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8 Traps to Avoid in PR Measurement

PRNews recently released its 2006 Best Practices Guide in PR Measurement.  The grouping of articles is described as a "one-of-a-kind guidebook that will equip you with the knowledge, tactics and workable strategies to measure your PR initiatives."  The book is full of insights, and as you would expect, best practices, from heavy hitters such as Bruce Jeffries-Fox, Katie Paine, and Frank Ovaitt.  Cymfony's Julie Woods authored a piece entitled "8 Traps to Avoid in PR Measurement." 

"Good measurement is dependent on two key criteria: valid data collection and relevant reporting"

At Cymfony, we believe there are eight common traps you should avoid when starting a new measurement program or to begin to evolve your existing program.  (I'll highlight them here but save the details for the full piece): 

1.)  Not doing a media audit or assessment before starting a measurement program.

2.)  Not defining standard metrics across your organization.

3.)  Limiting metrics and analysis to small number of key pubs or simple messages.

4.)  Treating all mention s equally.

5.) Not slicing metrics by different audience segments.

6.)  Delayed measurement and reporting.

7.) Not taking blogs and online discussions seriously.

8.) Not demonstrating your success, often. 

"PR measurement is no longer a nice-to-have line item in most PR budgets.  Its now a critical requirement for demonstrating the impact of PR on corporate objectives and managing a company's most important asset - its reputation.  While some people were initially skeptical of the benefits of measurement a few years ago, most agreed that a valuable outcome would be the ability to demonstrate the tangible benefits of PR such as increased media coverage in key regions or markets that could be tied to increased leads and revenue."

The good news?  Most measurement issues are avoided through good planning and communications. 

Posted by Jim Nail on January 24, 2006 at 09:07 AM | Email this post Permalink

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Comments

I would propose a ninth trap:

"9. Focusing only on outputs and not outcomes"

Most of the eight traps apply to measuring PR outputs - the amount of exposure an organisation receives. More important is to measure PR outcomes - did the PR activities result in any opinion, attitude or behaviour change amongst the targeted audiences?

This is an accepted standard for PR professionals and scholars, for more information consult the "Guidelines and Standards for Measuring the Effectiveness of PR programs and activities" of the Institute for PR:

http://www.instituteforpr.org/measurement_and_evaluation.phtml?article_id=2003_guide_pr_effectiveness

Posted by: Glenn O'Neil | Feb 10, 2006 8:34:38 AM

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