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Measurement Tips

(This article is reprinted from the January 18, 2006 issue)

How PR Agencies
Are Using Measurement
to Win Clients, Grow Budgets
and Make Better Strategic Decisions

by Katie Delahaye Paine

For years, most PR agencies only tackled the subject of measurement if a client forced them to, or unless they had a big internal champion very high up in the organization. I've seen them actually try to kill research because it takes money away from their activity budgets.

The good news is that agencies are starting to see the light, especially in the US. Agencies can't play ostrich any longer and bury their heads every time measurement is mentioned. Clients are demanding it, in part to justify the fees they're being charged. The smarter agency folks realize that if you measure results, you know what works and what doesn't work and basing decisions on data is a heck of a lot easier than arguing a point to the client based on your gut instinct.

(At KDPaine & Partners, we have been deluged with calls inquiring about our DIY Dashboard from everybody from one-person shops to top ten mega-agencies.)

The fox guarding the hen house?
We've argued for years that agencies should not measure their own results -- that's the fox guarding the chicken coop. The temptation is too great for them to make some scientifically unsubstantiated and self-serving effort, like AVEs, or to (consciously or unconsciously) fudge the results in their own favor.

Jim Macnamara, CEO of CARMA International (Asia Pacific), says: "The worst kind of measurement surely has to be when someone is evaluating their own work, particularly if it is not only what they supervise, but their actual ideas. There can be no objectivity. There is, in fact, an inbuilt bias."

Having recognized this, however, we realize that not all agencies and/or clients can afford to farm out their research. And some agencies do do honest and excellent measurement. So we thought we would share some of the better approaches we've seen.

First, some background
To get started, here's a little background in the form of a couple of Measurement Standard articles on agencies and measurement, a little dated now (they are from 2002) but still informative: How to Choose and Work With a Measurement-Savvy Agency, and our Buyers Guide that reviews and rates seven top agencies.

Agencies that really measure up
Greg Jarboe and Jamie O'Donnell's agency, SEO-PR, probably has the most developed measurement of any agency we've seen. After they optimize a press release for clients, they track Web traffic in various ways:

• Ticket sales for client Southwest Airlines (see this article),
• Application requests for a university client, and
• Web traffic and Web site sales for other clients.

And then there are the agencies like Edelman and Text 100 who have decided to go their own way and invent proprietary measurement systems that they offer their clients. While we applaud their efforts, we want to say very loudly and clearly to all the agencies out there that are struggling to develop their own systems: You don't need to work that hard. The tools are here, they're available and they're affordable. (KDPaine & Partners' DIY Dashboard is one example.)

The standardized metrics approach
As a general rule, I recommend that agencies establish a standard set of metrics that define success for all clients agency-wide. Then, as each program develops it will need its own set of specific parameters, but the overall structure of the measurement program stays the same.

So, for example, KDPaine & Partners developed a customized set of about 20 different charts and metrics for Kaplow Communications in New York. Whenever they add a new client, we can easily set up a new set of charts with client-specific subjects, spokespeople, messages, etc. We designed a dashboard for them based on those charts. The dashboard can be instantly generated at any time with just a couple of key strokes, so anyone in the agency can see the results in real time -- all that's needed is an Internet connection. And because it's an on-line application, the analysis and coding can be done from home or on the road or anywhere the analyst happens to be.

A tip on how to handle the cost of clips
For smaller agencies, the challenge is almost always in getting the clips that are needed to make the analysis worthwhile. At $3 a clip or thereabouts, most of the measurement dollars go into clipping, leaving little left over for analysis. Unless, of course, you do a daily Google News search on the client and key competitors. While it can take up to an hour or so out of the day, it's still probably cheaper than the cost of a standard clipping service or on-line news provider (e.g. Factiva).

One of our clients provided a comprehensive electronic clip book based on Google News. As each article was reviewed for inclusion, it was also added into the DIY Dashboard database, so at the end of each week or each month, they could present the client with a month's or a quarter's worth of data in charts and graphs.

This approach, of course, assumes that the client is defining success in terms of media "hits" -- arguably not as meaningful a number as sales, market share, or even Web traffic. But it's a start.

You know you need to measure your results, but chances are there’s never been enough money in your budget for evaluation. Until now.
KDPaine & Partners’ new Do-It-Yourself Dashboard system combines a Web-based application with professional consulting to enable PR professionals to customize their own PR dashboards. Look here for more information.

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.

Click here to
subscribe now!
(It’s 100%
money-back guaranteed!)

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603-868-1550 fax: 603-868-3346 www.measuresofsuccess.com