It\u2019s no secret that evidencing PR outcomes to drive business objectives is vital. In an increasingly uncertain economic climate, comms professionals from all industries are under pressure to justify their budgets and prove the value of their activities and agency partnerships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The good news is that PR measurement is improving, assisted by a myriad of new tools and data availability that can be used to analyse campaigns\u2019 success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But not all measurement is equal, and the bad news is that a fresh wave of \u2018vanity\u2019 metrics has come crashing into the world of PR and communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vanity metrics are those that feel important but are ultimately superficial, or worse, deceptive. While some vanity metrics are important for benchmarking, such as traffic and unique visits, they shouldn\u2019t be mistaken for intelligence. In the big picture, vanity metrics actually hold you back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One example of a vanity metric is how many times a report or whitepaper has been downloaded. Sure, it\u2019s a great piece of data, but does it really mean anything to your business? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just because a site visitor downloads content doesn\u2019t mean they engaged with it, that it influenced their perception or prompted any action. What does that download actually deliver? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other vanity metric examples include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good metric that your PR team should focus their analysis on are those that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With technology now available to measure almost everything, it\u2019s easy to drown in data. There\u2019s no one-size-fits-all, and you need to identify what matters to you and ignore the noise and abundance of numbers that aren\u2019t helpful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The measurements you use to quantify success will differ from campaign to campaign. So, it\u2019s not as easy as saying focus on X, Y and Z. Instead, you need to approach each campaign and decide beforehand what metrics you will use to measure success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are three quick checks you can make to ensure you\u2019re opting for quality metrics rather than vanity metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You must decide what metrics will give you the data you need to take action before the campaign begins. It\u2019s easy to get swayed by beautiful-looking data, especially if the quantifiable metrics aren\u2019t looking quite as good, so having a list of metrics to focus on at the start, and sticking with them, is vital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every campaign should have an objective, so decide what metrics will help you prove that your efforts have met that objective. Say you\u2019re working for a brand that\u2019s targeting a niche audience, is a broad media hit as impactful as an article In a well-respected trade publication? The chances are the answer is no, so your metric here would be quality of coverage rather than quantity of coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Listen to senior management, your team and your clients (internal or external) and ask questions to help you decide what\u2019s important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good place to start is to ascertain the strategic goal. You may hear, for example, \u201cincrease share of voice\u201d \u2013 but why? Or, you might hear, \u201cwe want to put this message out on social media so people can see it\u201d \u2013 Again, why? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is the outcome you are trying to achieve? Is it to increase sales, prompt action or change perceptions? And how does that support the broader business objectives? How long do you have to achieve your mission? Information like this helps you decide what to measure and how, so ask as many questions as you can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take a look at the Barcelona Principles. These guidelines offer advice to help avoid vanity metrics and measure and evaluate communications activity in a meaningful and relevant manner. The principles include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By measuring what\u2019s important and continually validating procedures, the PR industry can leave vanity metrics and other meaningless measurements behind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there are no silver bullets when it comes to PR evaluation. Looking closely at your business goals is a crucial place to start while trying to ignore the noise from irrelevant or unnecessary data sources, and focusing on what works for your brand will keep you on track. Critically, measurement shouldn\u2019t be an end-point to your campaign but a learning tool to shape where you go from here and what you do next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AMEC\u2019s Integrated Evaluation Framework<\/span><\/a> is an educational tool which helps PR practitioners on their measurement journey, from planning and setting objectives through to where we measure and evaluate communications outcomes. Putting your organisation and its objectives first, the framework forges a path to not only output metrics, but also out-takes (what people now think) and outcomes (what people now do). Used by thousands of organisations and now taught in universities, the framework helps one to understand the metrics that matter \u2013 those insights that will actually help an organisation know how well its PR is doing and what it is delivering. Find out more with CARMA Co-Managing Partner and AMEC Chairman, Richard Bagnall, here<\/span><\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s no secret that evidencing PR outcomes to drive business objectives is vital. In an increasingly uncertain economic climate, comms professionals from all industries are under pressure to justify their budgets and prove the value of their activities and agency partnerships. The good news is that PR measurement is improving, assisted by a myriad of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":3145,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[330],"the_measurement_standard":[340],"creator":[],"class_list":["post-3085","tms","type-tms","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-pr-measurement-evaluation","the_measurement_standard-pr-measurement-evaluation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n