PR Measurement in a

Difficult Economy
Best Practices & New Ideas for 2009

Presented to PRSA St. Louis

Tim Marklein, tmarklein@webershandwick.com
Slide 1 -- October 31, 2009
Updated April 15, 2009
 Economy : Cold :: Measurement : Hot

• Evaluate program success

• Gauge trends, topics and issues
• Develop better strategies and plans
• Tie to marketing, executive priorities
• Protect resources and grow budgets

“What gets measured gets done.”

– Albert Einstein

Slide 2 -- October 31, 2009

 Current state of PR measurement

THE GOOD Everyone agrees: Measurement is important

Basic standards, tools in place for measuring media
CMOs, CFOs and CEOs are asking for more
THE BAD

Still lots of lip service without investment

PR wastes time fighting AVE – “media value” is real
Quarterly reports are shelfware, don’t drive decisions
THE UGLY

PR metrics aren’t translated into executive terms

Not enough definition or accountability for outcomes
“Random acts of measurement” – not enough integration

Source: Weber Shandwick

Slide 3 -- October 31, 2009 Measurement & Strategy practice
 Methods gaining, but still “under-evaluation”

Use of PR Evaluation Methodologies

1 = Do not use at all, 7 = Use significantly
Influence on corporate reputation
Influence on stakeholder awareness
Influence on employee attitudes
Content analysis of clips
Influence on stakeholder opinion
Total # of clips
Influence on corporate culture
Total impressions
Total # of clips in "top tier" media
Crisis avoidance/mitigation
Total circulation
Influence on share of voice
Ad equivalency of clips
Contribution to sales
Contribution to market share
Contribution to profitability
Influence on stock performance

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00

2005 2007

Source: Annenberg School of Communication, “Fifth Annual

Slide 4 -- October 31, 2009 Public Relations Generally Accepted Practices” study, Q1’08
 The critical challenge = “Mind the GAP”

Typical PR metrics Key business metrics

• Total clips
• Total clips in top-tier media
• Total circulation/impressions
• Share of voice
• Media sentiment
• Message pull-through
• Ad equivalency
• Cost per thousand
• Influence on stakeholder awareness
• Influence on stakeholder opinion
• Influence on employee attitudes
• Influence on corporate reputation
• Contribution to sales
• Contribution to market share
• Contribution to profitability
• Influence on stock performance
• Influence on stakeholder awareness
• Influence on stakeholder opinion
• Influence on employee attitudes
• Influence on customer consid/pref
• Influence on customer satisfaction
• Influence on customer loyalty
• Influence on brand equity

“It will be difficult for PR to get a larger share of the total

communications expenditure without quantitative means that
go well beyond measurement of media outputs.”

Source: Adapted from GAP V report, Annenberg

Slide 5 -- October 31, 2009 School of Communication, “Fifth Annual Public Relations
Generally Accepted Practices” study, Q1’08
 Now let’s explore…

• Best practices
• Some well established
• Some emerging
• New ideas
• From industry research
• From agencies and companies
• From academia

Slide 6 -- October 31, 2009

 Best practices:
Standardizing earned media evaluation

• Canadian Media Relations Rating Points Model

• 90% of Canadian agencies use same model endorsed by
Canadian Public Relations Society, IABC of Canada, Canadian
Council of PR Firms
• Standard impressions for every outlet with “extra points” criteria
– Photo
– Message inclusion
– Positive/negative/neutral tone
– Brand mention
• Each placement receives a “grade” – 80% is good.
• Enables clients, agencies to compare results and PR
investment in more “apples to apples” way

Source: Canadian Public Relations Society, IABC of Canada,

Slide 7 -- October 31, 2009 Canadian Council of PR Firms
 Best practices:
Analyzing messages, associations, attributes

Source: Weber Shandwick

Slide 8 -- October 31, 2009 Measurement & Strategy practice
 Best practices:
Competitive benchmarking, share of voice

Source: Weber Shandwick

Slide 9 -- October 31, 2009 Measurement & Strategy practice
 Best practices:
Linking media value to outcomes (sample #1)

Source: “Exploring the Link Between Share of

Slide 10 -- October 31, 2009 Media Coverage and Business Outcomes,”
Institute for Public Relations, April 2007
 Best practices:
Linking media value to outcomes (sample #2)

Source: “Exploring the Link Between Share of

Slide 11 -- October 31, 2009 Media Coverage and Business Outcomes,”
Institute for Public Relations, April 2007
 New ideas:
Uniting earned and paid media evaluation

Slide 12 -- October 31, 2009 Source: VMS Integrated Media Intelligence system
 New ideas:
Re-framing the measurement conversation

activities reach relevance outcomes worth

What activities Did you reach Were you What business What is the
were performed your audience? relevant to your results did you estimated dollar
to achieve How many audience? Were achieve? value of your
results? impressions, you credible? Awareness? communication
web visits, Did your ideas Reputation? efforts? What
reports, and messages Engagement? was the ROI?
attendees, etc. resonate? Did Leads? Sales?
were you drive Loyalty?
generated? conversation? Advocacy?

Resonates with Resonates with Resonates with Resonates with Resonates with
communications communications communications CMO + sales + C-level execs,
executives + marketing + marketing + business dev. + including CMO,
executives sales executives executive team CFO and CEO

Source: Weber Shandwick Measurement &

Slide 13 -- October 31, 2009 Strategy practice, “ARROW” measurement model
 New ideas:
Collecting data from multiple sources

Media Media Web Keyword

Analysis Analysis Analytics Analysis
(traditional) (social) (site) (search)

WOM Brand Customer Employee

Analysis Tracking Satisfaction Satisfaction
(surveys) (surveys) (surveys) (surveys)

Lead Gen Events & Analyst Data & Ind. Awards

& Sales data DM data Reports & Scorecards
(CRM) (CRM) (third party) (third party)

Source: Weber Shandwick Measurement & Strategy practice –

Slide 14 -- October 31, 2009 ARROW Measurement Suite, February 2009
 New ideas:
Deploying integrated dashboards (light view)

Source: Weber Shandwick Measurement &

Slide 15 -- October 31, 2009 Strategy practice, “ARROW” measurement model
 New ideas:
Deploying integrated dashboards (full view)

Source: Weber Shandwick Measurement &

Slide 16 -- October 31, 2009 Strategy practice, “ARROW” measurement model
 Best practices:
Leveraging digital, social and search data

measures: Assess how content is accessed, shared,

adapted, amplified across various sites and media properties
measures: Assess the volume, engagement, sentiment
and reach of content shared via the web.
measures: Assess the paid and organic search rankings for
company content, brands and keyword associations
measures: Assess the volume, engagement, feedback and
reach of content shared via company’s web properties
measures: Analyze volume, content, sentiment
of conversations about company/brands across sites, media
measures: Assess audience, reach and “touch
points” of company content/conversations across sites, media
• Outcome measures: Assess how the content, conversation
and community measures correlate with desired outcomes

Source: Weber Shandwick Measurement & Strategy

Slide 17 -- October 31, 2009 practice, “Inline” measurement framework
 Best practice:
Tracking WOM conversation volume, quality
Low Volume / High Quality High Volume / High Quality

Nationwide

Prudential

Industry
All State Average
Quality of Advocacy (%)

State Farm

Metric Score Industry

Share of Conversation 10% 4%
Net Favorability -62% 18%
Net Recommendation -24% 29%
Propensity to Relay 31% 50%

AIG

Low Volume / Low Quality High Volume / Low Quality

Share of Conversation (%)

Source: Weber Shandwick Measurement & Strategy analysis,

Slide 18 -- October 31, 2009 based on Keller Fay TalkTrackTM survey data Jan’08-Dec’08
 New ideas:
Analyzing Advocacy “hubs” of influence
“Inside” Advocacy Sources
DAY-TO-DAY HUB
Who in their personal or work lives does
your audience trust for information and
advice?
Who in turn do they contact and
influence?
What groups, clubs or networks
(online or offline) does your
audience turn to for information
and advice?
Who do they in turn communicate with?
SOCIAL HUB
Slide 19 -- October 31, 2009 Source: Weber Shandwick & KRC Research
“Outside” Advocacy Sources
EXPERT HUB
What kinds of experts (specific people,
categories of people, or specialized
publications) does your audience
seek out when they want information
and advice?
How does this contribute to their
decision-making?
What brands, celebrities or
cultural trends have caught
the attention of your audience
and are most influential in
their decision-making?
MEGA HUB
 New ideas:
Analyzing non-linear influence patterns
“Inside” Advocacy Sources “Outside” Advocacy Sources
DAY-TO-DAY HUB EXPERT HUB
Experts Sales Trade show
Home E-mail
Reps
Telephone
Podcasts Customer
Service
Work Vertical
place Business Media Lifestyle
SMS Media
Media
Pundits
Mobile Brand
WOM Authors
Phone Website

Social Blogs Branded

Celebrity
Organizations Entertainment

Community Search VOD Print

Direct
Groups Mail
Cable
Social Clubs Social Broadcast Television
Networks Television Branded
Opinion Sites
Radio Applications
Business
Internet TV
Organizations
ARG’s Video games

SOCIAL HUB MEGA HUB

Slide 20 -- October 31, 2009 Source: Weber Shandwick & KRC Research
 Other best practices

• Assess change in Attitudes or Behaviors

“Pre” and “post”
• Assess change in Awareness, Consideration
surveys
• Identify impact of programs on audience

• Treasury “GoDirect” example: Four-state pilot

“Test” and “control”
showed big PR impact over non-PR markets,
studies
led to $21M PR investment (saved $210M)

“Reputation” and • Specialized surveys and scorecards

“risk” measurement • Tracking to understand reputation, risk drivers

• In-depth quantitative modeling to isolate the

Marketing mix
“contribution” of discrete marketing functions
analysis
and/or programs to business results

Slide 21 -- October 31, 2009 Source: Weber Shandwick & KRC Research
 Best practices:
The “Magic Number”

10-15%
• Without appropriate measurement, you can’t truly gauge
success, focus resources on what works, adjust plans if
they don’t work, get more budget or engage executives
• Investing 10-15% makes the other 85-90% work harder

Slide 22 -- October 31, 2009

 Thank You!!!

Email:
tmarklein@webershandwick.com

Blog:
www.allaboutadvocacy.com

Twitter:
tmarklein

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