March
28, 2003
Ask The
Experts
Measurement
During Difficult Times
Seven
experts advise on accounting for extraordinary external events in your
ongoing measurement program.
The Measurement
Standard thanks the esteemed members of the IPR Commission on Measurement
and Evaluation for their time and effort. (Read their in-depth profiles
at www.instituteforpr.com.
Katie Delahaye Paine, publisher of The Measurement Standard,
is Chair of the IPR Commission on Measurement and Evaluation.)
We enjoy hearing from any readers who wish to provide their own answers
or comment on the question at hand. Please write to The
Editor.
The Question:
We know
that during times of war or political upheaval there is less room for
soft news, so clip counts for many companies tend to go down. What is
a diligent communicator to do when they have to account for factors
outside of their control? We asked the experts...
The Answers:
From: Forrest
Anderson
Vice President, Applied Communications Group
Factors
such as a potential war are outside of everyone's control. So the
question is: What is your relative media strength against your competitors
or what share do you maintain of the media discussions or topics that
are important to your company? The overall amount of coverage on any
industry (except, perhaps, those related to supplying the government
with materials and services) likely will go down in a time of national
emergency. No company can control that. What they can and should try
to control is their share of coverage.
From: Don
Bates, APR
Managing Director, Marketing and New Media
Media Distribution Services
I have
no clue how to answer this inquiry. Reminds me of the question, "How
many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" But I'll offer an
opinion. To wit: You can't factor in "factors outside your control"
because they're outside your control—and I don't mean to be flip.
In this
instance, I would think you have two choices: 1) Proceed with your
research and cast the findings in the context of the current environment,
which is what you would do under any circumstances, or 2) Don't proceed
with the research until the circumstances that are troubling you pass.
From: Dennis
Bender
Vice President of Communications
Habitat for Humanity International
I believe
you just have to roll with the waves. I don't think a conscientious
practitioner should downplay an especially high clip count "because
it was a slow news month, nationally." Conversely, excuses should
not be offered for light results. Our job is to make our messages
newsworthy, regardless of what else is competing for the budget (news
hole).
From: You
Mon Tsang
CEO, Biz360
1. Focus
on Metrics that Account for Changes in Coverage Volatility
There will always be external issues and events beyond your control,
so your measurement program should include metrics that don't depend
on coverage volume, such as Mindshare. Mindshare is a percentage breakdown
of your coverage compared to your competitors. If an external event
causes a decrease in coverage of your market, your Mindshare will
remain consistent as long as your competitors are experiencing the
same decline in coverage as your company.
2. Beef
Up Your Journalist Research
Monitor the stories of your target journalists closely to find
out who is changing paths and who is moving forward with business
as usual. To maximize coverage, focus your time on the journalists
who will give you ink. This will also help you use your time—and
the journalists' time—more efficiently.
3. Leverage
Customers Linked to External Events
Dig for customer stories that relate to external events. The only
way to get coverage from journalists focused on a topic of national
interest is to pitch that journalist stories related to the topic.
4. Always
Manage Expectations
The results of any measurement program will be significant in
one of two ways: They will either meet expectations or fail to meet
expectations. Explain to executives the impact you expect from a major
external event, but always be sure to discuss the steps you're taking
to maximize coverage. Recommend temporary changes or additions to
weekly or monthly reports to help keep your department's success in
perspective.
5. Plan
Ahead
Prepare a process document outlining how your department will
deal with external events and issues and seek executive approval now.
6. Be
Realistic
During 9/11 we all stopped issuing releases and focused our energies
on world problems. It's ok to recommend to your executives that your
company suspend PR efforts for a brief time.
From: Matthew
P. Gonring
Vice President, Rockwell Automation
Training
corporate representatives to have a sensitive ear to emerging issues
around the globe is important. The goal is to be anticipatory, complementing
internal sensing with external monitoring can limit the number of
surprises a company faces. Prioritizing and assessing the implications/ramifications
of actions and behaviors is an ongoing process.
From: Bruce
Jeffries-Fox
Jeffries-Fox Associates
A lot
of factors outside your control can be accounted for by measuring
your competitors as well as yourself. This produces metrics such as
share of discussion. Presumably the same uncontrollable factors are
impacting your competitors as well. For instance, the consumer electronics
retailing industry had a terrible Christmas selling season due to
consumers pulling back (caused by a combination of a poor economy
and war concerns). It definitely impacted their measurement systems,
but it's reasonable to assume that these meta-factors impacted all
competitors' measurements equally. So focusing on relative position
can be quite useful. This obviously won't handle ALL external contingencies,
but it will handle many.
From: Mark
Weiner
Chief Executive Officer
Delahaye Medialink Worldwide
Unfortunately,
communicators who rely solely on clip count, circulation and ad equivalency
tabulations to prove the value of their PR programs will face difficulties,
as volume will certainly decrease when external events are significant.
What is missing from even sophisticated tabulation services is the
context that comes only with expert interpretive analysis. Charts
and graphs alone give an incomplete indication of what happened; interpretive
analysis and strategic guidance by research-based consultants provide
a more complete answer to why it happened and what can be done as
a result.
Beyond
proving value, the other major reason why PR professionals use research
is to gather intelligence in order to do a better job when setting
objectives, developing strategy and staying on track over time, versus
objectives and competitors and in light of best-practice. Clip volumes
have almost no effect in this context, as objectives and strategies
should be developed in advance to account for the external environment.
That
being said, a communications professional can still demonstrate that
their PR program either met or beat the objectives, because these
same objectives will have already been adjusted downward. 
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Don Bartholomew
