Give thanks for the “little” PR tasks

As Americans take a break from business as usual to celebrate Thanksgiving, I would like to wish those of you in the U.S., and everyone else reading this blog, much to be thankful for. I hope that during the holiday, and in the future, you are surrounded by the people and things that are most important to you.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I would share a post about showing gratitude to PR team members for an important, yet underappreciated task…that’s right, I’m talking about measurement.

Ask a junior PR staffer, an intern, or anyone else responsible for doing PR measurement, and they are likely to tell you that it is often a thankless task. That’s because, a lot of times, the people tasked with capturing data, tagging it, and so on, don’t get to see the benefits of their work. However, the people using the data and benefiting from its insights, are the ones that receive recognition for PR wins.

When PR measurement is done well, it can be an absolute game changer for a product or brand. The end results of measurement are exciting and clear to those using the data and analysis. But the advantages aren’t always felt by those who are responsible for tediously tracking coverage and tagging articles. That is why it is nice to show appreciation for coverage tracking, monitoring and measurement work.

One way you can do this is to implement a rewards program for relevant and valuable PR information. For example, you could offer rewards for accuracy and quality control. Reliable analytics and PR recommendations start with accurate data. To show appreciation for hard work and accuracy, and to promote quality work, provide performance incentives for assignments like reviewing coverage for relevance, and tagging data correctly.

Another reward worth implementing is a contest for PR insights. Consider asking PR teams or individuals to submit a data driven insight each month. Then, at the end of the month, choose the best insight and reward the person who submitted it. Not only will a program like this show team members appreciation, it will also give employees a reason to care about measurement. Ultimately, your entire PR team will feel motivated to not only do the basic measurement work, but also to think more about how to use measurement data for strategy and PR recommendations This is a win-win scenario – junior staff will be better trained AND feel more appreciated.

I believe that thanking team members for their work is an important part of creating a happy, successful PR team. And finding ways to provide recognition for tasks that generally go unnoticed can have a big impact on productivity.

PR pros say data-driven strategy is essential to building lasting client-agency partnerships

As a follow-up to last week’s post, “Why do client-agency relationships fail?” here is a look at how – according to PR professionals – measurement can be used to improve client-agency partnerships…

Wallop! OnDemand asked 150 PR pros (a mix of corporate and agency practitioners) to answer the question, “How can agencies use measurement to help make agency-client relationships more successful?” Responses showed:

• 40% suggested agencies provide strategy recommendations based on measurement and analysis
• 21.5% said agencies should use measurement charts, data and results to make PR achievements clear
• 17% said agencies need to deliver regular reports to create more transparency about PR’s progress
• 13% felt agencies should use measurement insights to develop a more efficient/budget friendly PR program
• 5.5% said agencies should leverage competitor measurement data to help their clients be more competitive

These are all good examples of how measurement can be used to improve PR results and, therefore, business relationships. It is not surprising that the number one response to this question relates to PR strategy. After all, clients expect strategic counsel as part of their PR services. Plus, agencies need laser focused strategies in order to ensure programs are efficient and effective. However, it is interesting to note that only one-third of industry professionals say their team uses measurement data to develop and adjust PR strategy. Clearly, agencies and clients recognize that data-driven PR strategy is important. But, it appears more agency teams need to follow their own recommendations, and actually use measurement, if they want to have stronger client-agency partnerships. And, clients need to make sure measurement is a factor when deciding which agency to hire.

Is your PR team using measurement to develop/improve PR strategy? Has that impacted your client-agency relationship? Let us know.

Analyze PR results and identify opportunities to outdo competitors

If you’ve watched any coverage of the 2012 Olympics you may have noticed that the athletes rely on some pretty advanced equipment to give them every available competitive angle. Things like uniforms, shoes and helmets have evolved to be lighter, stronger, and more aerodynamic. Clearly athletes understand the tools they use impact how they perform, and that they need to take advantage of anything that will potentially put them ahead of competitors. This concept translates well to PR. No, I’m not suggesting PR pros show up for work decked out in spandex Nike attire, there are other ways to get ahead in the PR world. Instead, I recommend measuring and analyzing PR results to help identify opportunities to get ahead of competitors.

In my last post I shared four steps for using measurement to beat competitors. They are:

Step 1: Monitor and compare coverage – be sure PR is in alignment with competitive business goals

Step 2: Analyze results and identify opportunities to outdo competitors

Step 3: Make intelligent PR recommendations and implement strategic action

Step 4: Evaluate on an ongoing basis

One of the points I just can’t stress enough is that you really need to be collecting data for your brand AND its competitors. A lot of PR teams skip that step and therefore don’t have the information they need to understand what it takes to be the pack leader. Of course, just having competitive data is not enough. You need to understand how to use it to your advantage. That is where step #2 (analyze results and identify opportunities) comes into play. Once you have competitive data in hand you need to look for insights that will help you improve your PR efforts and strategy. Here are some things you may want to consider:

• Are you or your competitors earning more media coverage?

• How does the quality of your coverage compare to that of your competitors?

• What publications or reporters are covering your competitors but not you?

• What sort of visibility do your executives have compared to competitor execs?

• Is your message getting through to your intended audience, or are competitors drowning out your voice?

• Is there a topic or area of your industry that lacks a leadership voice – is there an opportunity for you to fill the silence?

These examples are a jumping off point and can help you get started. Sometimes your data analysis will reveal problems with your current PR course – that’s okay. Uncovering problems is a GOOD thing. What’s important is that you’re able to recognize problems in the first place and that you respond to them intelligently. Here is an example:

• Are you or your competitors earning more media coverage?

By analyzing coverage results for you and your competitors you’ll easily be able to see who is earning the most media coverage. And guess what, it might not be you. If earning more coverage is a priority then you’ll want to look for ways to make that happen. Maybe you need to target different journalists, ramp up your outreach, or revise your pitch. Turn to coverage results and use the information to figure out which of your competitors is getting the most coverage. Try to determine what they’re doing right. Are they capitalizing on industry trends? Are their executives more quotable than yours? Digging deep into your data will help you identify opportunities for how you can earn more coverage and achieve greater visibility than your competitors.

Ultimately, keep in mind that analyzing your results against those of your competitors will help you identify weaknesses in your program so you can make the adjustments necessary to pull ahead.

Are PR budgets under attack?

Survey responses from the PR and Measurement Survey.

Last week Wallop! OnDemand released a survey report containing information about current PR budget trends. One of the things the report revealed was that for most PR professionals, budgets have either shrunk recently, or they’ve remained static. Very few agencies or businesses have had the luxury of seeing their PR budgets grow. In fact, according to the report, 42 percent of PR pros have recently experienced a budget cut, while another 46 percent are stuck with static budgets. Only 12 percent of PR professionals have experienced budget growth in the last 12 months.   

So, what do these numbers mean? Are PR budgets under attack? Are companies losing faith and pulling their money out of PR? Should industry professionals be worried that 38 percent of communications professionals saw a company cut PR entirely in 2010?

Not necessarily. Here’s my take on these numbers…

When you pair these budget trends with the rising expectations clients have for their PR programs, it seems likely that what businesses actually want is for PR to optimize programs and produce more with less. Agencies and PR departments that can find a way to do this will be able to deliver what their clients and executives want: great results and great value.

When your clients expect bigger and better results without a bigger investment, you have your work cut out for you. In this case, you need to seriously evaluate your campaign and identify what is working and what is not. By doing so you’ll be able to capitalize on the areas of your campaign that are producing the best results. Then you can adjust or eliminate PR efforts that aren’t delivering.

Take a look at the business outcomes your execs expect PR to accomplish, and revisit the PR goals your team has set. Ask yourself how successful you’ve been at reaching those goals, and determine if there are ways to streamline efforts and make the program more efficient. Be sure to use actual data to help you evaluate and improve your strategy. When budget dollars are on the line, you want to be making informed decisions and not just guessing. The unfortunate truth is that when PR teams don’t deliver what clients and executives want, their budgets are in jeopardy, and they may even run the risk of being replaced.

Continuing to measure results and evaluate your program will allow you to make better decisions and fine tune your strategy so that your campaign will be in top working order. That way you’ll be in a position to impress clients and executives by giving them what they truly want – a PR program that can achieve more with less.

Bouncing back after a budget cut

Recovering from a PR budget cut can be challenging. If your budget decreased at any point during the last several years, and you want to get it back to at least where it was previously, there are a few things you can try:

One strategy is to take advantage of a pain point that clients and executives care about: losing to competitors.  If executives think the company is faring just fine with the (smaller) budget you have now, there is no real reason to increase the budget.  But, if you can prove that PR was helping the business stay competitive – and that once the budget was cut, the company lost ground to competitors, you may have a shot at retrieving those lost dollars.

In order to make this strategy work, you are going to need to collect data from the year prior to when the budget was cut. Then, also collect data for the period of time when you were working from the smaller budget – after the cut. You’ll need data for your company and your competitors. Why? Because you need to show that during the time when the budget was higher – you were on par with (or beating) your competitors.  Then you can make the case that once the budget was cut, competitors gained ground and you lost ground.

I should point out that taking this approach with executives means walking a fine line. That’s because, on one hand, you really should be striving to show that your program has gained efficiencies and you’re able to do more with less. On the other hand, you also need to show that adding to the budget will help the company get a foothold on the competitors once again.

Another thing to note about trying to get a budget back on track is that you’ll have to prove there is a real business case for a budget increase. This means presenting some compelling projections to prove that increasing the PR budget will help achieve the company’s business goals. It is critical to convince executives that more money equals more returns, be that in the form of sales, new leads, faster growth.

You may need to go back to square one and ask some probing questions to make sure you have a true understanding of what the actual business goals are. Let’s face it, if your budget was cut in the first place, there is a possibility that there was a disconnect somewhere that caused the cut. So, you want to be sure that you do, in fact, understand what is most important to executives, and you know what PR is expected to achieve. That way you can build a solid strategy around achieving the company’s goals.

Your PR strategy has to be on target if you are going to be awarded more money.  If the sales team is tasked with selling a high margin product – and you’re focused on promoting a commoditized offering because it’s a hot topic – you may need to adjust your strategy to ensure it maps to the company’s sales objectives. 

Part of your strategy for earning back the budget dollars that were cut should be making sure you are completely in tune with business goals, so that you can map all PR efforts to those goals. Showing executives you understand business priorities, and you have a plan to achieve goals and meet PR’s expectations, will help you make your case.

Prove you can work wonders with a budget – Using measurement to grow your PR budget (Part 3)

When it comes to building a case for an expanded PR budget, I like to recommend the following three part approach that I’ve personally found to be very successful:

1. Use measurement data to show what you’ve achieved with the current budget

2. Layout the goals

3. Define what you are asking for and explain how that will drive even greater results

From what I’ve learned in my experiences dealing with executives, I think it is important to address these three areas when you make your budget pitch. Here is a closer look at the first of these three steps: Use measurement data to show what you’ve achieved with the current budget…

In a previous post I mentioned that before you sit down with executives and ask for more money for PR, you need to make sure your program is performing at its peak. If you’ve done the work and you are achieving great results it is time to begin making your budget pitch – starting by showing off all of those great results PR has produced.

Sit down with execs and give them some solid examples of business successes that PR is responsible for. Make sure that the information you provide is clear and meaningful. Remember, executives are business-minded, so they value seeing things like charts, sales numbers, graphs, ROI, growth figures, and anything else that demonstrates business outcomes linked to PR.

Ideally you’ve been measuring the results of your PR program and you have a good amount of information at your disposal to help demonstrate what PR has achieved with its current budget. If you don’t have baseline information available, you’ll have to go back and collect this previous data. Don’t overlook the importance of collecting measurement data – without it you’ll have a tough time convincing executives that PR has been successful and deserves more money.

Once you have collected your data, you want to pull the most convincing and relevant info so that you can clearly demonstrate to executives how PR has successfully impacted the business.

Make sure that as you layout PR accomplishments, you support your claims with data and facts. And be sure that you are linking the PR activities you executed with positive business results. For example, if sales increased by 200% because of PR efforts, you need to show that PR was directly responsible for that business win.

Using data and making a clear connection between PR and business success will show executives that they are getting their money’s worth out of PR. It will make them feel more confident that PR is using its current budget to deliver positive business results. And that is the first step in building your case for a PR budget increase.

Clients want to know: How can we improve our PR program?

Lately I’ve been weighing in on some of the different performance questions that clients ask PR teams. In this post I want to examine this topic further, and focus specifically on the following question that clients often ask: How can we improve our PR program?

It doesn’t matter how successful your program has been, at some point your client is going to come to you with a question like:

• What PR efforts are working? What’s not working?
• Where can we improve?
• What can we learn from our competitors?

By knowing the answer to these questions you can keep a step ahead of your clients. That way you won’t be scrambling for answers when pressed for information on how the program can achieve even more. In order to win confidence and support from clients, it is important for agencies to be able to demonstrate forward thinking by effectively communicating fact based answers to questions.

So, if your client wants to know which PR efforts are working and which ones are not, how do you respond in a way that proves you aren’t just shooting from the hip – that you truly understand where you have (or have not) performed well?

Here is what you do: Make a list of the PR activities that were directly responsible for delivering positive results and meeting goals. Analyze your list and try to determine trends or factors that could lead to even greater future successes. Adjust your PR strategy accordingly. Also, make a list of PR activities that did not produce positive results and make plans to adjust or eliminate those activities. 

Here is a sample answer you could give if asked to explain what areas of your PR program are working or not working:

“Based on research and customer feedback we have identified increased product review coverage as a driving factor behind the 125% sales increase we saw last quarter. The team worked to increase total product reviews by 200%, securing a total of 48 product reviews worldwide. Since we have found evidence to suggest that nearly 1/3 of last quarter’s sales were influenced by product reviews, we plan to continue an aggressive push to achieve coverage that consists of at least 35% product reviews.”

“Conversely, our data shows that the customer referral program was only responsible for generating 2% of all sales this quarter. We are looking at making changes to how we promote the referral program in order to make it more enticing.”

Since evaluating what is and isn’t working requires looking at a number of different activities and factors, you absolutely want to have charts, graphs and other reports on-hand for your clients to view. This will help clients visualize the results you are reporting, along with the plan you’re laying out for future efforts.

If you are committed to getting the best results from PR, you should know what PR efforts are – and are not – working long before you’re confronted by a client. The only way to know this is by measuring and analyzing your PR efforts on an ongoing basis. Then, when the client does ask, it just becomes a matter of communicating your findings and showing your client some supporting data.

The client question that sent me over the edge

Has a client ever asked you this question: How many times were we quoted vs. our competitors during the last six months?

Recently, during a Measurement Minute webinar, I shared a story about this question. I explained how this particular question sent me over the edge – or at least, it helped lead to my realization that measurement truly makes life easier for PR professionals. So, just in case you missed the webinar, I thought I’d relive the details here…

Once upon a time I had this client – she’s actually become a really good friend of mine – and every so often she would come to our PR team with a request like:

“I need to know how many times we were quoted vs. our competitors during the last six months… can you give me a report tomorrow?”

Now, we never really knew when our client was going to approach us with this type of urgent request. And, despite the fact that it happened multiple times, we were never prepared for her questions. Obviously this created a number of problems.

For one thing, from my client’s perspective, she thought she was asking a pretty straight-forward and simple question. Although we had never actually discussed it, she assumed that since my team had designed the PR strategy and we were responsible for executing it, that we were automatically tracking all the information relating to the campaign. She didn’t know that she was requesting info that we didn’t actually have sitting around on hand for her.

I can guarantee that my client had no idea that every time she asked this sort of question, our team had to scramble to pull together the information she was looking for.

I remember many a time when I, along with several members of my team, spent long hours – working late I might add – going through six months of coverage reports and tallying quotes. Of course, we played it cool in front of our client. We acted like it was no big deal to hand over the information. But what was going on behind the scenes was anything but cool. It was the opposite of cool.

Well, after more than a few late nights… and a disgruntled team, I had an epiphany. I finally realized that we needed to be compiling the information my client repeatedly asked us for, and we needed to collect it on an ongoing basis. That way we would have it at our fingertips the next time she requested a report.

So, I started making a list of questions my client could potentially ask, based on the type of information she usually requested. Then I began to think about all the information I’d need to gather to ensure that we’d always have data available for her when she requested it. Let me tell you, from that moment on our entire client-agency relationship improved. Life was easier for my PR team, and my client got the results she wanted faster than ever before.

What’s the point of sharing this story? Well, I hope it encourages you to think about how prepared you are, and whether or not you have access to a system that allows you to easily pull side-by-side comparisons of competitor coverage and your coverage. Because, when you have data like this at your fingertips you are better able to respond to client requests. And, you’re also more likely to spot insights that will help you improve the overall performance of your PR program.