Thou Shalt Learn to Measure... or Else!

There is much talk within PR about measurement. Some people might say there is too much talk – entire conferences and online resources are devoted to the subject. A few trade journals devote endless amount of editorial space to pondering the subject of measurement, writing about it with such awe and mystery that it seems on par with the Kabbalah in its complexities and mysteries. There are even a number of characters running around the industry that claim to be specialists in this subject – and I use the word “characters” without irony because these people are making a nice living telling their peers the most obvious information imaginable.

What is “measurement”? The definition, truth be told, is painfully simple. PR measurement is simply trying to keep track of the quality of the PR work and its quantifiable returns. Notice I said “quality of the PR work” rather than “quality and quantity.” Quality and quantity, as any honest PR expert will confirm, are not synonymous. A PR campaign can generate hundreds of news clippings, but if they don’t bring about the desired results then they simply represent an excess of valueless ink.

How serious is this issue? If you believe some people, it is on par with global warming. I’ve waded through the numerous articles, blogs and conference sessions devoted solely to making sense of measurement, and the subject is viewed with an acute seriousness that you’d think the fate of the industry depended on the ability to measure PR activity.

To be frank and cruel, measurement is PR 101. Or maybe it’s PR 050, considering its focus is still heavily skewered on media relations (which, as we will see later in this book, is only part of the PR puzzle – and, as the new PR evolves, it becomes a relatively smaller one). But to amuse those who need to be comforted on the subject, here are some of the main concerns relating to measurement:

• Keeping track of media coverage is too easy. There is no shortage of clipping services, monitoring services and search engines that can keep you updated on the latest coverage relating to your current PR project. None of them are infallible, but on the whole they do a fine job and usually catch most of the coverage that’s out there.
• You can confirm the quality of your measured success by synchronizing it with recorded sales activity, web traffic, stock activity and/or consumer or B2B inquiries that occur the moment your PR efforts take off. This is really too easy, though many PR “experts” insist it is extremely difficult. It is difficult only if the PR person doesn’t ask the sales people and webmasters to keep track of activity relating to a particular PR happening or news event. Honestly, is it difficult to piece together product sales levels, web traffic, telephone inquiries or the audience turnout for a special event after a PR-related story or promotion occurs? And if the company in question is publicly-traded, how difficult is it to keep track of stock activity after corporate-related news is set loose into the information stream?
• Fudging the truth on the quality of coverage. This happens too frequently on the agency side of PR, when the guns-for-hire have to explain the lack of high-profile coverage. The answer is to play up insignificant coverage and pretend it is something special. Measurement gets skewered when activity reports are thick with “hits” coming from low-power TV and radio stations and publications in second- or third-tier markets. Again, quantity is being substituted for quality – and if the level of attention isn’t met with a level of activity resulted from the attention, then the perception of PR’s ability suffers accordingly.

From a personal perspective: I never had an issue with measurement, nor did I wind up in situations where I could not provide an accurate measurement of how the PR effort aided the corporate goals. I have problems fathoming how PR professionals are flummoxed when they are required to present a detailed measurement of their work. In the new PR environment, those who cannot measure the effectiveness of their work will be out of work – and rightfully so.

(Phil Hall is the former president of Open City Communications, a New York PR agency, and former editor of PR News. His latest book "The New PR" will be released later this year from Larstan Publishing.)