Is Media Measurement Dead?
Maybe Not: Here Are Six Ways
to Check the Pulse
of Your Own Measurement System

By Katharine Delahaye Paine

The statistics are pretty depressing. Three out of four marketing executives say that they cannot measure the return on investment of their marketing campaigns, that’s according to a study released last fall by Accenture. Another study, conducted for PR Week by Delahaye Medialink revealed that 21% of PR executives can’t or don’t measure their results (PRWeek, April 1, 2002). Other than justification for launching a publication about measurement, these statistics point out an important trend in corporate America: A growing realization that measuring print media placements is, as they say, “soooo 1999.”

The reality is that although the media environment has changed substantially in the last few years, few companies seem to have realized it when it comes to measuring results. How can you tell if your own measurement system is breathing its last? Look for these six sure signs of imminent demise:

1. Management asks how many “hits in the business press” you’re getting.
   
   In reality, fewer and fewer people are getting their news from the business press. According to the Pew Internet Project, the Internet can now be accessed by 70% of all Americans, and the most frequent use after email is getting the news. There’s nary a “business decision maker” who will admit to not being online, and the majority of those say that they spend time reading the news online. Among Internet users, 20% say they are spending less time reading newspapers. If you’re not looking at other sources of news, your program needs immediate resusitation.
   
   
2. Management wants to know why they’re not on the front page.
   
   Your response should be: “Which edition?” The New York Times updates its front page online up to nine times a day. And increasingly, people are turning to online editions of publications for the most up-to-the-minute news. If you are not currently monitoring online editions, your measurement program is on its way to the morgue.
   
   
3. You’re measuring column inches and not content.
   
   As they say, quality is more important than quantity. It is far more important to know what your audience is seeing about you than how long the piece is. If you’re not checking content to see how you’re being positioned, whether your brand benefits are being communicated, and how you’re being portrayed vis à vis the competition, your program needs more than a makeover, it needs life support.
   
   
4. Radio isn’t part of your marketing mix.
   
   Virtually all Americans listen to the radio sometime during the day. Yet this is still one of the least used—and least measured—segments of the PR mix. Did you know that more people get their news from National Public Radio than they do from Katie Couric or any of the other morning television shows? (According to a speech given by Nina Tottenberg to an NPR meeting.) And NPR is surprisingly easy to monitor. Its transcripts are included in most news databases such as LexisNexis™ and Factiva. Where else in this day and age can you capture someone’s ear, undisturbed, for hours at a time?
   
   
5. You think that “trade press” means getting something printed on paper.
   
   Virtually every trade magazine now has an online version, and, in an era when consumers are increasingly using the Internet to make purchase decisions, if you’re not monitoring those online editions, you’re clueless as to what your consumers are seeing.
   
   
6. You think the media is all-important.
   
   Get over it or pull the plug. What’s far more important to today’s consumers is what other consumers think. They want to know what other people’s experience with your brand has been, so they go online to chat in UseNet discussion groups, list serves, and email. If you’re not monitoring Internet chat, your measurement program is vitality-impaired. Prep for surgery, stat.