4 New Year’s resolutions for making PR measurement big in 2020

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Simon Gebauer, CCO »OBSERVER« GmbH Medienbeobachtung & Analyse
AMEC Full Member Board Director and AMEC European Chapter Vice-Chair

We are only a few weeks into the new decade and if you still haven’t broken one of your New Year’s resolutions, good luck. According to a study by the University of Minnesota 25 percent of people will have failed their targets by February. At the end of the year only 10 percent will have managed to achieve their goals[1]. Some common reasons why most resolutions go down the hill before Valentine’s day are: the goals aren’t clear, people feel overwhelmed, discouraged or they are simply not ready for change. Sounds familiar to measurement professionals?

Here are 4 simple resolutions that will help media intelligence professionals to promote meaningful measurement throughout the year:

  1. Stop shouting, start listening

The key to this resolution will be listening, consulting and giving good guidance instead of hard selling when you are in a pitch for measurement investments. Don’t tell client’s what they need. Ask them what drives them and show them what solutions there are. Best of all: You will learn a lot more from listening to your client rather than ‘salesplaining’ the same story over and over.

  1. Quit using AVEs already

According to ICCO’s World PR Report 2020[2] AVEs are still the dominant PR measurement indicator in most parts of the world, except the UK and North America. Why? Because client’s expect it. In order to get rid of wrong expectations, the AVE reduction plan requires a lot of awareness raising and the promotion of more meaningful evaluation techniques. This is a tough one, but persistency will pay off.

  1. Digital diet

The PRstack project[3] counts more than 250 PR tools alone. And – with big data in the bag and quantum computing in sight – the market of tools that will tackle all that data is growing fast and sometimes aggressively. But which tools make sense? What technology helps to measure real outcomes and not only dull numbers? The digital health plan is about understanding how such tools work and identifying the ones that are suitable for being integrated in the measurement process. Hint: It might help to keep in mind that no tool can replace the work and time that is necessary to understand the outcomes and learn from them. Only on that basis is it possible to make strategic decisions that will help an organization as a whole.

  1. Spend more time with your loved ones

Sounds easy. But when it comes to measurement investments one of the main challenges is to find the right person to talk to. The ICCO World PR Report asked 291 PR leaders, including 179 CEOs/ MDs/ Owners about areas in which they expect an increase in PR firms’ investment in 2020. The number one answer: Measurement and analytics.

So, who should you love?

Happy New Year!