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International association for the measurement and evaluation of communication
Non-profit organizations are critical to a well-functioning society. Without profit and shareholder value as the primary drivers, they are often in a position to make the world truly a better place.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of the great ones and they have contributed to some of the most defining moments of my measurement career.
This Guide is about how to make communications most effective in a non-profit organization through better measurement. It is not just about proving value, but smarter decision-making on investments to enable an organization to better fulfill its mission.
There are a number of initiatives of which I am particularly proud relative to my involvement with AMEC. Yet, the creation of the Non-Profit Group at the Summit in Madrid in 2013 is my proudest achievement.
The logical outcome of that important development is this Guide, and a manifestation of AMEC’s role in driving better measurement in the organizations that champion some of the world’s great causes; children’s welfare, health, natural resources, the environment and sustainability, and medical research.
We hope you will find the Guide as valuable and instructive a resource as we enjoyed its planning and creation.
Former Chairman of AMEC, and Partner/CEO, Ketchum Global Research and Analytics
Communications measurement for Non-Profit organisations: what it is, why it’s important and why it is an important communications investment
Have you ever had a moment in your life where someone just wasn’t taking you seriously? Remember that sinking feeling you got in the pit of your stomach when you realised that they might be nodding and making the right noises, but you know they’ve already dismissed the importance of what you have to say?
That’s the same feeling communications professionals have had for years when talking to the executive of their organisation. As a discipline, we’ve relied too much on the luck of the draw – having a senior leader who intuitively ‘gets’ that PR is important, and is therefore prepared to invest in it and listen to it.
But that really isn’t going to cut it any longer. If the last hundred years was defined as the century of silicon, then the 21st century will surely be the defined as the data century. Take, for example, the fact that 90 percent of all human data has been created in the last two years.
Large-scale data is revolutionising everything from medicine to transport. In many ways it is a democratising factor and is levelling a playing field previously stacked in favour of the big guys.
And it’s bringing with it new opportunities to measure the impact that we have on the world. Data analysis – previously only available to multinationals spending tens of millions a year on complex models or information gathering – is now available for free, or at low cost online. Using tools like Google analytics you can see in real time the impact your communications are having – on sales, information distribution, engagement and activation.
If you couple this with a common-sense approach to defining communications objectives in terms of business objectives, Non-Profits have a huge opportunity to change the nature of the conversations happening within their organisation and to demonstrate the true value of PR.
The key around defining great objectives is to get ‘under the hood’ of what you’re trying to achieve and think about how you can measure the end result, rather than just the communication message and channel. For example, one story that has stuck with me was some communicators who were tasked with improving the rate of hand washing within a hospital.
They sat down and thought how they were going to measure their success. In the end they didn’t measure the number of emails they sent or posters they put up. They didn’t measure people’s recall of the campaign, or do a perception survey on it. They simply measured the amount of liquid soap the hospital used and tied it back to what they did when. Simple. Effective. Focused on the business result. And very low cost.
All because they asked themselves the key question, “what is the business objective we’re trying to achieve?” More than that, though, they asked themselves that question at the start. It still amazes me how many times businesses with come up with an idea, plan it, design it, execute it and only then think, “how do we measure this?” That way lies madness, frustration and a reinforcement of all the negative ‘fluffy’ perceptions of PR.
Good measurement is not just the right thing to do, it’s the pragmatic thing. In any organisation, budget goes to the safe bet. The one that reassures the executives that the money will not just be poured down a drain. And the only way to do that is to demonstrate that what you do has value.
That value doesn’t have to be monetary. In many cases it shouldn’t be. But it needs to show that what the PR team does creates value for the organisation. What that is will, of course, depend on what it’s trying to achieve.
Doing this, though, will change the nature of the conversation in a Non-Profit or any other business. It moves us away from simple service provision – the press release writers and party planners, and into the realm of strategic advisor. Less Jar Jar Binks and more Yoda. All of which has huge benefits in terms of communicators’ job satisfaction, development and worth within the business.
To paraphrase Richard Edelman, the president and CEO of Edelman, the world’s largest public relations firm, the sign of great communications partnering is not what when PR is advising the organisation on what to communicate, but rather advising on what to do.
To get there we need insight that’s based on both ideas and analytics, and with a mix of data, understanding of goals and a healthy dollop of common sense – we can do this quickly and at minimal cost.
(Image reproduced with kind permission of Online Behavior)
Head of Strategic Communications, eBay In his role as Head of Strategic Communications for eBay, Ben leads campaigns and change communications for teams across Europe. Previously, he worked for BT, Telefonica and Cable & Wireless, where he was responsible for global internal communications. He is a member of the UK Government’s Cabinet Office Communications Evaluation Council.
Many charities and Non-Profit Organisations prioritise spending on front line services and therefore have limited resources for other functions, such as marketing communications. Many Non-Profits are reluctant to invest in measurement because they believe it will divert this money away from the PR activity itself, rendering it less effective.
I believe this belief is misguided.
First, a proportion of overall PR spend invested in proper measurement will make the remainder work more effectively as communicators gain valuable insights into what activity works and, more importantly, what doesn’t – and is therefore a waste of resources. Second, in many Non-Profit organisations, PR works alongside other forms of marketing, including advertising. Proper measurement demonstrates how cost effective good PR is compared to these other channels.
What is ‘proper’ measurement and how can I get started? A good starting point is the ‘Barcelona Principles’, a set of seven key principles that the industry agrees guides best practice. The first and most important principle is ‘the importance of goal setting’. I would recommend writing down the objectives of your communications activity. One way of doing this is to list the desired outcomes. These can vary from activity and organisation but could include:
You should then work (potentially with other functions in the organisation) to ensure that the outcomes are being measured. This is important as these will be the ultimate guide of success.
Next, I would recommend that you list the media outputs that would support these outcomes. These are ways of measuring the media coverage resulting from PR activity. The measures should cater for the quality, as well as the quantity of coverage, and should cover all appropriate media channels, including social media if relevant. There are many ‘output’ metrics but some of the more common ones are:
One you have decided on the priority output metrics, I would track these alongside the outcome metrics in order to understand how one is affecting the other. This, in turn, should help inform planning of future activity.
An example: Stroke Association The Stroke Association is the only major stroke charity in the UK. Its mission is to “prevent strokes and achieve life after stroke through providing services, campaigning education and research”. The Stroke Association runs an annual campaign called ‘Action on Stroke Month’ to raise awareness of Stroke and to engage and build a ‘stroke community’ of people whose lives have been devastated by stroke.
The most recent campaign focused on raising awareness of Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA). Commonly known as mini-strokes, and often a precursor to a major stroke, they are frequently ignored. BBC TV presenter Andrew Marr, a high profile stroke survivor, said: “I had two mini-strokes before going on to have a major stroke. I was one of the thousands of people who dismissed the warning signs – simple ignorance.” The Stroke Association says that approximately 10,000 recurrent strokes can be prevented every year in the UK if mini-stokes are treated in time.
The Stroke Association worked with Gorkana to build a measurement framework based on overall objectives for the Action on Stroke Month (outcomes) which cascaded into communication objectives and output metrics (see communications cascade).
Results:
These results were used to explain the value of the campaign to key internal and external stakeholders and are helping to guide the planning of next year’s Action on Stroke Month Campaign.
Head of Insight, Gorkana Group Paul Hender has more than 20 years’ experience in media analysis. He was with Metrica from its infancy, growing the business from start-up to one of the leading specialist measurement agencies before a three way merger formed Gorkana group in 2010. Paul is currently Head of Insight, Gorkana Group and is responsible for developing the group’s analysis and insight services. He also provides consultative advice to Gorkana’s clients, which include some of the world’s largest and most recognised brands.
‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’, Benjamin Franklin warned us over 200 years ago. And it’s as true today, especially for those of us charged with developing and executing communications strategies. Effective planning ensures we do the right things for the right reasons and in a way that facilitates meaningful measurement and evaluation.
The terms ‘measurement’ and ‘evaluation’ are often felt to be interchangeable or indistinguishable but in the context of communications programmes, and to fully comprehend the value of planning, it is vital that we understand the clear distinction between the two.
Measurement provides us with fact – the numbers, raw data and dashboards – of what we have done. Evaluation is the understanding of whether what we have done has had a real and relevant impact. For example, securing Facebook ‘likes’ is often perceived as a measure of success but deeper evaluation may reveal who those likes came from. Are they the people we intended to target?Did the ‘likes’ represent genuine engagement with our organisation as well as our message or content?
So measurement only has any value if it can tell us if our efforts have worked – if it can tell us we have used our resources effectively and efficiently and how we might adapt and improve for the better. In order to know this we have to be clear on what it is we are trying to achieve for our organisation and that is the role of planning.
Planning may take different forms depending on where it is conducted, but at its core, its purpose is always the same: to ensure what we do ‘works’. Planning combines insight and logical process that, together, guide us to be clear on what we want to achieve from any given activity and why. Planning enables us to best understand how we might best do it, how to evaluate it and improve it.
Insight: The principal focus of any planner or planning team is to gain insight – through research, experience and expertise – into the target audience(s), the world in which they live and the ways we might engage them. When developing or responding to a brief, planners play a key role in establishing an understanding of the target audience, their broader social, cultural, technological and environmental context applying this knowledge within the organisation.
The other key focus of the planner is to leverage this understanding in developing actionable strategies for ideas and activities, and their measurement, that will benefit the organisation. This leads us to process.
Process: Planning needs process. It ensures we ask and answer all the right questions in developing our strategy and activities and creates a framework for their subsequent measurement and evaluation. Below is a recommended, generic road map for a planning process that follows the key stages of Success, Problem, Solution, Engagement, and Improvement. This process is relevant to the many different kinds of activities we do – from traditional media campaigns to real-time social engagement. From these core stages an organisation can adapt and build its own unique, bespoke version of this process that is appropriate to the organisation and its methods.
As you will see from the above, the ‘insight’ phase of planning development feeds into the
‘process’ phase at the point of analysing ‘the problem’. From that moment on insight and process become inextricably linked, one informing the other.
Insight ensures we develop the right kinds of activities, delivered in the right context in a way to positively engage our target audience that takes us nearer to achieving our goals. Process ensures that we have established the right protocols to measure and evaluate these activities so we can judge their success and build upon that success in the future.
When it comes to measurement and evaluation, successful planning is the plan for success.
To move through each stage involves asking and answering the right questions. Here are some thought starters to build upon.
Success – Clarifying the brief in the context of organisational goals
Problem – Research & insight regarding audience & context of engagement
Solution – Developing strategic direction & ideas, assets and collaterals to deliver it
Engagement – Engagement with target audience and activation of measurement
Improvement – Evaluation of measurement and actions based on findings
Chief Strategy Officer, Cohn & Wolfe (UK and EMEA) and one of the champions of strategic planning as a discipline in the PR industry.
Over the last 10 years, she has explored all four corners of the agency world to expand her knowledge, expertise and skills in digital and integrated marketing
by Richard Bagnall, CEO, PRIME Research UK
The communications function at Not for Profit organisations is under intense pressure. The economic climate has increased the demand for the services and support of most NFPs, while simultaneously squeezing budgets to levels rarely experienced before. As communicators, we are living through an era of unprecedented change in our professional lives. The advent of digital and social media, in particular, has revolutionised the media, disrupted journalism, fragmented audiences and seen control of mass communication shift from the hands of a few media barons to anyone who can communicate interesting content with eloquence in a timely manner.
The knock on effect of these structural changes is that the discipline of communications – and PR itself – has also had to change. No longer can media relations be the default tactic employed. The era of the ‘spray and pray’ of a press release to multiple publications is behind us. Social and digital media has blurred the lines between competing marketing disciplines. As silos inside organisations come down, professional communicators are being asked to employ many more tactics – traditional media relations, social media campaigns, influencer identification / relations, content marketing, insights and analytics. This is happening across the full spectrum of earned, owned and paid media. Communicators need to utilise many more skills, across more channels and in more marketing disciplines.
Despite these massive changes, we are expected to do more with less. This age of austerity has created a corresponding age of accountability, where it has become vital to ensure that every pound spent counts. We need to be more efficient, to plan and refine campaigns effectively, and then to measure in a credible and meaningful manner that speaks to the value that our contribution offers our organisation.
And here lies the problem. The methods that we used to measure the effectiveness of our work in the pas tare no longer adequate. The basic content metrics we used across our media outputs are losing meaning.
Counting clips is a fool’s game when the universe of content is infinite and growing exponentially. Sourcing all content is harder than ever before. No two platforms will agree with each other over such basic metrics as just number of clips. And even if they did, which are the clips that matter? Many of the other metrics that we used to rely on, including OTS, impressions and reach, are becoming less and less meaningful as it becomes increasingly apparent that, at best, they are no better than a guess and not as accurate. Even AVEs – rightly a much derided metric – are even less meaningful in today’s digital world.
As an industry, we need to realise that counting the things that are easy to count does not necessarily mean we are measuring the stuff that matters. Just because a social media monitoring platform has a dashboard or some charts in it, it doesn’t mean that it’s providing accurate or meaningful measurement.
So what are we to do? Well, the good news is that there is an answer to these problems that all NFPs can employ which isn’t dependent on any one supplier or vendor, can be done in-house if required and doesn’t have to cost the earth. Here’s the process we need to employ.
First, we plan. Before every campaign we sit down and think about what success looks like. What is the reason for doing the work; what are we trying to achieve? Our objective needs to align to the overall goals and ambitions of the organisation that we represent.
Once this is clear, we need to think about the tactics and channels that will be employed. What are the reasons for using each that align with our overall objectives, what are our targets and what does success look like in each case? The work that we are going to do, our ‘outputs’, needs to align with the take-outs and the outcomes that our organisation is looking to generate. Our measurement then needs to tell the story and to link each of these stages. The best way of doing this is to use one of AMEC’s valid metrics frameworks.
In my experience, the framework that NFP’s have found most useful is the ‘Paid, Owned and Earned’ media integrated communications measurement framework which can be found, along with a user guide, case studies and sample metrics to consider, at this link.
There is no silver bullet.
It’s about employing a thought process and an approach that is meaningful and credible to your specific organisation. AMEC’s measurement frameworks have been designed with this in mind and to help you prove the value of what you do.
CEO PRIME Research UK and SVP PRIME Research Europe
Richard is CEO of international communications measurement consultancy specialists PRIME Research, which has nine offices around the world, employs more than 700 staff and provides analysis and consultancy services on mainstream and digital media to many of the world’s most recognised brands and organisations. He is a board director of AMEC, where he chairs the Association’s social media measurement group; a member of the CIPR’s (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) Social Media Panel; and a member of the UK Government Communications Service’s Cabinet Office Evaluation Council, which guides Government departments on how best to measure their communications.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a UK Government Department responsible for issues like flood prevention, air quality, food standards, sustainable agriculture, rural broadband and food exports and it has created a recognised approach to its communications measurement and evaluation.
In the past few years Government Communications has seen extensive changes in the PR profession in terms of its upskilling, a shift towards digital campaigns and the way communications are evaluated to ensure value for money for UK tax payers.
Skills
Many of Defra’s campaigns are digital so they are often low cost or no cost. Therefore the skills requirements are now around social media engagement, monitoring, measuring and reporting, along with skills in digital campaigning.
This means that recruiting communications professionals now involves ensuring they have analytics skills to evaluate communications against SMART objectives. They will be expected to demonstrate the results of their communications and how these contribute to business objectives.
This is taken very seriously as a professional requirement and both digital and evaluation skills are in all Government Communicators’ personal objectives; if capability is not developed in these fields, individuals will be ineligible for promotion. And of course, the more demonstrable the value of communications, the more we will be valued as skilled professionals; so it is important to attract the right skill sets.
Digital and evaluation
Defra’s approach to digital campaigns is to use the Government endorsed Social Media Measurement Framework that the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) published in 2014. Defra then uses Gorkana Social Media Pro to track social media sentiment, volumes, influencers and spikes and combined with data from other sources this demonstrates trends and increases in campaign engagement. It also provides insight into what stakeholders’ and the public’s views are on topics which are important to Defra. Often this uncovers channels and messages that worked well and others that didn’t, so that future communications efforts can be deployed with maximum effectiveness.
Latest technology enables the array of social media metrics and web analytics to be integrated into big data and to be used to identify trends and measure communications impact. But all this information can be confusing; so Defra introduced a Performance Hub as part of a cross-Government programme.
This hub is the command centre for planning, horizon scanning, comparison of campaign results and ensuring alignment to business objectives. Defra uses this to report internally on whether the target audience has taken the desired action such as: changed recycling behaviour, applied for a farming funding scheme or signed up to a flood alert. All of this insight and factual data informs Defra’s policy and the immediate and future decisions of its communications teams.
Measurement
In order to prove the value of its communications to Ministers and Senior Government Officials, Defra moved from simply measuring output activities (how many press releases were issued, how many column inches were achieved and how many tweets were posted) to measuring metrics that demonstrate real business impact, such as behaviour change and a demonstrable increase in awareness.
Defra’s measurement strategy has four key components:
Measuring in this way leads to valuable insights and enables campaigns to be successfully targeted, be more effective in reaching the right audiences in real-time, in the public’s channel of choice and tailored to reflect the issues that the data reveals to be important to the audience.
A video of a Defra measurement case study is available on AMEC’s website: https://amecorg.com/social-media-measurement/framework/
Head of Research and Evaluation, Communications Group, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), UK Government and a director of AMEC
The value of measurement – and convincing management
UNICEF partnered with Ketchum Global Research & Analytics (KGRA), and Gorkana, a leading media measurement company, to help develop a measurement and evaluation framework for UNICEF’s new Global Communication and Public Advocacy Strategy. As a public relations researcher, I jumped at the opportunity to help UNICEF establish a pioneering global measurement framework that would allow it to evaluate and continually improve its efforts for the rights and well-being of the most disadvantaged children. On a personal level, my experiences volunteering in Ethiopia and founding a children’s rights organization fueled my passion for this project.
It was from these two perspectives that I approached this task and now hope to shed light on the critical importance of measurement in the non-profit context. The “best practices” described below were informed by KGRA’s experience working with UNICEF, and proved influential in strengthening senior support for measurement.
Be proactive & collaborative
Recognizing that the communications and measurement strategy would require a dramatic shift in many country offices, UNICEF’s Division of Communications (DOC) prioritized proactive engagement of both internal and external stakeholders through every step of the development process.
As a result, stakeholders felt they had a voice in creating the strategy that would ultimately help drive how they work. UNICEF’s structure is decentralized over 190 countries, but the strategy clearly validated how consistent measurement at a local level would result in global impact. Nurturing these relationships was also instrumental in ensuring that UNICEF’s measurement strategy was clear, transparent and universally supported by stakeholders.
Identify champions
Throughout implementation, DOC identified internal measurement champions to serve as strategic ambassadors. These individuals served as a trusted resource for DOC, and as an example to country officers that measurement was indeed valuable and would make them more effective.
Tell a story
When it comes to measuring the impact of humanitarian and developmental assistance work, I find myself debating two trains of thought. The first is that data matters. We measure what we value; we track trends we hope to understand or influence. At the same time, particularly within the context of humanitarian tragedies or successes, no one ever wants to be considered “just a number.” For example, UNICEF has long championed data collection based on the idea that “every child counts,” but also adds perspective to individual children’s lives.
The power of measurement is that it allows non-profits not only to evaluate and track broad messages and issues, but also to identify nuanced details about the personal impact of efforts. Measurement allowed UNICEF to track global trends in media coverage of the Ebola crisis, for example, and also to understand how volunteers helped a young girl in Guinea return to school after the outbreak. These stories speak truth to data.
Illuminate insights
Data alone is not enough. However, leveraging that data to shed light on insights is what makes a measurement program truly meaningful. Insights are uncovered through careful and consistent data analysis; they are the “ah-ha” moment that can transform outputs and, ultimately, outcomes. They are what allowed UNICEF to understand not only what key messages resonated, but why a message was particularly powerful when accompanied by an image or delivered by a specific spokesperson or goodwill ambassador. For example, UNICEF found that effectively deploying spokesperson responses to sensitive issues could play a key role in countering negative coverage. Measurement makes insights possible.
Never stop improving
Recognizing that a commitment to measurement excellence is key, KGRA and UNICEF established an ad-hoc committee of diverse measurement experts from private sector companies, non-profit organizations and academia – many of them AMEC members, to regularly evaluate UNICEF’s measurement strategy and results. Just as UNICEF’s communications strategy tracked progress through benchmarking, so too did its measurement process.
Ultimately, a measurement framework is only as powerful as the strategic insights it empowers its users to uncover. By strengthening relationships with internal champions and aligning resources for greatest impact, proving that measurement can illustrate anecdotes and insights, and committing to constant improvement, UNICEF garnered senior level enthusiasm for building a world-class measurement program. Through measurement, non-profits can be especially influential in integrating the power of data and storytelling to compel people to take action for the betterment of society.
Photograph © UNICEF/PFPG2013P-0035/Harandane Dicko Publication © United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), January 2014
Senior Research Associate, Ketchum Global Research & Analytics (KGRA)
Since joining KGRA in 2012, Elizabeth has served multiple social marketing, health, public affairs and corporate clients. She is also an active member of Ketchum’s Washington DC office’s Diversity Council and Ketchum Social Responsibility team.
She also represents KGRA as a member of Re:Gender, an organization working to end gender inequity and discrimination by advancing research-informed action. A summa cum laude graduate of Ithaca College, New York, she earned a B.S. in integrated marketing communications. Elizabeth also founded Food for Thought and served as a founding member and researcher for She’s the First, two organizations committed to children’s rights.
It is the question that dominates many industry conferences but, in reality, it is pretty easy to step away from “classical” Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) and to get a real feel for the value of PR efforts by looking at “The Moment of Truth.”
As for any business, non-profit organizations need to be able to understand if their communication campaigns have had a positive impact and achieved the goals they have set for themselves.
In the communications world, a pretty common metric is the AVE. Advertising Value Equivalency is a value of what your editorial coverage would have cost you if it were advertising space (or TV and radio airtime) you had purchased.
One of the issues with using AVE is that it only gives you a measurement metric that can help you navigate your communication campaigns. And although it resonates well with C-Level managers, as it seems to show a “Euro Value” of equivalent publicity, it is only showing you a value of a cost : how much would it have cost you to book this many pages, this many minutes of airtime if this coverage had been based on actual advertising and not editorial?
There are two other issues with AVE. First, it doesn’t evaluate if your campaigns appeared in the proper publications (the ones you had set yourself as targets), and second, it doesn’t give you any sense of how you compare to the universe you evolve in: your competition.
So, how should you measure then?
First of all, look at your Share of Voice (SOV). In a competitive environment, you’ll always need to compare and position yourself against your competitors in terms of visibility.
By consistently monitoring your own, as well as your defined competition’s editorial coverage, you’ll be able to compare how many articles, impressions, and total ink space, you’ve achieved versus the universe of brands with which you compete.
In a highly competitive environment, a decent position to be in is to achieve at least a 33 percent share of voice. Aiming for that 33 percent will give you and your PR strategy, clear plans, objectives and goals.
Secondly, look at whether your activity has had an impact on the awareness of your brand and/or your sales volumes. You can then map activity type to actual sales. “How hear, why buy” studies are the first step to carry out, and are called “The Moment of Truth.” These studies will help you understand how much your target audience has heard of you, what action they took and for how much.
They are simple to carry out. More often than not, a simple run through your own customer database, customer care center listings, tech-support call logs etc… will give you easy access to a fresh and active customer base. It’s now just a matter of asking them these questions: how did they hear of you, your solutions, your message, and why did they take action?
The tip is to carry these surveys out consistently, and over several quarters. This will give you perspective and allow you to track trends. As with any statistic, the absolute value of a specific data point is of lesser importance than its variation over time: What have I done to achieve this 5x increase in why-my-customers-purchased-my-solution? And can I repeat it?
There are several reasons why your customers do business with you (or support your ideas). It could be push, through your sales force or your channel. It could be pull, through advertising, PR…. Repeat-buy (customers know you, like you and purchase your solution again) or peer recommendation (your current customers are advocating your solutions to peers, friends or family).
All these demand drivers are of the utmost importance in any integrated marketing campaign. But to understand the impact of one over another will help you prioritize, and sequence your campaign efforts on one or another demand driver, at a certain point of time, to optimize the outcome, and finally increase the business impact of your campaign.
Actual illustration of a “Why-buy? study” in Germany on a specific product SKU. X axis is time, y axis is percentage of responses.
In the illustration above, check the blue bar with triangle markers (Review –editorial coverage) and notice the 3x jump in responses in Q2-08 over the previous quarter on why customers purchased this specific solution. So here’s the question: what has happened in that specific quarter for three times more customers to visit the store and purchase that specific SKU vs the quarter before that?
Having looked through the editorial coverage for that time period, it turned out that this product had been featured in a comparative review in a very popular, high-circulating publication and had received an Editor’s choice award from their lab, in May 2008 (Q2).
By looking at the sales figures, the impact was extremely clear. It is also important to notice that both Units shipment and Revenue lines are in synch, which means that the sales increase wasn’t due to a promotion along the lines of “buy five units, and get one free”… The impact was clearly as a result of the positive review.
By mapping your “Moment of Truth” studies to your sales numbers in order to evaluate your impact and therefore your ROI is to guarantee yourself a seat at the Board table. PR isn’t a cost, it’s an investment, so you’ll want to show some ROI.
Because yes, we are all in sales!
Thierry Nicolet is Senior Vice President, Press Relations, Global Marketing, Schneider Electric and a coordinator of the Evaluation Working Group for the European Association of Communication Directors.
by Barry Leggetter, FCIPR, FPRCA, CEO, the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC)
If we’re honest, we’ve all got a favourite time in our career. Mine was when as a young journalist I did nightly news desk work for a UK national daily paper.
What I learned was decisions you took, always against the clock, made all the difference to the final editorial “product” – the story – whether it was to ask the Art Desk to create a special graphic, have a feature writer pen an analysis piece; or send reporters out to gain more background. It all contributed to making a difference.
Fast forward and it feels like AMEC has morphed into its own version of a My Measurement News Desk!
AMEC has grown rapidly to become the world’s largest trade body for the PR measurement and analytics sector. We have a global footprint through our International Chapters in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Our Board is currently evaluating the potential for an International Chapter in Latin America.
We have a Non-Profit Chapter whose founding members – UNICEF, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cleveland Clinic and CARE International – are now being joined by others, including Amnesty International UK. The existence of this Chapter confirms that measurement knows no boundaries, and is as relevant to a Non-Profit organisation as it is to a FMCG business or a global pharmaceutical company.
In practice, what AMEC does is act as the catalyst for new thinking, for germinating ideas from different parts of the world and helping fuel what is becoming an unstoppable thirst for information about the power of measurement and analytics in public relations practice.
Let me illustrate the AMEC My Measurement News Desk in action and what happens to great ideas.
AMEC’s most routine inquiry is from an in-house team or PR consultancy expressing interest in taking measurement seriously – but not knowing where to start.
For many practitioners wanting to take the leap, the overriding question is what will their measurement framework look like? AMEC is able to help by pointing firms to the Valid Metrics Framework; the Social Media Measurement Framework and the ground-breaking Barcelona Principles which outlawed AVEs.
We can help, too, through AMEC’s deliberate policy to have an open-source Knowledge Share website with a rich resource centre of downloadable frameworks, presentations and video presentations by some of the world’s top research professionals.
We are aware there is some evidence of a measurement skills gap. A survey in the UK by AMEC’s training provider, the PR Academy, earlier this year, showed that measurement is the top skills gap for the second year running, cited by 53 percent of respondents, the majority of them in-house professionals.
To fill a skills gap takes commitment and education and that is where AMEC’s Global Education Programme comes in.
I recognise that for many Non-Profit teams your resources (including budgets) may be challenging.
But think about adopting the MUST manta as your own personal commitment to adopting measurement as an integral part of your communications work.
The theme of AMEC’s International Summit in Stockholm in 2015 is “Winning The Game.” We have not ‘won’ yet…but every AMEC member is part of the worldwide team that will make success inevitable!
Contact me at [email protected]
Barry Leggetter is CEO of the international Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (https://amecorg.com/). He has been responsible for driving initiatives which have turned AMEC into an international body, with members in more than 40 countries. They include the development of the AMEC International Summit as the largest event of its kind in the world; the creation of new educational content through the online AMEC College and the new Measurement Month initiative.
A former news journalist, he spent 25 years in PR consultancy and was UK Managing Director for three major public relations networks, Porter Novelli, Fleishman-Hillard and Golin/Harris, climaxing his PR career in the role of international Chairman of Bite Communications.
He is a former Chairman of the UK Public Relations Consultants Association and is a Fellow of both the PRCA and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR).
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