PR: Is PR measurable?

Maggs went on to relate the experiences of a colleague who had recently returned to the fold of the Financial Mail: "Executives are so focused on daily numbers, ratios, profit and delivery, that they have little opportunity to engage in the perception side of their business."

Leahy says it seems to him that whenever PR folks get together, the one grumble all have in common is, 'Why don't most senior management take PR as seriously as other company disciplines?'

Leahy runs Media Manager, South Africa's first media management tool for communications professionals. Media Manager is a computerized desktop program of media information and tools to use that information. One of those tools is PR Evaluator, the pre-eminent evaluation tool in the industry. In the 12 years since Leahy launched Media Manager, it has been used by many of the larger professional PR consultancies and a growing number of in house departments. About 70% of all advertising spend comes from users of Media Manager. Leahy is soon to relaunch Media Manager in a totally new format, making it more stable, easier to access, with more export options and an intuitive interface with email and the Internet. It replaces what Leahy admits, is a rather clunky format and an unstable file format. It will also include new media, such as electronic media valuation tools.

"Company activities are measured and made accountable against set objectives, performance, competitive comparisons and all those kinds of numerical management things! Senior management have had the mantra 'if you cannot measure it, you can not manage it', driven into their psyche. And that hasn't fitted too comfortably with PR people of the past. Indeed many PR professionals still hold to the belief that PR cannot be measured at all. And therefore, according to the management mantra, not managed!" says Leahy.

"I am sure many of you would respond that 'journalists are uncontrollable so how can I be held accountable!' and 'the nature of press activity is so variable and random that it is impossible to make numeric'. Some years back a very senior PR consultant told me 'our clients know, just know, that their PR is working. They tell me. They don't need to measure it'."

Leahy points out that this belief is falling away in more mature PR environments. "In 1999 in the UK PR Week, Porter Novelli sponsored a survey among in house and consultancy PR professionals. The research summary I saw expressed dismay that one in five did not believe that the results of their efforts could be evaluated. To me, coming from a South African environment, what is surprising is that four in five – 80% – did believe that their results could be evaluated. Run a similar survey here and I would lay money on a much lower figure. I am sure that a survey here would reveal to management a much more depressing indication of the belief in the manageability and accountability to management of PR, by PR professionals.

"And maybe that is part of the reason why, according to Jeremy Maggs, PR staff are all too often maginalised, tasked with company newsletters and finding helium for the Christmas party balloons!"

In future articles to be run exclusively in Communicate ezine, Leahy will explore the many issues relating to measurement, including:

• How do you start establishing criteria for measurement?
  
• What are we measuring?
  
• Can one measurement method fit all PR needs?
  
• The practicalities of spending money on research.
  
• The differences and similarities in measurement of advertising and PR.
  
• The use of reach and frequency analyses like those employed by media planners in advertising agencies.
  
• The opportunities and failings of advertising value equivalent tools.
  
• Why do PR executives weight PR exposure more than advertising value equivalent, and what should that weighting be?

Leahy insists that this is a continuing dialogue and he would appreciate all comments and suggestions. "All debate will further the drive to make PR more rational - a business discipline worthy of management time and consideration."