July 30th, 2003

The Paine of Measurement

The Numbers Games
Both PR and baseball demand
the right stats for success.

Never did I imagine that I'd be advocating the study of baseball for its relevance to public relations. Yes, that's right, I said baseball—not a crystal ball, not a Magic Eight Ball, but the sport of baseball. I tend to steer clear of sports analogies because, invariably, a large percentage of the readership doesn't understand them.

Batter up.
This all started when I heard a National Public Radio interview with Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (W.W. Norton & Company). The book is about Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A's baseball team. (Visit this page for a review of the book and this page to buy it.) Beane, whose budget was much smaller than his competitors', was faced with the challenge of building a winning team without paying the big bucks. (Is this starting to sound relevant to anything in PR?)

Get on base.
Baseball has long been known as a game that is won by the team that can buy the best players. But Beane has broken this deep pockets' winning streak with an innovative strategy. He didn't whine. Nor did he go for gimmicks. He did what most baseball fanatics do: He started looking at the stats. (Visit this page for a primer on the study of baseball statistics.) And the more he dug into the stats, the more he became convinced that the vast majority of baseball experts were looking at the wrong numbers. (Kind of like all those PR people who are still using AVEs to measure results.)

Because the focus was on ERAs and paying exorbitant sums for the players who racked them up, many winning players (in terms of statistics other than ERAs) were being overlooked. And because they didn't have the big numbers, they could be bought for less money. The end result is that the A's paid less per player and less per win than any other team in the majors—and almost won the World Series.

Slide into home plate.
The relevant lesson is that research and measurement isn't about justifying your existence and it isn't about focusing on the one big number that everyone else is watching. Research is about focusing on the right numbers for your situation and digging into the data to learn the lessons that are there just waiting to be discovered. Give up those big AVEs! And take a closer look at Cost per Base Hit, e.g., Cost per Message Communicated or Cost per Minute Spent with Prospect. Then you, too, can take on bigger, better-funded competitors—and come out the winner!

New articles
in this issue:

Articles with red arrows require a subscription:

Is Your Budget (or Boss) Too Tight for Measurement?

Katie Paine’s All-Time Biggest Measurement Mistakes, Part 2

Case Study: GNC Supplements New Year's Coverage

The Measurement Summit

Ask The Experts:
The Nike Non-Decision

Ask Dr. Paine:
How Do I Define My Intranet Success?

Articles with black arrows do not require a subscription:

How Are the Oakland A's Like PR Measurement?

Can the Dixie Chicks' Reputation Be Saved?

www.PR-education.org: Measurement Site of the Month

The Monthly Measurement Menace and Maven

The PR Weather Report

Measurement Events

Measurement Help Wanted

1. You’ll learn how to use hard numbers to prove the results of your PR efforts.

2. You’ll learn which are the right vendors for your measurement projects.

3. You’ll learn how to design your program right from the start to be easily measureable.

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Stock your reference library at the Measurement Mall, where you'll find books, Buyer’s Guides, Complete Handbooks and a selection of white papers.
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Struggling to set up your measurement system?
Katie Delahaye Paine can help you at measuresofsuccess.com

51 Durham Point Road, Durham, NH 03824
603-868-1550 fax: 603-868-3346 www.measuresofsuccess.com