Measuring and Demonstrating Value in Communications and Marketing We all know how difficult it can be, but also how important it is, to measure and showcase the value of our communications. Do your efforts have any impact on your company's bottom line? And how can we use this information to continue to improve and refine our communications strategies? This presentation provides an overview of how to ensure communication effectiveness and demonstrate value using proven research methods that give you the metrics you need to show ROI. Case studies, do-it-yourself strategies, and professional research methods are presented. Presented by Kirsty Nunez, President of Q2 Insights, Inc., a marketing research firm with offices in San Diego, CA and New Orleans, LA. Kirsty’s graduate education is in research psychology (MA) and applied statistics (MSPH). A career market researcher and innovation facilitator, Kirsty has more than 25 years of qualitative and quantitative research experience directing projects for a diverse group of local, regional, national and international organizations.

1. Measuring and Demonstrating
Value in Communications and
Marketing
Presentation to IABC San Diego
Kirsty Nunez
Q2 Insights, Inc.
June 19, 2013

2. A Communications Approach

3. Communication campaigns are designed
to change the awareness, attitudes and
behaviors of populations across a variety
of domains.

4. Return on Investment (ROI) is a financial
concept that describes the ratio of earnings
divided by the costs associated with
generating the earnings within a timeframe.
It is often expressed as a percentage.
Income Cost
Return on
Investment

5. In reality few communications campaigns
can be measured using financial ROI.

6. Return on Communications (ROC) must
include metrics that measure
awareness, attitudes and behaviors
and, in some cases, financial ROI.

7. Principals for ROC Measurement
Adapted from ROI in PR Measurement: Developing a Practical Strategy
Mike Daniels, Senior Consultant, Report International Ltd
Chairman, AMEC, March 2012
Measure the
effect on
outcomes and
not just outputs
Business results
should be
measured when
possibleDigital metrics
(web, email, soc
ial media) can
and should be
measured
Attitudinal or
behavioral change
Web traffic, social
engagement and
media coverage
Set Campaign
Objectives
Transparency
and ability to
replicate are
essential to
measurement

8. Key Elements of ROC

9. Return on
Investment
Awareness, A
ttitude and
Behavior
Metrics
Digital
Metrics
Business
Metrics

10. Communications Value Measurement
Return on
Investment (ROI)
Awareness, Attitu
de & Behavior
Metrics
Digital Metrics
No Financial
Outcomes
With Financial
Outcomes
No Financial
Outcomes
With Financial
Outcomes












Internal Communications External Communications
Business Metrics    

11. Planning for Measurement of ROC

12. Define campaign
objectives
Identify desire
outcomes
Define the
audience
Describe the
communications
methods
Steps in Measuring ROC
• Calculate ROI if appropriate
• Conduct a comparison study to measure
awareness, attitudes and behaviors
o Pre / Post
o Test / Control
• Obtain digital and business metrics
Identify the
metrics

13. Define the Campaign Objectives
Inform
New News (New
Product, New Location)
Increase Awareness
Communicate
Positioning
Recognition and
Appreciation
Employee
Communication
Persuade
Impact Volumes
(Sales, Traffic, Leads)
Manage Issues
Change Attitudes and
Behaviors
Increase Attendance
Fight Off Competition
Employee Recruiting
Employee Retention
Stock Value
Policy Change
Remind
Reinforce Branding
Reinforce Loyalty
Reinforce Retention
Reinforce Behavior
Safety

14. Identify Desired Outcomes
Awareness Understanding Attitude Change
Behavioral
Change
Mobilization Public Support
Policymaker
Support

15. Define the Audience
Consumers Business Customers Employees
Stockholders Policy Makers
The audience may be based on
demographics, psychographics, behaviors, attitudes or
a mixture.

16. Describe Communications Methods
Broadcast
Direct Mail
Website
Social Media
Email
Mobile
Coalitions, Advocacy

17. Define the Metrics
Measures may be drawn from campaign objectives, output, outcomes and
communications methods, for example:
Area
Output
Metric
• Identify number of direct mail pieces sent
• Number of influencers advocating safety goggle message
Outcomes
• Assess awareness of when to use safety goggles
• Determine the extent to which safety goggle usage increased
• Identify number of eye-related injuries
Communications
Methods
• Assess relative importance of communications methods (direct
mail, email, website, social media) in conveying safety goggle
message

18. Measurement Tools

19. Recommended Measurement Tools

Return on Investment (ROI)

Focus Groups
Pre/Post Survey or Test / Control Survey Depth Interviews
Digital Metrics
Employee and/or Management
Advisory Teams
Business Metrics

20. Return on Investment

21. Focus on one campaign and not all communication activity
Steps in Calculating ROI
– Total financial value of new sales, increase in share price, reduction in accidents, etc.
– Include revenue generated, cost savings and cost avoidance
– Survey can be used to help clarify areas communications can legitimately claim
– Err on the side of underestimating rather than over estimating
– Include staff costs, production costs, and the cost of research
Calculate “income” generated by communications campaign
“Discount” the total income by estimating the percentage of
income for which communications might legitimately take credit
Calculate the cost of communication campaign
Divide discounted income by the cost of the communication
campaign and multiply the result by 100 to obtain a percentage
Work with finance department to refine your ROI calculation

22. Return on Investment (%)
(Income / Cost) × 100
Return on Investment
(Income - Cost) / Cost
Return on Investment Calculation

23. Awareness, Attitude
and Behavior Metrics (Survey)

24. Pre- and Post-Test Design
Pre-Test
Communications
Campaign
Post-Test

25. Pre- and Post-Test Design
Post-Test Pre-Test Difference

26. Variations on the Pre- and Post Design
Pre-Test
Mid-
Campaign
Post-Test

27. “Test”/ Control Study Design
Communications
Campaign
Survey
No Exposure to
Communications
Campaign
Survey
Campaign
Audience
Matched
Controls

28. Pre /Post and Test/Control Design
Pre-Test
Communications
Campaign
Post-Test
Pre-Test Post-Test
Campaign
Audience
Matched
Controls

29. Digital Metrics

30. Digital Metrics
Applicable to multiple digital platforms, including Websites and blog sites.
• Organic Search Rank
• Blogs
• Rating Sites
• Shares, Likes
• Unique Site Visits
• Page Views
• Average Time on Site
• Bounce Rate
• Rate of Return Visits
• New Versus Returned Visitors
• Visits
• Average Pages Per Visit
• Average Time on Page
• Page Path
• Number of Bookmarks
• Content Clicks
• Click Through Conversion
• Number or Volume Sold
• Engagement (Registration, Email
Signup, Game Play, Document
Download, Form
Submission, Send to a
Friend, Share, Like)
Impressions Offsite Visits to Site
Visits to Goal Pages Conversion

31. Applicable to
multiple digital
platforms, inclu
ding Websites
and blog sites.
Digital Financial Metrics
Cost Per Click
(CPC)
Visits Per
Action /
Acquisition
(CPA)
Cost Per
Impression
(CPM)

32. Email Metrics
Similar to digital metrics with offsite exposure via email.
Email
Engagement
Open Rate
Click Through
Rate
Content Area
Clicks
Link Clicks
Forward
Opt-outs
Visits to Site
Visits to Goal
Pages
Conversion

33. Key Social Media Metrics
Metric Description Tool
Referral from Social
Conversion Rate
Social Influence
Score
Post Virality
Track referral from each social
channel
Social referral to website
Social influence
# of stories / # of unique people
the post reached
Google Analytics
Social Tab
Google Analytics
Facebook
Klout and Kred

34. Business Metrics

35. Business Metrics
Inquiries Response
Sales Costs

36. Hypothetical ROC Summary
for Management

37. 2%
Hypothetical Success Metrics Dashboard
Communications Return on Investment (ROI) Business Metrics
Digital Metrics Awareness, Attitudes and Behaviors Metrics (Survey)
39%
27%
14% Inquires Increase
Total
Awareness
Increase
Income / Cost
-------------------
Cost
Attributable to
communications
campaign4% Sales Increase
12% Call Center
Decrease
18% 8%40% Increase YouTube Followers
3,064 Email Signups
15,016 Visitors Landing Page
Brand
Preference
Increase
Call Center to
App Behavior
Change
App
Usage

38. Case Study

39. Utility Outage App Promotion
Campaign
Objectives
Desired Outcome
Target Audience
Communications
Methods
• Inform: availability of app for outage information
• Persuade: use of smart phone app for outage information
• Download and use of app for outage information
• Reduce volume of call center calls
• Improve brand loyalty
Residential customers in four states
Bill insert, Email, Facebook, YouTube Video, and Call Center

40. Pre / Post Study Design
• Awareness and Usage
• Communication
Utility Outage App Promotion
Return on
Investment
Awareness, Attitud
e and Behavior
Survey
Digital Metrics
Business Metrics

Digital and social measures
Number of downloads, duration of usage , frequency of
usage, affect on Lifetime Value, impact on call center
• Behavioral Change
• Attitudinal Change

41. Outage App Success Metrics
Return on Investment Business Metrics
Digital Metrics
Awareness, Attitude and
Behavior Metrics (Survey)
31%
37%21%
12% Decrease
Uptick in app
downloads
Indicate “will feel”
part of
communication
Call center
volume tracked
to four-week
campaign
Unprompted
awareness in
smart phone
app

42. Do It Yourself

43. When To Do It Yourself
• Small scale and low profile communications campaign
• Lower budget
• Time consuming to educate a vendor about the business or the
campaign
• Opportunity to create hands-on involvement amongst the team

44. When Not To Do It Yourself
• Potential bias due to emotional involvement in brand and stakeholders
• Lack of expertise, training and experience
• Significant project management time and expertise required
• Significant project depth and breadth
• Limited knowledge of one or more of four metrics (ROI, Survey, Digital
Metrics or Business Metrics)
• Unaware of resources available

45. • Google Analytics
• Social Tab
• Social Mention
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Klout and Kred
Do It Yourself Resources
Awareness, Attitude and Behavior (Survey)
Digital Metrics
• SurveyMonkey (surveymonkey.com)
• American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) (appor.com)

46. Thank You

47. Thank You
Q2 Insights, Inc.
San Diego
2236 Encinitas Blvd, Suite H
Encinitas, CA 92024
Phone 760-230-2950
Fax 760-230-2951
New Orleans
5001 E. Hwy 190 Service Road, Suite D-3
Covington, LA 70433
Phone 985-867-9494
Fax 985-867-9936
Q2Insights.com
info@q2insights.com