Does size still matter?

In a two-day workshop members debated technologies and methods for measuring editorial media publicity and looked at best practice models from around the world. The whole question of using advertising value equivalent (AVE) was hotly debated.

The formula

Typically PR consultancies provide their clients with reports claiming to have achieved X million rands of campaign publicity against a fee spend of X rands. Generally AVE claims will show that PR companies are able to generate 5 – 10 more rands in unpaid publicity than the fees paid to them to achieve this. The AVE figures quoted in PR media reports are often further inflated by claims of factors like a good photograph increasing the AVE value three times! Seldom do you see bad coverage being scored negatively, however, and how do you value the scandal you kept out of the news using AVE? On average, 10 –20% of unpaid media coverage is negative, yet many practitioners include this coverage in their audience reach without giving it a negative value.

The fundamental flaw with AVE is that it measures outputs instead of outcomes and it compares two activities that are not the same. Public relations and advertising are two different disciplines designed for different outcomes. Advertising has one goal: to move the sales needle. But public relations activity seeks to influence and positively persuade a far wider range of stakeholders than just consumers.

The world renowned fundi on public relations measurement, Katie Delahaye Paine, says that this is the equivalent of hiring a plumber to redo your bathroom and then calling in an electrician to get a price quote to do the same thing. You just can't compare the two jobs.

Tonnage vs exposure

Mike Leahy, developer of Media Manager (the Windows PC-based service which is widely used by South African PR companies) said: “Our system provides AVE measurement but practitioners need to realise that AVE is not PR evaluation. It is a measure of the tonnage of editorial exposure. That's all it is!”

Delegates were in agreement that too much emphasis is placed on “measuring impact” by clips, impressions, hits, and AVEs. Using multiplier factors to give a value measured against AVE is an easy way to impress clients. PR agencies often say that their clients are the ones who insist on AVE but delegates felt that it is up to us as practitioners to introduce the most meaningful measurement metrics to our clients so that we can move the focus to content analysis and impact on reputation and the bottom line.
Louise Marsland of Bizcommunity.com pointed out that Internet social networks have caused a fundamental shift in the way people interact with each other and with media. Social networking is booming; we are no longer crafting one-way messages. If PR consultants want to remain relevant they have to be able to understand ‘what makes people click' and how to shape and measure online opinion.

Sally Falkow, the founder and co-developer of PRESSfeed, says: “The live web has given the average person the power of voice. The barriers to online publishing are gone. Anyone can set up a blog in mere minutes and have their say online – in text, images and video. They can podcast and videocast. They can syndicate their thoughts and ideas in an RSS feed, making their comments visible to the entire world.”

Business objectives

So measurement metrics must be determined by business objectives: Who do we want to reach? What media do they use? Where do they live? What do we want them to do? How important is competitive positioning? What do we want to compare at the end of the initiative? How will we find out if our editorial coverage made a difference? Did we get our key messages out to our target audience?

Whatever method we use to measure media, we start by collecting clips. In South Africa the most-used clipping agencies are Newsclip and Monitoring SA. Both offer media statistical and content-driven media tracking across all media types, including print, broadcast and online.

As PR practitioners we need to get more specific about what we want and need from clipping agencies. There is no doubt that they want to meet those needs and we have seen many new products and services emerging in recent years. If clipping is done haphazardly with little regard for outcome beyond flattering figures, then much of the effort will go underutilised. No CEO wants to wade through a pile of clips, he wants it interpreted and analysed so that he can make decisions.

Analysing media content

Analysis of the communication is what counts. To make media analysis meaningful, you first map the business goals of your organisation and then set the metrics. Metrics do not have to be quantitative. Examples:

• Did the media disseminate our key messages?
  
• Did we keep bad publicity to a minimum in a crisis?
  
• Was our product established as the preferred choice?
  
• Were we successful in promoting our product directly to the consumer?
  
• Did we establish our spokespeople as credible representatives for the industry?
  
• Did our spokespeople get a greater share of column space/airtime on an industry issue?
  
• Did we change attitudes on a social issue?
  
• How much response did the media publicity draw in terms of letters to the editor and discussions on the Internet?
  
• Did the coverage result in a change of legislation or interest from legislators?
  
• How many people responded by acting in a certain way?
  
• How many discussions took place on on-line sites?
  
• Our biggest reputation problem is in the Western Cape. Is that where we achieved the most positive media publicity?
  
• How many customers mentioned and discussed the article with one of our sales team when they next called on them?
  
• Was there an increase in sales of the product or service highlighted?

Decide in advance whether your main goal is to promote a cause, a company, a brand or product, then measure this item as a key factor when interpreting results.

Basic Steps of setting up a media measurement system

The workshop took an in-depth look at the Canadian Public Relations Society's Media Relations Ratings Points (MRP), the Canadian standard for evaluating and reporting editorial media coverage. Partnering with NewsCanada and CPRS, the MRP system data is available online.

The MRP standard does not use advertising equivalency values (AVEs), nor does it use multipliers. Instead it uses the same data that the marketing and advertising industry uses to determine audience reach.

Like the Media Manager system, the media outlet database provided by MRPdata.com provides audience reach figures for each clip. You enter tone and assign points for selected criteria and the MRP system will then automatically calculate your MRP score and your Return-on-Investment (ROI) or Cost-Per-Contact (CPC). The primary objective of the MRP system is to create a standardised reporting mechanism that can be widely accepted and utilised with ease to measure coverage results. This system can be easily customised by company or by project and provides clear metrics to evaluate media coverage, track total impressions and cost per contact.

The backbone for scoring is criteria and tone. MRP assigns five points for positive tone, three points for neutral tone and zero for negative. Therefore negative tone lowers your overall score out of 10. There is also an optional bonus/demerit point which can be applied for very positive or very negative coverage.

Criteria make up the other five possible points in the MRP system. A maximum of one point can be assigned to each rating factor. Depending on the communication objectives, any five of the criteria below can be selected for measurement:

1. Company/brand mention
   
2. Photo/image
   
3. Spokesperson quote
   
4. Prominence/position in publication or broadcast
   
5. Key message(s)
   
6. Headline/newscast positioning
   
7. Tier 1 vs. Tier 2 media outlets
   
8. Competitive/peer inclusion (eg product reviews)
   
9. Target audience
   
10. Credibility (of spokesperson, expert etc)
    
11. Inclusion of website
    
12. Call to action
    

MRP scoring is determined by adding tone and average of rating criteria to get an average score out of 10 for the total campaign.

Cost per Contact CPC is total program cost over reach. Eg:
Program cost: R25 000
Total reach: 750 000
Cost per contact: R30.00

Delegates at the workshop spent a morning experimenting with a combination of the MRP template and the customised media measurement system developed by PR Africa. While most delegates have tended to provide hard copy measurement and analysis, it was agreed that media measurement and content analysis is best presented to clients either on a CD or able to be viewed on a server so that they can click and view what they want to.

Many PR practitioners have expressed interest in taking a closer look at media measurement and analysis and the delegates felt that these systems shoud be workshopped in other parts of the country.

Please comment

Comments can be forwarded to: Bridget van Holdt, chairman, PRISA PRCC, email: or Lesley Schroeder, PR Africa, email: .

Further resources

For more information on Media Manager, go to www.mediamanager.co.za.

See also:

• Is the page view dead? http://www.forbes.com/media/2007/07/10/internet-advertising-nielsen-biz-media-cx_lh_0710pageviews.html
  
• New marketing opportunity unfolds as social media takes off in SA https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/23/17207.html
  
• Online Periodical for Public Relations Measurement http://www.themeasurementstandard.com
  
• The Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) http://www.amecorg.com/amec/index.asp
  
• The Commission on Public Relations Measurement & Evaluation http://www.instituteforpr.org
  
• Media Relations Rating Points Canada: www.mrpdata.com