target audiences and objectives and connected the dots between the communications activity and the ultimate impact. The client now has a wonderful working dashboard.
Then I went back and tried to fill in the Framework with the information I used to make this client’s dashboard. After a long day of checking the taxonomy and making sure I put everything in the right boxes, I have these tips:
1. Before you Google AMEC Framework, do your homework: What all PR measurement requires, regardless of what framework or tool you employ, is a thorough understanding of the business goals of the organization. What is the mission? How does it make money, and what is the perceived role of PR in that process? For agency PR folks, this is your biggest weakness and the reason why PR gets no respect when budgets tighten. If you don’t have an agreed-upon definition of how PR contributes to the success of the organization you’ll never get beyond square one, literally. So meet with your boss, your boss’s boss, the board and get one.
[Subscribers:See Katie Paine’s dashboard recipe and other useful measurement documents at the PR News ProEssentials Page: prnewsonline.com/pr-news-pro-essentials/]
2. Bake cookies to find your inputs:Some answers to Framework questions about target audiences and strategy may reside in other departments. Depending on the size of your organization, information on specific target audiences or personas, or even overall strategy, may well live in sales, marketing or customer intelligence. Visit whatever departments hold the clues and bring treats. I’ve always gotten more information with chocolate chip cookies than an email. Depending on their stress level, a good scotch also can work.
3. Look at the communications budget for activities: What you’re really doing with this Framework (and any measurement program) is determining what efforts are and are not worthwhile. The fundamental concept is worth, which implies a financial or resource commitment. So rather than just a laundry list of activities, which could quickly become a nightmare of random metrics, only list those activities that require either a significant amount of budget, time or resources. (You can get to the others later.) To simplify the process, since the Conclave has determined that you earn a share, I wouldn’t even bother with the S column, just include any shared data under earned. Also, note that earned doesn’t mean what you have already earned, but rather what you plan to do in terms of earned media, i.e. what you’re writing, the nature of the media outreach, speechwriting etc. – anything that is going to require resources.
4. Outputs are what you’ve checked off your to-do list:After you’ve listed all the activities, you need to see what actually happened, i.e. did any of that activity reach the target audiences? This is where you can count the number of media items that ran or that you earned. Tally up the paid media placements and anything that was shared. Add data on clicks, time on site or whatever metrics you’ve agreed are important from your web analytics platform. When measuring events count the number of attendees as well as anyone who used your hashtag. Whatever you do, try to avoid completely inaccurate definitions of reach and impressions.
5. If you don’t have good survey or engagement data, skip the out-takes section:Essentially out-takes are what your target audience actually takes away from all the stuff you’ve listed in step 4. To understand what an audience member takes away, you have to ask his/her opinion. In other words, are they more aware, more likely to consider or prefer your brand? While not the same as awareness, engagement may be an acceptable proxy for evidence of attention on the part of your target audiences. So likes, shares, favorites, reactions and comments may all be evidence of out-takes.
6. Outcomes should be the same as the communications goals in step 1:Go back to step 1 and cut and paste your communications goals in the Outcomes section and change the tenses, i.e. if the goal was “To increase preference in the new brand by 10%,” the outcome should be “Increased preference in the new brand by 10%, as measured by pre/post testing.” If that didn’t happen, prepare a good explanation.
7. Impact should be the same as the goals you listed in step 1:Go back to step 1 to copy and paste the business goals in the Impact section and change the tenses. As above, if the impact is different, prepare a good explanation.
Ultimately, I love this Framework, not because it is perfect, or even particularly easy to use. I love it because it poses the kind of questions I’ve been answering for 30 years. I know all too well how hard many of them are to answer.
CONTACT: [email protected]