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Many comms professionals (and their clients) struggle with measuring the success of their PR, social media or content marketing campaigns, often making the mistake of measuring only at the conclusion of a project or not having the right (or any) metrics in place to begin with.
Here we’ve assembled five of the most common mistakes relating to evaluating the effectiveness of a communications campaign –and what you should be doing instead.
1. Measuring only AFTER a campaign. Measuring at the conclusion of your project or campaign will leave you nothing to compare your final metrics with. The solution is to have a measurement strategy from the outset – which includes pre-project measurement – and put evaluation at the heart of your communication efforts.
2. Failing to focus on business objectives. A campaign or strategy will not deliver if the commercial / business objectives of the business concerned are not a core part of it. Make sure your communication strategy and tactics are directly aligned to support the business results you are seeking. And use these business results as part of the metrics.
3. Not measuring outputs or activities that achieve change. Best practice communications focuses on achieving change in perceptions and /or behaviour. Often a campaign or strategy is measured only in terms of outputs (such as the number of piece of coverage achieved). But it is important to measure outputs that actually create an impact with the target audience, such as the number of times a piece of content has been shared online, demonstrable changes in perceptions through auditing or specific campaign responses, for example.
4. Believing that AVEs are a measure for success. Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs) rely on a formula that measure media coverage achieved on behalf of a client then use a multiplier to calculate the value of coverage as if it were paid advertising. In so doing, it assigns a currency value to communication activities and doesn’t measure behavioural / perception changes among target audiences. Instead of AVEs, observe the Barcelona Principles, which have been widely adopted by the communications industry globally. Choose the metrics that align with your business goals and measure them. And look to experts such as the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) for clarity around measurement and analytics.
5. Measuring only conventional media. With communication moving increasingly online and the rising importance of social media, know that social media CAN (and most certainly should) be measured. There are numerous tools and techniques to assess what’s happening with your brand online for e.g. Google analytics and SEOmoz. Ignore them at your peril.
The bottom line is to realise that measurement can only be achieved when a clear vision of success has been articulated and evaluation is at the start and heart of your efforts. Effective measurement provides the ideal opportunity to demonstrate the value of a communications strategy. Just remember to keep the following questions in mind: What business objectives are we trying to achieve? What metrics do I need to measure to behavioural and / or changes in perception that are relevant to that goal?
For more about measurement including best practice models for applying dollar value, stand by for BlueChip’s forthcoming edition of PRognosis, our regular newsletter. To subscribe, email your details to valentina@bluechipcommunication.com.au
