It’s Measurement Month - Benchmark PR Success
September officially kicked off the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication’s (AMEC) “Measurement Month.” As AMEC describes it, it is “A global program of activities to spotlight attention on the importance of PR measurement. Measurement Month is filled with free events, webinars, executive discussions, podcasts, workshops and much more, focusing on filling the gap between understanding the value of PR measurement and doing something about it.”
As part of our own initiative to help brands and agencies embrace PR measurement, we’ve created a month of “trading cards” with tips and thoughts on the industry’s buzzwords. They might help you to better understand why measurement is so important, how to get started, and what to think about in creating a measurement strategy.
Our first tip: Benchmark. Too many executives enter a measurement effort without first taking this crucial step. Where are you starting from and where do you want to go? What is the best performance being achieved – whether in your company or department, by a competitor, or in the industry? It’s important to establish baselines, define best practices, identify improvement opportunities and create a competitive environment that inspires better performance over time. When you understand your own performance, industry or competitive practices, you can successfully find ways to meet or improve upon them.
Essentially, benchmarking is taking a look at where you are and what you do now (often vs competitors), so that you can improve upon - and measure - that performance in the future. You can identify areas of opportunity as well as set performance expectations. For example, at SeeDepth, we help customers establish a benchmark with our Campaign Performance Index. Users can track the performance of individual efforts (such as a media story or Twitter mentions), as well as overall campaigns, via a score based on many of the values outlined in the Barcelona Principles. We’ll elaborate on those in another tip coming soon!
As the value proposition of PR continues to evolve in the business ecosystem, benchmarking becomes more important than ever. Make sure you understand and undertake this crucial step before implementing any communications measurement program.
You can click this link to find the list of all Measurement Month events, or follow along with #AMECMM on Twitter.
