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How to Measure PR
Most public relations professionals now measure PR. Most
clients expect some form of PR measurement, whether PR is
managed by an agency, an in-house team or both. But with no
widely accepted standard for PR measurement, how do you
accurately measure PR?
Can you imagine another marketing discipline that used dozens
of methods for measuring results? Take search engine
marketing for example. The standards are pretty cut and dry:
visitors, page views, time on site, cost per click, etc. For email
marketing, we have delivery, open rates, click thru,
unsubscribe, opt-ins, etc.
How do you measure PR? In a recent survey conducted by the
American Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of
Communication (AMEC) and Institute for Public Relations (IPR),
520 global PR professionals were interviewed about the topic
of PR measurement. The survey found that 88% of PR
practitioners believe measurement is an integral part of the PR
process, and 77% are currently tracking their programs. Am I
the only one that thinks this should be 100%?
Some of the key findings of the survey include:
• The overwhelming majority of PR professionals, 88%,
believe measurement is an integral part of the PR process
(70% believe this strongly).
• While 77% of respondents claimed to measure their work
compared with 69% in a similar survey five years ago, the
survey results show that the PR profession are still not agreed
on the best tools and methodologies.
• Measuring ROI (return on investment) on
communications is viewed as an achievable goal by the
overwhelming majority of professional communicators taking
part in the survey. There is, however, very strong agreement
that it is possible to calculate ROI on communications, and that
demonstrable ROI would enhance the budgets (and status) of
PR practitioners.
• PR Professionals still tend to judge their success criteria
more by their ability to place material in the media rather than
on the impact such coverage might have on shifting opinion,
awareness, or moving markets, although there is evidence that
this is changing.
• The survey found that the tools used by PR professionals
includes press clippings – still the favorite – closely followed by
AVEs (Advertising value equivalent) and more rigorous tools
including Internal Reviews, Benchmarking, and the use of
specialist media evaluation tools. Various forms of opinion
polling and focus groups also remain as popular tools.
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Survey says: More Salisbury residents 'satisfied'
By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
Salisbury citizens see a marked improvement over the past
five years in sidewalks, race relations, zoning regulations and
parks and recreation, according to a recent citywide survey.
Nth-Degree Analytics conducted a similar survey on city
services in 2004. This year, it had 345 responses to its
questionnaire, or a response rate of 27 percent.
Otherwise, Salisbury saw improvement in 12 other categories
including sidewalks, 20 percent; "community is inclusive," 15
percent; zoning regulations, 15 percent; Parks and
Recreation Department (overall), 14 percent; street quality,
14 percent; "arts are important," 12 percent; street
appearance, 10 percent; responsiveness of city government,
9 percent; Fire Department (overall), 9 percent; "housing is
affordable," 7 percent; trash collection, 5 percent; and Police
Department (overall), 3 percent.
Mayor Susan Kluttz said she was encouraged by a 15 percent
improvement in the perception that Salisbury is an inclusive
community, given the city initiatives in that regard. In 2004,
41 percent agreed or strongly agreed that Salisbury was an
inclusive community.
More than 50 percent found city employees to be competent
and willing to follow up with residents. The survey showed 48
percent of the respondents agreeing that employees
addressed problems in a timely manner.
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