Measurement-Related Sessions @ PRSA’s National Conference

So many research and/or measurement-related sessions to see at this year’s PRSA National Conference.  Looking forward to attending all of these and live tweeting via @CARMA_Tweets and/or @alanchumley…keep an eye on @shonali’s #measurepr hashtag:

Communication Measurement on a Shoestring Budget

Sunday, Oct. 17:  8am-12pm

Location: Georgetown West

You have researched your audience, you understand your organization’s direction and you have executed your plan — but is the message clear? Did your audience see the communication vehicles carrying the messages? Is the communication program helping to change behavior and improve the bottom line?

In this interactive workshop, you will explore:

• Ways to determine whether your communications are effective, even on a shoestring budget.
• How to use observational measurement techniques for messages, channels and outcomes.
• Ways to find free research resources, internally and externally.
• Using pilot/control groups to show the impact of different communication strategies.

Presenter:

Angela Sinickas, ABC, IABC Fellow, is president of Sinickas Communications, Inc., an international consulting firm that helps organizations plan and measure successful communication, including 23 percent of Forbes’ Global 100 largest corporations. She is the author of the manual, How to Measure Your Communication Programs, as well as more than 125 professional articles. Sinickas has conducted presentations in 26 countries, and has earned 17 international communication awards. She teaches an online graduate course in communication assessment for Northeastern University.

__________________________________________________________

Measuring and Communicating New Values in Today’s Media Landscape

Sunday Oct 17, 3pm

Location: Georgetown West

Martin Murtland, vice president and managing director, Dow Jones & Co.
Cindy Droog, APR, senior public relations specialist, corporate communications, Amway

Communications success is no longer limited to a front-page story or a three-minute television segment. Success can be defined as winning over Mommy bloggers or, more to the CEO’s interest, an increase in revenue. Learn from a real-life business case study, which centers on how Amway measured the impact of social media on its brand globally, and gained a perspective on how the brand was being disseminated in social media outside the United States. You will learn how to identify key influencers, best practices in traditional and social media measurement strategy, and ways to link the “buzz” to business outcomes — the type of communications measures for which executives are really looking.

_______________________________________________

How to Demonstrate the Effectiveness of Your Government Relations Program

Sunday Oct 17, 4.45pm

Location: Columbia Hall 2

Enrico “Rick” L. Callender, director of government relations, Santa Clara Valley Water District
Rachael Gibson, management analyst, Santa Clara Valley Water

Government relations and public affairs are often seen as immeasurable programs by many CEOs. Yet, how do you measure the effectiveness of relationships and advocacy efforts? Why should an organization or business be a member of an association? Should we be utilizing associations for all of our advocacy efforts? This workshop will provide the tools to demonstrate how to effectively measure and show the return on investment of your government relations program.

____________________________________________________

Quantifiable Objectives: The Key to Proving PR Value

Sunday, Oct. 17, 4.45pm

Location: Columbia Hall 10

Mark F. Weiner, chief executive officer, PRIME Research

While the most straightforward measure for proving public relations success is often “meet or beat measurable objectives,” setting quantifiable objectives is one of PR’s most vexing challenges. In this session, learn proven techniques for setting objectives for success, as well as how to start fresh by assessing which priorities drive the PR value. This engaging workshop will greatly enhance your ability to improve PR performance, and enhance client buy-in and alignment for PR by linking objectives and results with the overall goals of the business. Walk away with an “objectives-setting manifesto” for establishing quantifiable objectives and building The Business Case for Public Relations™

________________________________________________________

Measuring Federal Government Communication Efforts: Top 10 Mistakes and Lessons Learned

Monday, Oct. 18: 9.45am

Location: Columbia Hall 11 & 12

John Zogby, president and chief executive officer, Zogby International
Steven Millman, senior associate, Booz Allen Hamilton

Whether preparing the public for and educating about H1N1, meeting the needs of victims of natural disasters, or equipping and informing our military, the effectiveness of the federal government’s communications has never been more critical. This interactive panel shares real-life case studies from the U.S. military and other federal government agencies, with a focus on the effectiveness of the clients’ communication strategies and methods. This session also will explore practical tips on how to avoid the 10 most common mistakes in communication measurement.

__________________________________________________________

Measuring Customer Communication Outcomes: Identifying the Impact of Different Campaign Elements

Monday, Oct. 18:  11.30am

Location: Columbia Hall 11 & 12

Angela D. Sinickas, ABC, IABC Fellow, president, Sinickas Communications, Inc.

Using multiple communication approaches, you undoubtedly make customer communications more effective — but which approach created which response? Was it the public relations, the ad, collateral or event that impacted the outcome, or was it a combination of them all? Using easily adaptable examples, discover various research techniques that isolate the impact of several communications on customer outcomes. Also, learn how to calculate return on investment (ROI) for an entire communications campaign, or its elements.

______________________________________________________

Measurement in the “Age of Now”: A Common Sense Guide to the Business of PR

Location: Monroe

Shonali Burke, ABC, principal, Shonali Burke Consulting

The explosion of social media has shined a new light on the measurability of our profession. However, many practitioners still put far too much emphasis on the tracking and measuring of outputs, not outcomes. In this session, you will receive an overview of how measurement has and has not changed, and the most practical way to tackle it. Learn how to identify what key performance indicators (KPIs) are, and how to connect your efforts to your organization’s KPIs. Also, learn how to measure successfully on a budget.

___________________________________________________

Reputation, Employee Engagement and Other Measures of PR Value

Monday, Oct. 18:  3.30pm

Location: Columbia Hall 3 & 4

Louis Capozzi, APR, Fellow PRSA, adjunct professor, New York Unversity; and CEO, retired, MS&L
Helen Ostrowski, APR, retired chairman, Porter Novelli, adjunct professor, NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies
Katie Paine, chief executive officer, KDPaine & Partners

Public relations has the unique ability to provide the “big picture” as it relates to issues that business and marketing executives worry about.  Today, some of the issues at the forefront are reputation, trust and employee engagement.  A panel of distinguished industry experts debate and discuss PR’s role in building, maintaining and evaluating an organization’s reputation. Learn the role employees play in carrying out an organization’s strategy and building its brand with external constituents. Hear how measuring results of efforts in these areas demonstrate the value of PR.

_______________________________________________________

What’s the ROMI of Social Media, Online Video and Press Releases?

Tuesday, Oct. 19:  8am

Location: Jefferson

Laura Sturaitis, senior vice president, media & product services, BusinessWire
Greg Jarboe, president and co-founder, SEO-PR

According to Pew Internet & American Life Project tracking surveys, 88 percent of Internet users use a search engine to find information; 62 percent watch videos on websites like YouTube or Google Video; 47 percent use online social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn; and 19 percent use Twitter or another status-update service.  Which one of these new public relations opportunities delivers the highest return on marketing investment (ROMI)? Also, with so many ways to engage customers across the social media landscape, are press releases still necessary? Panelists will discuss real-world examples and techniques to get the most mileage from PR in the Web 2.0 world, including the use of press releases and digital multimedia. Learn to work hand-in-hand with your Web team to see how visitors are getting to your site and moving through it.

__________________________________________________________

Building C-Suite Trust Through News and Social Media Monitoring ROI

Tuesday, Oct. 19: 8am

Location: Cabinet

Jeff Trexel, chief executive officer, Infoition News Services
Linda Odorisio, vice president, U.S. Communications, CGI Group

Savvy public relations executives earn C-suite trust by spending dollars on actions that boast a clear return on investment (ROI) and align with business objectives. Join session presenters for an interactive dialogue on news and social media monitoring ROI. Launch points are data collected from five Fortune 500 corporations and a best practices case study showing what is working inside a multi-billion dollar corporation. Learn how to earn C-suite trust, or risk being ignored.

______________________________________________________

4I’s & 7C’s of Social Media Measurement

Folks chatting / tweeting about social media measurement love to apply cute acronyms or use alliteration to articulate their thinking or their model on how to measure social media.

Generally, I find that approach lacking.  Great for marketing hyperbole, but light on oomph and methodology.

Prime example:
I read a tweet yesterday about the 4 Is:

All were ambitiously and interestingly expressed as a return on…

…insight
…interaction
…investment
…impact.

OK.  I’m feeling a need to break my own rule and reciprocate with the 7Cs of social media measurement:

1.  Counting (site and search metrics–all the appropriate stuff we can and should count)
2.  Content (analysis, that is.  quantity and quality)
3.  Conversations (or as I like to sometimes call them conversationships)
4.  Cohesion (are folks agreeing with you?  with each other?  more importantly, are they coalescing around a core theme/idea/call to action, etc?)
5.  Community
6.  Connectedness (via network analysis:  how inter-connected, inter-related are the highly engaged/key influencers/advocates in the conversation?  how centrally located are those highly engaged / key influentials / brandvocates?  how far and and how fast is the spread?)
7.  Conversion (the so what factor…getting beyond the output and outtake into the output or impact zone…and here I don’t strictly mean conversion to a tangible like sales…it could be conversion toward any measurable MarCom or PA/issues/advocacy-based objective.  Hint on method:  have a look at Tealium or Sysomos Audience.

So how do you measure all this?

1.  Combine several approaches (content analysis, search and site metrics, network analysis, primary research), and
2.  Have those approaches be flexible enough to account for/prioritize/weight different objectives and campaign types.

Thoughts?

Observations Post-PRSA-NCC Thoth Awards Judging

This measurement PRoponent / PRomulgator had the honor of reviewing some phenomenal work that some very talented, committed, and hard-working DC-area PR practitioners submitted in consideration for a PRSA-NCC Thoth Award. 

  Congrats and well done. 

I left the 5-hour session inspired.  Mostly inspired by the largely fantastic work submitted and the creative thinking behind the campaigns. 

But also inspired to offer up some observations based on some–the minority to be fair and clear–of the submissions.

Observations:

1.  Media relations IS NOT public relations.

2.  Objectives, strategies, and tactics ARE NOT the same thing

3.  Objectives must be specific, measurable, include an audience, geography, and timeframe and something to do with either awareness or behavior.

4.  One’s objectives in the planning section of a document MUST MATCH the objectives in the evaluation section.  We shouldn’t be seeing new objectives, mentioned for the first time come the evaluation section of a document.  Objectives can’t be conveniently retro-fitted to suit the result.

5.  A clump ‘o clips DOES NOT on its own equate to measuring awareness, behaviour, advocacy, engagement, or relationships.  Outcomes not (strictly) outputs.

Barcelona Declaration of Research Principles

The folks at the European Measurement Summit have agreed on 7 principles of PR measurement:

1.Goal setting and measurement are fundamental to doing PR

2.Goals should be as quantitative as possible and address who what when and how much the PR program is intended to affect

3.Measurement should include representative traditional and social media as well as target audience changes in awareness comprehension attitude and behavior as applicable.

4.Aves are not the value of public relations

5.Social Media Can and Should be measured

6.Measuring Outcomes is preferred to measuring media results

7.Business results and outcomes should be measured whenever possible

(Measurement maven KD Paine provides the sub bullets to each of the 7 principles above here)

Pretty obvious stuff, one might say.  However, given that the Global Alliance, the ICCO, PRSA, AMEC and the IPR’s Measurement Commission are voting (along with 200 measurementarati attendees) and agreeing, that’s progress.

Measurement Standards 2 Emerge from “Commitment Conference” (again?)

(Hat tip to Jack O’Dwyer’s June 2 newsletter article from which pieces of this post were culled)

Communications and measurement industry heavyweights will using next weeks’ European Measurement Summit in Barcelona (June 16-18), as a back drop against which to talk about “establishing standard metrics and measurement techniques for adoption throughout the industry” in what is apparently being called the “Barcelona Declaration of Research Principles.”

Apparently, this will be the first time that the leaders of the global (I’m not sure they all truly are global) professional bodies–AMEC, Global Alliance, ICCO, IPR’s Measurement Commission, and the PRSA–will share the stage.

I’d like to be a fly on that conference room wall but I’ll settle for cat-like state of readiness on the live tweetstream hashtag.  HINT.

Looking forward to reading what comes out of those sessions.

I’ve always thought we need to be really careful with what, precisely, we mean by standards.

Standard metrics? in some cases, sure, but doesn’t that depend on objectives?

Standard methods? I thought we had those.  Content analysis for media content.  Surveying / polling for, well, you get the idea…and so on.

Standard set of best practices and guiding principles? OK, but I thought we already had those, too.  Didn’t the IPR Measurement Commission and PRSA do that last year?

Could this be measurement’s watershed moment?  Fingers and toes.

In any event, a dialogue like this, at a conference like this, among those organization can, I hope, only be the start of a good thing in the long run.

European Measurement Summit Looks Strong

The second annual European Measurement Summit organized jointly by AMEC (The International Association for Measurement & Evaluation of Communications) & the Institute for PR (and it’s thought leading measurement commission of which I am disciple and booster) is gearing up.  It’s in Barcelona this year; June 16-18.  (Wish I was attending but I’m looking forward to following the twit stream via hastag). 

If it’s anything like the quality of the U.S. Measurement Summit in New Hampshire (looking at the lineup of speakers there’s every indication that it will be) it’s a must attend for the measurement-curious through to the measurement thought leaders and all points between.

CARMA: my measurement fate / destiny

This (so far) Canadian-based measurement wonk is packing up both the professional tool box and personal belongings and heading to the USA, Washington DC, for a May 17 start.  I`ll be joining  CARMA International, Global Media Analysts in a senior-level management consulting capacity.

Having been on all sides of the triangle (in-house corporate PR, big 5 global agency, research and measurement supply-side) I was excited about an opportunity to work with and make a unique contribution to the senior management team.

I’m excited, honoured, and thankful.  I’m very much looking forward to working with the U.S. organization (and its clients).

Why CARMA?

• Founder Albert J. Barr was among the first if not the first to commercialize media content analysis in 1984; comparatively early days in the PR research and measurement biz.
• I’ve been following the thought leadership of CARMA alum (and former IPR measurement commission member) Dr. Jim MacNamara for more than decade.
• CARMA has a strong list of international clients served out of the following offices:
  • Beijing
  • Hong Kong
  • Kuala Lumpur
  • New Delhi
  • Paris
  • Sao Paulo
  • Shanghai
  • Singapore
  • Sydney
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Washington, DC
  • Wellington

• A chance to work with some deep intellect in  Founder and CEO Albert J. Barr, SVP Alison Tedor, and VPs Chris Scully and Sonia LaFountain-Ginyard.
• The role is an intriguing combination of:
  • Evangelist, advocate, marketing mouthpiece, networker, conversationship builder
  • Client work
  • Thought provider on method
  • Senior-level staff and client support
  • Contribution to the leadership of the U.S. operation
  • Contribution to the international operation/management team

Thanks CARMA.  Looking forward to getting started.

achumley@carma.com

Follow us on Twitter @ CARMA_Tweets & @alanchumley

Metric Formerly Known as AVE

Debate continues even among / within occasionally non-homogenous IPR Measurement Commission membership (plenty of intelectual depth here…many are mentors-from-afar without even knowing it, thanks).

Earlier this week select IPR measurement commission members (including Ph.D. heavyweight Brad Rawlins) published a controversial (but I think somewhat valuable) paper.

Essentially, it argues, as commission member Angie Jeffreys of VMS has for a decade (I’ve partially supported her perspective in my blog posts) that:

1. AVE as we have come to know it and (mis)use it is, indeed, wrong
2. but, that known as something else, properly explained and cautioned, used differently as a). a relative proxy over time, and not a one-time absolute $, and b). correlated (no causality here) with business outcomes (rather than simple clip counts and impressions) it–now called Weighted Media Cost–along with tone, does appear to correlate more strongly.

The very visible and vocal KD Paine takes much issue with the Weighted Media Cost paper. While she’s not wrong on many points, I think she’s unfairly criticised the Weighted Media Cost approach for trying to be something it hasn’t claimed to be.  Yes, we all get that PR is more than driving sales.   Thank god.  Yes, we get that engagement and influence (I’m almost sick of hearing those terms) are generated by so much more than traditional, static media coverage.  We know.  We get it.   

Bottom line:

1. AVE–bad. Wrong.  No arguement there. 
2. Weighted Media Cost: not all bad / some value in some cases if properly articulated and if understood to be only what it is.    It’s only what KD Paine calls a Zombie metric if it’s positioned / used as something it’s not. 

So, let’s pause, take a deep breath and give this paper a read with an open, nuanced, grey not-so-black and white mind.   We need to get out of our own way, sometimes. 
http://www.instituteforpr.org/files/uploads/A_New_Paradigm_JeffriesFox.pdf

Social Media Analytics Report Coming

So glad there are so many very smart social media measurement types out there (I consider myself at best a fast follower not a thought leader in the SocMed measurement space).   

Case in point: two of the many though leaders out there, Jeremiah Owyang, formerly of Forester, now a partner with the Altimetre Group and John Lovett from Web Metrics Demystified , are soliciting Twitt-o-sphere follower feedback on what vendors those follwers feel provide good metris and analysis. 

Should make for lots of interesting Twitter chatter in the coming days/weeks.

Can’t wait to read the report. 

Good luck gents.

Measurement Misstep of the Year Award

I’ve tried to strike AVEs from my lexicon.  Firms like Influence Communication toss it right back on the table in articles like this about the Cirque du Soliel dude who went up into to space recently.  The article, discussed recentlyon the InsidePR podcast notes that coverage equated to nearly $600 million in ad value.    Yikes.   Influence, you’ve sent me straight up.  Into space with this one. 

I’ll be characteristically crass and potentially career-limiting. Influence Communications, a sort of news aggregator / simple content analysis / fancy pie chart provider should receive the measurement misstep of the year award for this move. They’ve made much media hay with it. But they’ve done the rest of us–who have read a touch of PR theory and practice PR in this century–a disservice. They’ve thrown us back to the mid 1800s with PR being about selling tickets to the Barnham and Bailey (sp?) circus. With a client like that, Influence must have “no news is bad news” written on their boardroom wall in a circus-like font. The “we sell it cause it makes us money” argument just doesn’t cut it anymore.   

Couple of things:

1. AVEs, used as we know they shouldn’t, are truly ridiculous. Used as an absolute: “our campaign garnered $600 million in equivalent ad value.” Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Used as one among many far more meaningful relative metrics to demonstrate change over time: OKish, I suppose, if properly qualified / articulated. Angela Jeffreys of VMS (and Institute for PR’s Measurement Commission Member) makes an interesting case for something she calls market value (or proxy) in this paper: http://www.instituteforpr.org/files/uploads/Media_Coverage_Business06.pdf    But, I think rightly, she proposes that it not be called AVE and that we certainly not use the way we know we shouldn’t.

Links to several articles / blog posts the topic:

Ad Eq Hanging Around Like a Bad Smell:

http://www.princanada.com/advertising-equivalency’s-hangin’-around-like-a-bad-smell

Are We STILL Talking About AVE?

https://alanchumley.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/are-we-still-talking-about-aves/

Just when You Thought it Was Safe to Go Back in the AVE H20:

https://alanchumley.wordpress.com/2007/03/19/just-when-you-thought-is-was-safe-to-go-back-in-the-ave-h2o/

Ad Eq Not-yet-Dead; May be Reincarnated:

https://alanchumley.wordpress.com/2007/03/02/ad-equivalency-not-dead-may-be-reincarnated/

Experiential Marketing Measurement: Bolted-on not Baked-in

Recent meetings, research, and invitations to upcoming events inspired this proponent / promulgator to post on research and measurement in the experiential marketing space: events, sponsorships, out-of-home, direct-to-consumer, feet-on-the-street, people as media.

It strikes me that the experiential marketing space is plagued by the same problem the PR industry is: (warning: huge over-generalization coming here) a lack of strategic and measurable objectives linked to the overall organizational goals. Rather, what’s all-too-frequent are random acts of feet-on-the-street . Lots of vague, passive logo soup for the branding soul, ‘brand hug’ stuff. Not so much active ‘brand buy’ stuff. Questions all-too-commonly left unanswered: who do you want to reach? Why? With what effect? What do you want them thinking? Feeling? Doing? Metrics common to the traditional, non-experiential marketing realm–brand preference, likelihood to consider, visit, try, buy, switch, recommend, donate, whatever—generally seem conspicuously absent. (Notable exceptions below)

If the overall approach to experiential marketing (planning and execution) is granular and tactical (driven perhaps by budget and timing), then its measurement is commensurately tactical. Here, measurement often falls into the ‘how much’ and rarely into the ‘how good’ and ‘with what effect’ categories. Myopic measurement-by-tactic not meta measurement-by- objective. Bolted on the back end, not baked in up front. Lots of counting (both contracted and accrued). Some data collection. Little follow-up or activation. Less qualifying. Even less correlating. It’s not about exposure (alone). It’s about interaction-driven impact. Say no to buzz.

But, there seems to be some interesting, perhaps even exceptional, work going on in the space that goes beyond looking at how many t-shirts the cannon squad shot up into the crowd or funky advertising equivalency metrics based on how long a logo was on-screen. Organizations like the MTM Measurement Group and Kneebone Inc. Come to mind. I’m sure there are a bunch of others and I’m looking forward to coming across those. It’s often the organizations that are doing the really neat work that you’d like to hear more from. Trouble is, because they are good at what they do, they are busy. Good for them. Better for their clients.

MTM (Micro Targeted Media) Measurement Group—what sounds like fairly sophisticated hard and software solutions to report post event and in real time engagement within an event footprint: audience measurements such as counts, traffic patterns, proximity, dwell time, as well as demographics (age, gender, ethnicity markers). Add in-field, on-site electronic data capture and surveys and we’re getting close to approaching the elusive experiential marketing ROI. Good for MTM. Better for their clients.

Though I haven’t seen behind the methodological curtain, Kneebone Inc offers what sounds like a, pretty, er, well, sound and robust method that places the measurement of experiential marketing in the broader marketing mix answering questions like: “is it working?” and “how does it perform relative to other tactics?” I imagine there’s some form of market mix modeling (statistical analysis popular in the consumer packaged goods space) at work here. Whatever it is, it seems popular with some very high end clients. Good for Kneebone.  Better for their clients.

Any comment on measurement would be incomplete were it not to mention the ‘S’ word. Standards. Should there be a singular, standard method or metric? Absolutely not. A standard set of guiding principles and best practices? Absolutely. I know they exist in the PR space. I quite like key performance indicators but what might be key for one organization might not be for another. They’d be different one context to the next; one industry to the next.

The ‘B’ word is the ‘S’ word’s ugly cousin. Benchmark. “Against whom or what should we be benchmarking our efforts?” One of the more common questions in measurement. In the case of sponsorship, consider benchmarking against other similar properties. Or, perhaps, very different properties but among competitors. Or, consider benchmarking yourself in an aspirational way relative to competitors and/or properties that, one day, you’d like to emulate.

Hung up on cost? Like the idea of measurement but worried that to implement it would just take budget away from tactical execution? (Measurement means one less wrapped Hummer on the cross-country beach tour). Don’t we measure in other marketing areas to be smarter about where we spend and to avoid costs associated with off-target objectives or strategy? Can we afford not to measure?

Stakeholder Relationships / Role in PR / Meausuring: Interview on InsidePR.ca

This Measurement PRoponent / PRomulgator was interviewed by Dave Jones over at the InsidePR.ca podcast recently.

4 questions in 8 minutes (ish) covering:

1.  my stakeholder relationship-centric definition of PR

2.  the role that research and measurement plays in PR in that context / social media and stakeholder relationships as co-enablers

3.  what excites me about PR looking forward:  social media

4.  what frightens me about PR looking forward:  social media.

Twitter Chatter from CCPRF Measurement Event

160 tweets (and climbing) on #ccprf  from Canadian Council of PR Firms’ Measurement Panel attendees and some playing the home game. 

Reading List for Measurement

This PRoponent / PRomulgator is speaking at the Canadian Council for PR Firms/ Meausement Panel tomorrow morning.  After these types of events, I’m always asked:  “what can we read for more on the topic?”

So, because I always forget a few, and in anticipation of that question, and to have a place for those resources to sit, here’s that (non-exhaustive) list:

Blogs:

KD Paine

My Measurement PRoponent / PRomulgator Blog which I offer up more for a fairly extensive blog roll where you’ll find all sorts of smart folks like the following: 

Ton Watson / Dummy Spit:                    http://dummyspit.wordpress.com/

Don Bartholomew / MetricsMan:             http://metricsman.wordpress.com/  

Nick Grant / Media Track:                       http://www.mediatrack.com/blog/index.html

Michael Blowers:                                   http://mediaevaluation.blogspot.com/

Fleming Madsen / Onalytica:                  http://www.onalytica.com/blog/ 

 

Thought Leadership / White Papers:

The Institute for Public Relations’ Measurement Commission

Books:

1.  Excellence in PR & Communications Management. (chpts 7, 23), Grunig J. (ed). (1992).  New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 

 

2.  A Primer of Public Relations Research.  Stacks, D.W. (2002).  New York, NY: The Guildford Press

 

3.  Evaluating Public Relations.  Watson, T. & Noble, P.  (2005).  London: Kogan Page. 

 

4.  Public Relations:  What Research Tells Us.  Pavlik, J. (1987). New York: Sage Publications. 

 

5.  Using Research in Public Relations.  Broom, G.M. & Dozier, D.M. (1990). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.

 

6.  Measuring Success:  The Data-Driven Communicator’s Guide to Measuring Public Relationships.  Paine, K.D. (2007).  NH:  KDPaine & Partners Publishing. 

 

7.  The Content Analysis Guidebook.  Neuendorf, K.  (2002).  London:  Sage Publications. 

 

8.  Communication Research.  Stacks, D.W. & Hocking J.E.  (1999).  New York:  Longman. 

 

9.  Mass Communication Research Methods.  Hansen, A. (1998). New York: New York University Press

 

10.  Unleashing the Power of PR:  A Contrarian’s Guide to Marketing and Communication.  Weiner, M.  (2006).  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass.

Wanna talk PR meas’t in Canada? Lean on your PR firm

Cdn Council of PR Firm invite-only measurement event Oct 21:

Cdn. Council of PR Firms: Measurement Event Oct 21

This PRoponent / PRomulgator was honoured to be asked to be a panelist at the upcoming measurement event being put on by the Canadian Council of PR Firms.  As space is limited, the event is by invite only.  Council member firms are extending invites to a select number of their clients. 

It’s called Proving PR Works:  Assessing Outcomes, Confirming Results.  We’ll be talking about best practices, guiding principals, tools, methods, theories and the like.     

Panelists are:

Dave Scholz, VP Leger Marketing

Jacqueline Taggart, Senior Consultant, Communications Practice, Watson-Wyatt

David Alston, VP Marketing Radian6

me:  Alan Chumley, PRincipal of PRooph

7.30am, National Club, 303 Bay St., Toronto. 

@martinwaxman will be tweeting live.  Perhaps @thornley too.   

Looking forward to it.  Thanks CCPRF.

News Canada’s Series on Measuring Online PR

News Canada and the Media Relations Rating Points System present an evening series on measuring online public relations activities. This series, News Canada says, has been designed to provide communications professionals with the tools and knowledge needed to engage their organization in new and social media. The series features two of Canada’s leading online strategy and measurement organizations.

At this speakers series, attendees will learn:

Social Media Planning

• How to prepare your organization for social media.
• How to develop an effective social media strategy.
• How to measure the effectiveness of your social media strategy.

Online measurement trends

• Learn how online measurement is performed.
• Learn the difference between comScore, Google Analytics, BuzzLogic, Alexa etc.
• Learn why online measurement for Public Relations and Advertising should be the same.

Speakers:

Jen Evans, Founder and Chief Strategist, Sequentia Environics

Brent Lowe-Bernie, President, comScore Media Metrix, Canada

Bryan Segal, Vice President, comScore Media Metrix, Canada

Introducing PRooph…

…Canada’s first method/vendor-agnostic communications measurement consultancy.

PRooph is the only firm of it’s kind in Canada as, in some ways, we’re defined more by what we don’t do than what we do.

We’re not selling a measurement product or a singular method. Nor are we an agent of the various vendors that capably do so. Rather, PRooph exists as a consultative resource to communications practitioners on both the agency and client side. Think of us as a kind of in-house measurement specialist and liaison with vendors matching clients needs with holistic solutions, regardless of the vendor(s). All this with a keen eye on correlating outputs with outcomes, and pointing to PR’s unique contribution to the marketing mix, from media coverage to stakeholder relationships and all points in between.

PRooph‘s value to clients is that we’ve been on all sides of the measurement equation. We’ve worked in big blue chips. We’ve worked in big agencies. We’ve worked on the research and measurement supply side. So we understand well the languages and priorities of clients, agencies, and vendors. We’re well connected on the agency side and have personal relationships with most vendors. That uniquely situates us to broker measurement discussions and manage projects adding strategic value along the way. Both the need and opportunity we see and our value proposition.

Here’s what we’re proposing to do:
· Measurement Audits
· Presentations, Seminars, Workshops
· Presentations to help sell-in measurement to senior management
· Measurable Objective Setting
· Advice, Counsel Based on Best Practices, Guiding Principles
· RFP Process Management, Prep, & Review
· Vendor Review / Recommendation / Selection / Management
· Project Management
· Program Implementation
· Custom method, tool, index development
· Analysis / Interpretation

www.prooph.ca

Consider Entering PR Measurement Award

Well the measurement proponent’s come out of semi blogtirement for a good cause; to promote (on behalf of VMS’s Angela Jeffrey) the Jack Felton Golden Ruler Award for Excellence in PR Measurement & Evaluation. The entries, the finalists, and the winner (and the review and discussion of the winner’s case study) do well to advance the thinking and dialogue on PR measurement globally.

Angela’s words now:

“If you are “into” PR research and measurement, and have used it extensively in one of your PR campaigns this past year, you might want to consider entering the Jack Felton Golden Ruler Award for Excellence in PR Measurement & Evaluation. Entries of all types are welcome – including research using social media! The award recognizes superb examples of research used to support public relations practice. Winners are feted at the Institute for Public Relations Summit on Measurement in October in Portsmouth, NH, and it’s quite a big deal. But hurry! Entries are due August 15th. Here’s How to Enter, and see these terrific examples of previous winners’ entries: Padilla Speer Beardsley’s Winning Entry 2007 or Shell’s Award Winning Entry 2008 for ideas – and there are more on the site:

http://www.instituteforpr.org/awards/golden_ruler/

IABC’s CW Asks Readers About Measurement

Encouragingly the January-February issue of CW (Communication World) is asking readers to weigh in on measurement for their regular global perspectives column.

“How has the need to incorporate measurement into your programs changed how you approach a communication challenge in your work?”

Stand up and, as IABC’s site says, “be heard.”

E-mail your perspective (in 125-150 words) to:
cwmagazine@iabc.com