Author: AMEC Asia-Pacific member, Deb Camden

Like my fellow AMEC members, I’ve been gripped by the data that has defined communication during the devastating COVID19 global pandemic. Bell curves being modelled and flattened. Bar charts being updated daily, and even hourly, tracking new cases, recoveries and heartbreaking deaths.

While COVID19 has struck panic and fear into many, data, charts and clear communication are providing comfort to people in their loungerooms and online trying to understand the impact of the crisis.

And while the data has captured a frightening reality, it has engaged people of all ages and backgrounds in far-flung communities and countries who have been looking for meaning beyond the numbers; searching for insights to make sense of the alarming news coverage. Intuitively, they have become advocates for measurement and evaluation.

So, what could COVID19 mean as a disruptor for public relations professionals and communicators? Could it be the profession’s big “AHA” moment – when we finally embrace the opportunity and the need to prove our value?

These burning questions from Australian PR professionals shaped the challenging agenda for AMEC’s Global Managing Director, Johna Burke, as guest panelist for an industry webinar hosted recently by the Public Relations Institute of Australia.

Along with Robert Hoge, Head of Marketing, Communications, Digital engagement and Media at Queensland Health, and myself as moderator, we explored how PR can be adding value during the crisis; where to start measuring if you aren’t already; what you could be measuring and keys to successfully embracing a measurement mindset.

Even though time zone differences meant it was case of “up late with Johna”, her insights came thick, fast and with razor-sharp clarity. Here are some of her gems.

Gem #1: Data is the science of communications.

COVID has changed the way people think about data and measurement and evaluation. The benefit is that data is the science of communications. So those people who have a program or who don’t have a program should be seizing this opportunity to leverage data to give added credibility to the programs they have in place.

Gem #2: Insights aren’t magic. They need data.

People want insights but the insights aren’t magic. They need data.

If you’re bringing insights, you’ll be an invaluable player and moving forward the absolute “go to” for strategy, reputation and for value to your organisation. But you have to have the confidence to wade in and to know that you’re capturing, looking and evaluating data that is meaningful to your organisation.

For people who are struggling and don’t have the data to back up their strategies, there is no better time than right now to put together a solid plan to understand why you do what you do for your organisation and to measure the value of that.

Gem #3: Make the CFO your best friend.

When you’re trying to show efficiency and value in your data, your CFO will have someone in that team to model the data so you can start to see when you have a trend; when you have a campaign, you can see what’s being affected; and that’s going to make you a lot more powerful because you’re offering insights.

When our work is done well, it’s cost-effective and an efficient and smart way for an organisation to work and the CFO will be one of your greatest advocates.

Gem #4: This is the time when communications and PR will have a much bigger and broader data stack to talk about.

The current crisis is the biggest opportunity for PR specifically to be able to differentiate reputation and some of those insights against some of the other elements within communication because this is the time where communications and PR will have a much bigger and broader data stack to talk about; exploring the elements that are influencing their stakeholders and understanding the shifts in their customers’ journeys.

Gem #5: Don’t get caught up in the tools.

When we talk about success we should be talking about goals, initiatives and efforts. That’s the critical piece – understanding what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

Gem #6: It costs nothing to be smart.

Being aligned to a strategy  – understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing, who’s going to be impacted, who’s going to help, and what success looks like –  is the absolute key. It costs nothing to be smart about how you’re strategising.

Gem #7: Communicators are essential workers.

Even though you’ll never see it in government documents, communicators are essential workers. The reality is that in organisations communications has never been more essential.

Johna closed by sharing the wealth of free resources AMEC has developed to support PR professionals in our journey towards best practice – the M3 Measurement Maturity Mapper, the Integrated Evaluation Framework and newly-released Planning Primer. At the end of our one-hour webinar, I felt proud to be an AMEC member and humbled to think of myself as an essential worker contributing value to our organisations through insights made possible through dedication to measurement and evaluation.

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Deb Camden is Founder of The Communication Dividend.