How to really measure your PR results?

I was looking at a site for a company that was interested in hiring some PR help lately. Based on an initial conversation, they seemed to take a great deal of pride in what they had done up until that point and were seeking someone to come in, take up the baton and carry forward. I had to be a bit of a spoil sport when it came time to ask questions and ask them why they were so proud of what they had already done. I was not trying to lessen their accomplishments, rather I wanted to understand why they believed their PR program was in excellent form.

I told them in my opinion they had an impressive amount of coverage. I saw a number of very well known publications, including some very solid business coverage. What I did not see however was publications which may be read by individuals who are interested in purchasing their services. In other words I saw the very evil shadow of trophy hunting and nothing that would help the brand to grow and excel.

Let me give you an example. Say your company invents a robot that can fit into your garage and diagnose problems with your car in layman's terms and even perform minor repairs like oil changes. Now this is cool stuff and of course you may wish to get it covered by Time and the Wall Street Journal and your local big business publication. But I would argue that Car and Driver and maybe even Simple Life may be more appropriate as this is where people would go to make buying decisions regarding these products.

The issue boils down to the fact that one hit in a solid industry publication is one that will go to deliver your message to your customer base. They are not always glamorous, but they are highly influential among the consumers of your product. A hit in a big business publication like The Wall Street Journal may feel good and may give the impression of success, but it will prove to be an empty victory.

Remember that people do not turn to mainstream media for information on specific industries. They usually go to specialized media outlets, web sites and so on. The best way to measure the success of your PR efforts is by monitoring how much of an increase you see in a tangible factor such as web site hits, contacts or leads. Of course, you need to factor in the role of the other elements within the marketing mix such as direct mail,advertising and the web in your calculations.

The strongest advice I can offer to any organization who wishes to measure your PR results is determine what you hope to accomplish from public relations and then base all measurements against that. Avoid the pitfall of thinking that a big name will result in a flood of new business and realize that, ultimately, the goal of your PR efforts is to work with the marketing team to drive sales and create revenue!

Start off right when it comes to marketing

Funny thing about marketing, we are often called upon to deliver results without being given a chance to do the actual ground work to support the demands placed on us. I like to put myself into another profession and wonder, would we say to an architect that it's OK to design half the building because we want the plans done by 4 or to a farmer, hey, we want crops by June even though we only planted in May.

Of course, the big issue is that marketing has become far to compliant when it comes to dealing with the expectations raised by senior executives. All to often we wish to be the ideal of the team player and meet or exceed any demand regardless of how realistic it is. What the situation calls for, but where marketing and communications people fail to come through, is in providing and honest and fair assessment of what we can do and when we can do it. It is far better to be honest and say this will take until next Friday to do right rather than say when do you want it.

By releasing the ability to start off right in the marketing program, we are automatically in the hole. The marketing team has sacrificed the ability to become an effective team and has established that its role within the organization is to supplicate to any demand that is placed upon it. The legitimacy of marketing as a contributor to the success of the organization is virtually negated.

By establishing itself as an independent entity within the organization, capable of standing on its own and providing legitimate input to the success of the organization. By standing up immediately and expecting to be counted along with sales, finance, HR and the other departments within the organization, marketing garners a seat at the table and becomes a value added team to the group and not an expense to be corralled. The latter course, as we all know, leads to disastrous results for the long-term success of the organization.

The Public Relations Diet: Sure to help your company grow

The news media is constantly reminding us of how poorly the health is of the American public. While numbers vary, I have heard that between 1/4 and 1/3 of Americans are obese. If one were to develop a way to gauge PR programs regarding their level of fat, I would argue that at least 90 % of them are obese. Bloated by needless releases and wasting time and resources chasing vanity clips and not focused on what any good marketing person should be, growing the company.

Thankfully, I have come up with what I think is a good PR diet. Sadly, I compile this without having a book publisher yet so I guess I will have to win the lottery to make my first million. But seriously, there are ways to run a lean, mean and highly effective public relations program. Let me try and spell out a few of the basics here and we can build off them.

• Establish the independence of PR and the unique benefits it brings to the organization-PR does not stand for press release, nor is it a vanity project for the senior executives. It is up for the PR team, especially the managers to put a stake in the ground and defend their PR expertise and knowledge. As we all know, being a PR person is often like being the coach of a sports team. Everyone can do your job better than you. Don't be afraid to take a strong stand and tell people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. This is by no means being rude or cruel it is being honest.
• Limit the use of news releases and banish the word press release all together-A news release is just that, the release of information of value regarding the organization to the public. It should be used rarely and when information of great value needs to be disseminated. Releasing version 2.0M does not qualify. I have found that like with any training regime, setting limits is the best way to ensure that you receive a quality product. Do not be afraid to set a quota with a bit of leeway. If you commit to 4-6 releases per quarter, or better yet, per half year, hard decisions will have to be made and the result will be better news releases.
• Be creative-Most PR people, especially agency people, seem to be like the old milk horses who go the same path because they were trained to do so and don't know any better. It is amazing to me, how many PR professionals talk about Web 2.0 and how skilled they will be in those areas, yet 90% of their time will be spent writing releases and pitching media that will help them, not you! Look for ways to be creative, heck contact editors and ask them if they have any holes coming up that maybe filled nicely by some of the bylined articles you already have in the bullpen ready to go. That works out exceptionally well!
• Find time to meet with editors-Times are tough now and budgets are the tightest they have been in years. But there is a great opportunity to build exceptionally strong relationships with key editors by face-to-face meetings held at conferences or other events. By doing this you become more than an anonymous voice on the phone but a smiling face and a good shared laugh.

The Public Relations Diet will serve the true purpose of PR. It will not give you vanity hits, nor make your CEO a rock star, rather it will help you to do what all marketing and communications people should do. Build up brand recognition, which will ultimately result in greater revenue!

Break senior management of PR candy!

In working with a number of smaller companies, and some small minded senior execs, I have noticed the unmistakable desire to achieve front page coverage in big name publications. They all want to be featured in Business Week or Fortune or on the cover of the Wall Street Journal. Telling them that is not a good idea is often like telling a child they can not have candy for dinner.

Still it is important that if you are to run a public relations operation you keep your eye focused on what the goal of the program really is. At the end of the day, public relations is a function of marketing and its goal is to drive sales. If you are not bringing more money into the organization then you are not succeeding as a marketing communications person.

One thing normally boars senior management to tears but it is for the good of the organization. It is vastly more important that you work to build relationships with analysts and reporters from influential media reporters. I remember one CEO who thought it was great that his start up was quoted in the Boston Globe. It was what PR people call a mere mention and really said nothing about the organization, its goals or why anyone should buy their product/service. Needless to say the CEO was angry that I was not impressed.

The relationships with analysts and other influences is essential to the future growth of the organization and is much more important than The Wall Street Journal, New York Times or any number of media organizations. Why do you ask? Well it is for the simple reason that when one is in the process of making a key buying decision you do your homework with those you think are thought leaders in the field. Buyers want to make sure their investment is going to pay dividends. If you're buying new networking technology, you want to be sure you are taking advice from someone who knows networking inside and out, just as you want to see a cardiologist if you have issues with your heart.

So as a PR person it is your job to tell your senior management what is best for the organization regarding communications. Much as a child needs vegetables to grow, an organization needs solid and strong relationships with key editors and analysts in less glamorous organizations in order to grow the organization and establish both a steady revenue pipeline and a clear, distinct message. If you do this, then you will succeed. If you try and chase after the big names you may end up chasing a dust trail and even if you catch it, what you end up with is a lot of useless coverage.

Why activity is often the worst thing in a PR campaign

I have had the chance to speak to a lot of marketing and PR people of late and one thing I have noticed is that there is a lot of pride taken by smaller and less well informed individuals that they have achieved regular interviews with the news media. In most cases they are like a kid with their first credit card and only see what they can buy. The don't realize that sooner or later, the bill is going to come due!

I have seen so many companies run a laundry list of all the big names publications who have supposedly covered their organizations. I still laugh when I think of the start up CEO who actually took offense when I disagreed with him and said that publications want interesting stories and aren't really interested in the cult of the CEO. He felt that business was personality driven.

No the sad but true fact is that as far as business publications are concerned, hard news is what sells. As a result, going out for a lot of "puff" pieces that do not clearly communicate to your market, who you are, what you do and why that matters are of no good. Many organizations invest vast sums of money and time in trying to get covered by big and prestigious publications like the Wall Street Journal for example and all they end up with is a waste of both time and money.

The smartest course of action is what I call the sniper's route. In the military, they train every soldier in how to care for and fire their weapon. However they take time to see who is the best sharp shooter in the bunch and then train that person even further and turn them into a sniper. Of the many elements of their training, one of the most important is how to identify the best target from a sea of possibilities. One of the great sayings among snipers is that any sniper can hit the target, but only the great ones can select it!

So picking targets for your PR campaign is one of the most essential elements to its successful execution. Trying to bring in a large number of busy bee results or picking some publication without a clear line drawn from story to customer to sale is the needless type of PR activity that is all too common among PR agencies today. Clients need to realize that it is up to them to go to the agency with marching orders and to expect in return results based on your expectations. Otherwise, you will see a bunch of busy work that in the long term, six months or more, will result in no net gain of sales.

How to wean your CEO from a PR addiction

One thing is very true in public relations today, far too many press releases are being issued. Furthermore, no one is reading them! The sad part is that many corporate executives see the way to dig out of a hole is to dig deeper into the earth.

The appeal of the press release is not hard to see. It allows senior executives, in most cases CEO's to pontificate on what they believe is important news that the entire world must hear. Sadly, in many cases, they are speaking to an empty church. So many releases are going out and most are of such dubious value that important things like messaging and reaching customers is often overlooked in the interest of simply issuing another release. Keep in mind that it is in the best interests of your agency and the wire services to have you issue a release any time you sneeze.

So that your public relations can accomplish its real goal of delivering your message to your target audience and ultimately helping you sell more of your product or service you need to manage your PR program the way you would protect family valuables. There are some steps you can take to ensure that your PR program is run properly. Some require basic steps but like a lot of things in life, the simple things lead to the greatest result. Here are some of my key tips to reduce PR addiction.

• Bar the use of the term press release. Instruct your management team that the company only issues news releases. It may seem like splitting hairs but it forces you to ask such questions as, what is the news value of what we are saying? Will this help us sell our product or services? Will this help reinforce our message to our key target markets?
• Put the management team on a diet when it comes to issue news releases. Pick a number and limit them to roughly half a dozen releases per quarter. That is an arbitrary number but what it does is it forces prioritization on what is really valuable. Hard choices often need to be made and rather than take an easy out by issuing a press release, make a tough choice and issue a news release.
• Look for non-traditional means of connecting with target audiences. While we are evolving in our use of technology, not to many companies are using Web 2.0 technology, such as blogging, Facebook and Twitter among others, to successfully disseminate their message to their market at large.
• Use more established methods in new ways. For example, opt-in email distribution services are vastly under-utilized and as such do not people who are interested in hearing about new developments within your organizations to hear from you. Therefore in a sad irony, information is being distributed to people who don't care or who are not an appropriate target.

Many senior executives believe that they know what is the best way to disseminate information and as a result hijack the PR process. Sadly many communications professionals allow this to happen because they place temporary job security over the long term success of their careers. The ones who truly succeed at public relations are the professionals who establish a rigorous program. The organization's success is the ultimate goal and only through this type of rigorous program can the success be assured.