By Angela Jeffrey
My last PR News Tip Sheet (May 25) shared some simple proof-of-performance metrics to make the reporting of your own media coverage results at least somewhat meaningful.
However, as I then pointed out, it is difficult to relate media coverage back to business outcomes without taking competitive coverage into consideration.
Why? Because we have now conducted almost 170 studies using more than 10 million clips on clients ranging from major pharmaceuticals and packaged-goods companies to small
nonprofit colleges, and we have learned what matters is the competitive distance between your firm and its competitors. Specifically, the key metric is "share of
discussion," defined as "the quantity and quality of your firm's unpaid media compared to that of its competitors." Out of these studies, all but a handful
correlated directly back to sales, customer preference or other business-outcome metrics supplied by the client. In other words, PR works.
Let me share one case study that illustrates the difference between measuring only your own coverage versus doing it through share of discussion. This three-year, 10-hospital
study included drill-downs to such service levels as "cancer" and "cardiology." The "outcome" measure against which non-paid media was compared was the client's favorability
levels in its consumer-preference survey.
The chart illustrates the correlations between share of discussion and positive market preference for its cancer facility - at an incredible .97 (out of 1.0). In contrast,
looking at the hospital's coverage in isolation shows that it barely correlates at .51.
Here's how you can calculate share of discussion and draw basic correlations against outcomes:
- Capture the media coverage of your company and its competitors.
- Calculate media values or audience impressions for all stories.
- Measure the tone of each story. Then, add together all NEUTRAL and POSITIVE media values or impressions, and subtract all NEGATIVE, to get Net Favorable results.
- Divide each company's net favorable results by the total of all competitors to obtain share of discussion.
- Plot share of discussion at monthly, quarterly or annual intervals on a piece of graph paper or it in a software program. Plot sales, customer preference or other outcome
measures at the same time intervals. - The lines should trend together with adjustments for sales-cycle time lags. (For example, in pharmaceuticals, the time lag might be three months; in computer sales, perhaps
six months.) Exact correlations can be generated in a statistical program for those of you more left-brained than I am. Be sure to track results over time.
In my next Tip Sheet, I'll use another case study and show you some additional factors to take into consideration to get the clearest correlations possible. Or if you need more
information fast, go to http://www.brainshark.com/survdata/ITWORKS.