Collaboration: working with other teams to build flawless measurement plans
The first issue we tackled was collaboration, the principle being that the PR industry needs to get better at working with other channels to measure their activity, rather than struggling with the insurmountable task of attempting to measure an incredibly broad set of metrics.
When looking for information on how people measure PR or looking for guides and whitepapers tackling the subject, I came across dozens of suggested measurement points. From branded mentions and reach, to likes, shares, revenue and share of voice the pressure that we as a PR industry put on ourselves when it comes to measurement is surely part of what’s slowing down the development of a clear solution.
Through suggesting ways to work with other teams and asking the right questions, the first section of our talk covered how to make sure you’re gathering the right data and working with the right teams.
Asking the right questions of other teams can not only streamline your own reporting time, it can bring you new insight you may never have managed to uncover!
Perception: using reporting to get noticed at board level
Another key issue that the troubled state of PR reporting engenders, is a lack of trust and investment from senior stakeholders.
At Builtvisible we’ve found that upping our investment in analytics for our clients and giving them data that they can rely upon has had a tangible impact on our their abilities to expand budgets and gain favour with the most senior stakeholders within their businesses.
Tom discussed the responsibility of PR teams to involve analytics and measurement experts at the start of any campaign or client engagement. Though PR managers can’t be expected to be data experts, if you’re leading campaign strategy it’s essential that you can speak the language of measurement, ask the right questions and work with analytics teams to build the reports you need.
This approach sees us move far beyond coverage books, and into more intuitive reporting which can truly tell us how our campaigns have impacted business performance.
