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PR News Conf March 2011
The document discusses trends in PR measurement and alternatives to measuring advertising value equivalents (AVEs). It introduces the Barcelona Principles, which emphasize goal-setting, measuring outcomes rather than just outputs, and measuring business results where possible. It then discusses moving measurement towards valid metrics that better indicate business results, such as awareness, knowledge, interest, preference, and action. Finally, it presents the Valid Metrics Matrix for measuring PR activities, intermediary effects, and target audience effects across different communication objectives.
PR News Conf March 2011
- 1. Must-Know Trends andNext Practices in PR Measurement: Barcelona and Alternatives to AVE March 1, 2011 Angela Jeffrey, APR Vice President Integrated Media
- 2. Barcelona Principles Importanceof goal-setting and measurement Measuring the effect on outcomes I preferred to measuring outputs The effect on business results can and should be measured where possible Media measurement requires quality and quantity AVEs are not the value of public relations Social media can and should be measured Transparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurement
- 3. Ruth Pestana ,Worldwide Director of Strategic Services from Hill & Knowlton – the chair of AMEC’s post Barcelona Principles taskforce on valid metrics
- 4. Moving towards BusinessResults The Valid Metrics Taskforce, representing 5 agencies and 4 providers, were asked: So if AVEs are not valid metrics, what are the valid metrics? And we in turn asked ourselves: How do we help move PR Measurement along the road towards Business Results? AVEs Biz Results
- 5. A (Very) SimplifiedView of How PR Works Business Results
- 6. Aligning with theCommunication Funnel AWARENESS INTEREST PREFERENCE ACTION KNOWLEDGE
- 7. What about Outputs,Outtakes, Outcomes? Business Results
- 8. COMMUNICATION / MARKETINGFUNNEL The Valid Metrics Matrix P H A S E S Org/ Biz Result Awareness Knowledge/ Understanding Interest/ Consideration Preference/Support Action Public Relation Activity Intermediary Effect Target Audience Effect
- 9. Brand / ProductMarketing Awareness Knowledge Consideration Preference Action Public Relations Activity Media engagement Blogger engagement Influencer engagement Events/ speaking opportunities Content creation Site/Social Media posts Intermediary Effect (Media, Bloggers) Target Audience Effect (Customers and Consumers)
- 10. Brand / ProductMarketing Awareness Knowledge Consideration Preference Action Public Relations Activity Intermediary Effect (Media, Bloggers) Number of articles Frequency Prominence Target audience reach/ Impressions Earned media site visitors Social network site/channel visitors Video views Cost per thousand reached SOV in target media/online discussion Key message alignment Accuracy of facts Key message alignment Expressed opinions Frequency of (positive) mentions SOV in target media/online discussion Social network fans and followers Retweets/Likes/Linkbacks Online comments Endorsement by journalists and/or influencers Expressed recommend-ations Rankings on industry lists Social network fans and followers Retweets/Likes/Linkbacks Online comments Target Audience Effect
- 11. Brand / ProductMarketing Awareness Knowledge Consideration Preference Action Public Relations Activity Intermediary Effect (Media, Bloggers) Target Audience Effect (Customers and Consumers) Unaided awareness Aided awareness Knowledge of company, product attributes and features Brand association and differentiation Expressed opinions in online communities Brand/product relevance to consumer/ customer Visitors to site Click-thru to site Time spent on site Site downloads Calls to infoline Event/meeting attendance Attitude uplift Purchase consideration Brand preference/ loyalty/trust Expressed advocacy Links to site Requests for quote RFPs/RFQs (B2B) Product trials Leads generated Sales Market share Cost per thousand sold Cost savings Customer loyalty
- 12. COMMUNICATION / MARKETINGFUNNEL Applying the Approach to Other Objectives P H A S E S Org/ Biz Result Awareness Knowledge/ Understanding Interest/ Consideration Preference/Support Action Public Relation Activity Intermediary Effect Target Audience Effect
- 13. If you wereusing AVE’s to … … solely evaluate PR success , there is no single replacement metric, so consider the palette of Valid Metrics instead. … provide comparative media costs for PR against other disciplines, you can use earned impressions; earned cost per thousand impressions; gross rating points and target rating points, as they all compare well to other media. … provide a financial denomination for PR , you can look at total value of sales/sales leads/revenue generated by PR activities; PR activities’ contributions to sales/sales leads/revenue (often calculated via marketing mix analysis), cost savings due to PR activities, increased mindshare or increased/decreased market capitalization.
- 14. Reputation Building AwarenessKnowledge Interest Preference Action Public Relations Activity Intermediary Effect (Media, Bloggers) Target Audience Effect (Multiple Stakeholders) Unaided awareness Aided awareness Knowledge of company profile and offer Expressed opinions in online communities Acknowledge-ment of relevance of company by stakeholders Visitors to site Click-thru to site Time spent on site Site downloads Calls to infoline Event/meeting attendance Attitude uplift Uplift in reputation drivers (e.g. Trust, Admiration) Belief in corporate brand Expressed advocacy Links to site Relationships with key stakeholders Sales Market share Cost savings Customer loyalty Share price Talent retention and recruitment Legislation change Regulation change
- 15. Issue Advocacy /SupportAwareness Understanding Interest Support Action Public Relations Activity Intermediary Effect (Media, Bloggers) Target Audience Effect (General Public) Unaided awareness Aided awareness Knowledge of issue Knowledge of client POV Expressed opinions in online communities Acknowledge-ment of relevance of issue by target audience Visitors to site Click-thru to site Time spent on site Site downloads Calls to infoline Event/meeting attendance Attitude uplift Expressed advocacy Links to site Letters of support (to Congressmen, MPs, etc) Registrations to join support group Donations Sponsorship Legislation change Regulation change Cost savings
- 16. Public Education/ Not-for-Profit Awareness Understanding Interest Support Action Public Relations Activity Intermediary Effect (Media, Bloggers) Target Audience Effect (General Public) Unaided awareness Aided awareness Knowledge of facts Expressed opinions in online communities Acknowledge-ment of relevance of issue by target audience Visitors to site Click-thru to site Time spent on site Site downloads Calls to infoline Event/meeting attendance Expressed advocacy Links to site Progress against target (e.g. reduction in teen pregnancies) Cost savings
- 17. Crisis & IssuesManagement Awareness Knowledge Interest Support Action Public Relations Activity Intermediary Effect (Media, Bloggers) Target Audience Effect (Multiple Stakeholders) Increase or decrease (dependent on objective) in: Unaided awareness Aided awareness Knowledge of facts of the situation Knowledge of company POV Expressed opinions in online communities Visitors to site Click-thru to site Time spent on site Site downloads Calls to infoline Event/meeting attendance Negativity towards company offset by neutral and positive opinion Minimal downward movement on reputation drivers Belief in company/ brand Expressed advocacy Minimal change in share price/ earnings multiple Minimal change in market share/ sales/ customer loyalty Cost savings
- 18. Investor Relations AwarenessKnowledge Consideration Preference Action Public Relations Activity Intermediary Effect (Media, Bloggers) Target Audience Effect (Financial Community) Unaided awareness Aided awareness Coverage in analyst reports Knowledge of company profile and offer Visitors to IR section of site Click-thru to IR section Time spent on IR section Site downloads Calls for more information Event/meeting attendance Attitude uplift Endorsement Share price Earnings multiple Earnings per share Successful IPO/merger/ acquisition
- 19. Employee Engagement AwarenessUnderstanding Interest Support Action Public Relations Activity Target Audience Effect (Employees) Newsletters/ emails/intranet reach across all employee groups and levels Knowledge of CEO vision Knowledge of company strategy/ values/polices Expressed opinions in employee blogs and online communities Visitors to intranet Click-thru to intranet Time spent on intranet Intranet downloads Town hall/event/ meeting attendance Attitude uplift Expressed advocacy Acceptance/ preparedness for change Participation in initiatives Reduced employee turnover Improved employee productivity Lower cost of recruitment
Editor's Notes
- #2 A very important “must know” practice for you today is the industry’s final push away from ad value equivalency and towards a new set of alternatives that have been designed to take its place. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the Barcelona Principles, which were approved by five international PR bodies in the summer of 2010, including PRSA, the IPR Commission on PR Measurement & Evaluation, and AMEC. Without question, the most famous of the seven principles is #5 – which states that AVE is not the value of public relations. So, as a follow-up to the Principles, a Task Force was created to identify a framework for determining possible metrics for individual PR programs. This new framework is called the Valid Metrics Guidelines, and is the topic of my brief discussion today!
- #4 Before we get started, I purposely left this slide in the deck to give credit this morning to Ruth Pestana of Hill and Knowlton, who chaired this task force, and did an outstanding job
- #5 The taskforce was comprised of five Agencies: Hill & Knowlton, Evolve 24, Chandler Chicco, Weber Shandwick, and Ketchum and four Research Providers: VMS, Dow Jones, Echo Research, Report International. Two primary challenges facing the AVE taskforce : The industry had become used to the beguiling singularity of AVEs PR addresses many different publics and has many different forms of impact, so we need more than one metric. To truly demonstrate the value of PR, metrics needed to be linked to the business objective of the program. The guidelines are based on PR measurement moving beyond measuring outputs to measuring outcomes. Therefore, the Task Force: PR measurement needs to be shown as a continuum of metrics – starting with outputs and ending ultimately with business results.
- #6 The Valid Metrics guidelines take the form of a MATRIX, which is applicable to a number of different types of campaigns. Within the matrix, three phases have been defined to reflect a (very) simplified breakdown of how Public Relations works. In essence, PR can be boiled down to three phases: The messages or story is created and told The story is disseminated via a third party/intermediary, such as journalists, influencers or bloggers The story is consumed by the target audience, which if successful leads to behavior change and the desired business result The matrix was constructed to reflect this simplified process: Public Relations Activity – metrics reflecting the process of producing or disseminating the desired messages Intermediary Effect – metrics reflecting the third party dissemination of the messages to the target audience Target Audience Effect – metrics showing that the target audience has received the communications and any resulting action-driven outcomes
- #7 The continuum concept was also applied horizontally to how communications are received by the target audience. This axis is based on what is commonly known as the Communication or Marketing Funnel . The stages of this funnel are awareness, understanding, interest/consideration, preference and action . Metrics have been grouped under these stages to help PR practitioners demonstrate how communications are absorbed, in nomenclature that marketers understand.
- #8 Now – you might be wondering whatever happened to Outputs, Outtakes and Outcomes, long preached by the measurement community. Well, they still fit, if you think about it. PR Activity wasn’t included in the old model, but the Intermediary step would really be what we consider Outputs to be, and the Target Audience step is really a mixture of Outtakes and Outcomes. So, we haven’t gone as far afield as it may seem at first.
- #9 Once the structure was set, the matrix was then applied to a series of grids, acknowledging the fact that the desired business result for different types of campaigns varies according to the objective. Each grid pertains to a different function of Public Relations/Public Affairs. They include Brand and Product Marketing , Reputation Building , Issues Advocacy and Support , Public Education , Employee Engagement , Investor Relations , and Crisis and Issues Management . While each grid outlines specific metrics for its campaign objectives, there is naturally some overlap. Most importantly however, the desired business result for each type of campaign is captured in the final box on the grid. Applying the Matrix Now – let’s work through one of the Matrices. There are five simple steps … starting with: 1. Choose the grid that is relevant to the campaign being measured.
- #10 In the row titled “Public Relations Activities”, determine the activities being conducted for the campaign and identify metrics for each. For example, for “Media Engagement”, potential metrics are: number of journalists briefed, number of press releases distributed and number of press kits created.
- #11 In the row titled “Intermediary Effect”, review the suggested metrics and determine which are appropriate to collect, given the resources available. Keep in mind, however, that these metrics do represent those most commonly used in media and blogger analysis, and it is recommended that as many as possible be included in the measurement program. There’s a real difference in the metrics as you go across the grid, with simpler metrics for awareness, and more complex for knowledge, consideration and preference. For instance …
- #12 In the row titled “Target Audience Effect”, review the suggested metrics and again determine which are appropriate given the resources available. Many of these metrics require a survey to be conducted, but this does not need to be a large drain on resources. Online polls are a cost-effective way to reach many audiences. Attitudes can also be gathered by reviewing the opinions expressed by members of the target audience through online communities . Web analytics (of the client’s site) can also be used to assess consideration and preference among the target audience. Finally, in the “Action” box, determine which of the business or organizational outcomes are relevant to the client and are feasible to track. Ideally at least one business/organizational outcome should be identified as the ultimate objective of the campaign.
- #13 Other points to note: Once selected, the metrics should be tracked over time to identify trends. Consider plotting outcome metrics from the “Target Audience Effect” row against metrics from the “Intermediary Effect” row to show correlations. Consider applying cost per thousand (CPM) calculations against the “Intermediary Effect” and “Target Audience Effect” metrics. CPM is calculated by dividing the total cost by the relevant number to get cost per message, cost per article, etc. Approaches using gross rating points (GRP), which measure reach against percent of total population, and target rating points (TRP), which measure reach against percent of targeted population, can also be applied to “Intermediary Effect” metrics if relevant population numbers are available. The grids are not exhaustive and there may be other metrics that are appropriate to the campaign being measured.
- #14 Replacing AVEs If you were using AVEs as the sole metric for evaluating PR success, there is no single replacement metric. Public Relations is a broad discipline that requires multiple metrics tied to well-defined objectives. These guidelines provide many alternatives to AVEs and are intended to help practitioners identify a palette of Valid Metrics that will deliver meaningful measurement to reflect the full contribution of Public Relations. If you were using AVEs to provide comparative media costs for PR in relation to other marketing disciplines, there are several metrics that can be appropriately used for evaluating earned media results against paid media results. These include earned impressions, which measures potential reach based on media impressions data; earned cost per thousand (CPM) impressions, which measures the efficiency of earning media coverage and enables comparison to the efficiency of other marketing vehicles; gross rating points (GRP); and target rating points (TRP). If you were using AVEs to provide a dollar/euro/yen or other financial denomination for PR results, there are several metrics that can be used appropriately to measure public relations in financial terms (where demonstrable). These include total value of sales/sales leads/revenue generated by PR activities; PR activities’ contribution to sales/sales leads/revenue (often calculated via marketing mix analysis); cost savings due to PR activities (e.g. reduced customer complaints, etc.); increased target market size due to expanded mindshare; and increased or decreased in market capitalization
- #20 The Valid Metrics guidelines are not intended to be a rulebook. Practitioners are free to select the metrics that fit their budget and, most importantly, their objectives. These grids are not intended to be all-encompassing. They simply represent a starting point on the journey to objectives-based measurement with a greater business focus and which will hopefully move the industry beyond AVEs.