7 tips for better PR measurement – Info PR

Measurement is a hot topic in the public relations industry.

Often, it can be hard to see if a message has been truly disseminated,
absorbed or actioned. However, there are steps you can take to improve your
measurement process..

Organizations such as Association for Measurement and Evaluation of
Communication (AMEC), Public Relations and Communications Association
(PRCA) and Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) all have
different methodologies, guides and ideas for measurement.

Here are seven tips to consider:

1. Ensure your measurement process suits what you do.

Every client is different. Every agency is different. Everyone's
measurement process is going to differ slightly, too.

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You must find a process that fits your communications activities, clients
and outcomes. A great place to start is the AMEC framework, which will
ensure that you have a consistent approach to measurement allowing you to
plan and measure in an appropriate manner.

Check out its

interactive tool here.

2. Quantity will not make up for quality.

In setting communications objectives, you need to determine what success
looks like to you. Consider your target audience, key messages and target
outlets and ensure that all activity is focused there, rather than taking a
shotgun approach and sending your media release to every contact on your
list.

Consider this in your evaluation process, too, and look at where you added
value or made an impact rather than how much work you did.

3.

Communications objectives must align with business objectives.

If communications activity isn't contributing in some way to overall
business goals, why are you doing it? Whether it's to drive more people to
your website to help increase sales, to position you or your client as a
thought leader to win more business or showcasing a new widget, your
efforts must help the bottom line.

This is the firm belief of Alex Aiken, Executive Director for Government
Communications, who spoke at a recent PR Moment analytics seminar. He
explained that starting with objectives that are closely tied to your
business plan will ensure you are communicating effectively and
subsequently evaluating what actually matters.

4. You can't measure everything—and you shouldn't.

What metrics matter to your business? What are your target publications?
What audience are you trying to reach? Develop a set of ley performance
indicators (KPIs) that matter to you or your client and center evaluation
and measurement activity around them.

5. Look at what hasn't worked.

Not everything will have gone to plan or been as big a success as
predicted. Looking at where you have been least successful—and
investigating why—is perhaps the most valuable part of the
evaluation process as you can ensure that you don't make the same mistakes
again.

6. All measurement should have an action attached to it.

Whether successful or not, determining your next steps from your evaluation
plan is essential.

Has your activity been a success and can it be a model for future work?
Perhaps you didn't get the coverage you wanted and need to determine new
ways of reaching your audience. Whatever the results of your evaluation
process, you should take away a set of actions to help you improve and
succeed.

7. Don't just count things; measure what matters.

With a whole host of data now at our fingertips, it's easy to gather and
count—but just counting pieces of coverage, new social media followers or
attendees at an event doesn't tell you what the impact of your work is.
Instead, think of the outcomes. AMEC defines outcomes as “the
effects that your communication had on your target audiences that align to
your objectives.”

Arianne Williams is an Account Manager at Exeter-based communications
agency, KOR Communications. A version of this article originally
appeared on
the KOR Communications blog.

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