Measurement - how do you do it?

Everyone wants to prove the value of what they're doing, right? With comms - and PR in particular - it's always been a dark art to present results that show value to the business. My view is that a 3-tiered system is the way forward: Performance/Context/Value.

I think anyone who's been in comms or PR for more than 10-15 years will remember the days of coverage books. I remember the approach of 'the louder the thud when it hits the desk, the better'. Sure, a thick wedge of paper slammed into tabletops might keep furniture salesmen in business...but what about your organisation?

Coverage volume, ad equivalency and sentiment are old school. But what's new? I believe that any metrics that simply measure outcomes need to be carefully selected. I personally like an approach that reports on 'quality' coverage - let's call them 'Top Stories'. By that I mean coverage that someone we want to see it, stands a chance of seeing. So it needs to be in a good publication, and significant enough in length or impact that someone will notice it...no quick mentions at the bottom of a long article! That gives an element of performance.

But s'o what?' is likely the response from any honest member of the business. And with justification. If I told you we had 10 pieces of coverage, what would you say? 'That's good!', 'That's awful!', or something else? If you're Microsoft and you're talking about the launch of the latest GPT enabled applications, it's terrible. If you started ACME AI, LTD yesterday and you're announcing a new CTO, it's probably amazing. Context is everything. Share of Voice [groan!] has a role to play here. Yes, it's old school, but with a makeover. Only measure the publications that you think have value (see 'Top Story' definition), and only measure against actual competitors. (Hint: measuring against Microsoft, if you're ACME AI, isn't going to look good, or be helpful.) But it helps to show business folks how we're doing in a way that they can relate to.

But that's still falling a step short if you're talking to a sales leader. You'll be hearing 'so what?' again. Having the coverage is one thing, but knowing if it helps pipeline is another. This is where things get really tricky, but delving into the analytics can help. Try and get helpful links into your coverage. No, not the blatantly self-promotional links to product pages. Links to further resource...things that help those who read the coverage and need more help. The more you can create a connection between coverage and owned pages, the better. Then track inbound traffic by domain source. It's not perfect, but it's something.

The other way that you can show some kind of value is by message tracking. Now, this only works with sales guys if your messaging reflects what they think you should be saying (see my other blog on Re:Di). But if you can show that media coverage connects to their sales plays or Go To Market themes, you'll see more enthusiasm when you go through your reporting.

Having this three tiered approach to measurement helps to tell a story about why what you're doing is valuable to the business.

Let's also be pragmatic. Sometimes a potential audience number of 100 billion helps grease the wheels too.