Reviews books, resources and examples to help nonprofits measure PR efforts with metrics that leads to good decisions

1. Finding Your “A-Ha”
Moments:
Resources and Examples for
Measuring Meaningful
PR Metrics
LORI MILLER, @lorimillerwhnt June 22, 2016

2. “We talk about
big data, but its actually
big insights [we need]”
Unilever CEO
@lorimillerwhnt

3. CLARIFY
What do
I want to
know
so that
I can act?
MEASURE
What do
I need to
measure
to find
out?
ANALYZE
How do
I use the
data
to make a
decision?
@lorimillerwhnt

4. Basic Steps for Better Measurement
1. Get alignment on goals
2. Define your audiences
3. Write SMART objectives
4. Define your benchmarks
5. Define your metrics
6. Define the data collection tools
7. Collect data, analyze results,
take action, measure again
clarify
measure
analyze
@lorimillerwhnt

5. What do
I want to know
so that I can act?

6. STEP 1: Better Goals
Over time, you need to
reconsider your assumptions.
Do you need…
Agreement on the most pressing organizational problems?
Better data on who your target audience is?
Better intel on what elements motivate your target audience to
purchase, support, donate, or change a habit or opinion?
To know what parts of what are already doing work or don’t work?
@lorimillerwhnt

7. STEP 2: Target Audiences
1. What is desired action of you target audience?
2. What demographic groups are most likely to take the
desired action?
3. How do they think?
4. What needs, challenges, and frustrations do they have?
5. How does your idea, service, or product help your target
audience?
6. What drives them to make purchasing decisions? (or
donating, volunteering, sharing, etc)
7. Do they currently use (or support) a product or service of
your organization or that of a similar organization?
8. What media do they currently use?
9. How can you best reach your target audience?
10.Are you confident you picked the right target audience?
@lorimillerwhnt SOURCE: Katie Paine

8. Local Example

9. STEP 3: SMART Objectives
Objectives should be “SMART”
• Specific (both action to be taken and public
involved)
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Results (outcome) oriented (or relevant)
• Time-specific
Objectives should always
1. Define WHAT opinion, attitude or behavior
you want to achieve from specific publics,
2. Specify how much change you want to
achieve from each public, and
3. Tell by when you want to achieve that
change.
@lorimillerwhnt SOURCE: Universal Accreditation Board

10. OUTPUTS
(what you do)
Work Created
[ not enough ]
PROCESS
(impact on audience)
Influenced awareness
New attitudes
[ better ]
OUTCOMES
(impact on organization)
Donations/leads
New behavior
[ much better]
Objectives come in three general types
@lorimillerwhnt SOURCE: AMEC

11. Local Example

12. What do
I need to measure
to find out?

13. Measurement is a
comparative tool
@lorimillerwhnt

14. STEP 4: Define benchmarks
Decide who or what you are going to
compare yourself to
• Peer organizations
• Your own performance over time
@lorimillerwhnt
“Benchmark and measure what
keeps you up at night”

15. STEP 5: Define metrics
STEP 6: Define data collection
tools
Decide on a small handful of metrics that are
most informative AND let’s you act
It’s useful to think of them at the same time to
plan
Let’s see some examples!
@lorimillerwhnt

16. To help us get from
principals to actual practice,
let’s see some examples!

17. OUTPUTS
(what you do)
Work Created
40 pieces of targeted coverage
3 tweets per day
#1 SOV at 32%
[ not enough ]
PROCESS
(impact on audience)
Influenced awareness
New attitudes
Brand image +5%
Reputation +5%
Performance +4%
[ better ]
OUTCOMES
(impact on organization)
Donations/leads
New behavior
$50K sponsorships
Lead conversion 15%
[ much better]
@lorimillerwhnt
no direct value
SOURCE: AMEC

18. Draft plan – PRCA PRobono 2016 Committee

19. @lorimillerwhnt SOURCE: AMEC
AMEC’s International Best Practices for PR
Measurement and Evaluation

20. http://amecorg.com/downloads/resource/ValidMetricsFramework7June2011PrintVersion.pdf
Recommendations from “Valid Metrics Framework”

21. http://amecorg.com/downloads/resource/ValidMetricsFramework7June2011PrintVersion.pdf
@lorimillerwhnt
Recommendations from “Valid Metrics Framework”

22. Metrics change over time
http://www.businessesgrow.com/2015/09/09/content-marketing-measurement
@lorimillerwhnt
What may be
acceptable in the
beginning perhaps
isn’t sufficient for
more established
programs

23. Top Metrics to Measure
If you aren’t sure what to measure,
start here
1. Conversions
2. Messages that drive action
3. Share of voice (SOV)
*Make sure the value matches the objectives
@lorimillerwhnt SOURCE: Katie Paine

24. The Matter of Proxies
Can’t measure an action? Choose as a proxy
something you CAN measure.
An acceptable proxy is a metric that everyone
agrees is representative enough to be
acceptable to senior leadership.
Question
Do PR programs
increase donations?
Obstacle
Can’t get access to
donor data
Proxy Metric and Tool
• Unique sessions on “Thank
you for your donation”
landing page
• Google Analytics
@lorimillerwhnt SOURCE: Katie Paine

25. Local Example

26. How do I use
the data
to make a decision?

28. “You need to do more than just
develop discipline around collecting
data. What you want is the discipline
to look at what you’ve collected and
generate insights.”
Katie Paine

29. STEP 7: Collect, Analyze,
Take Action, Measure Again
CLARIFY
ANALYZE MEASURE
@lorimillerwhnt

30. ASK: What Will I Do
With My Information?
@lorimillerwhnt

31. Local Example

32. IN SUMMARY
 Measurement is the best way to demonstrate the value of your
work so use it – it’s there to guide you, not criticize you
 Don't obsess about the number. Focus on the link between
activities and outcomes
 Don’t just count – analyze! Develop the discipline to use
measurement to track progress and design better programs

34. http://new.praccreditation.org/resources/documents/apr-study-guide.pdf

35. http://amecorg.com/
International Association for the
Measurement and
Evaluation of Communications

36. DEADLINE July 11, 2016

37. LORI MILLER
linkedin.com/in/blorimiller
@lorimillerwhnt
lori.miller@whnt.com
blorimiller.com