Posts filed under ‘Communication evaluation’
Global survey on communications evaluation
If you are a communications professional, please take a few minutes and participate in a global benchmarking survey designed to measure best practices in public relations measurement and management.
This survey builds on research undertaken five years ago. The results of the current survey will be presented at the First European Summit on Measurement, June 10-12 in Berlin, Germany.
The Intelligent Measurement blog will also publish a summary of the results once available!
10 tips for translating PR results into the language of business
Dow Jones Insight have produced an interesting e-book “Talk to me – 10 tips for translating the PR results into the language of business“. The e-book is well worth a read, following are some highlights I appreciated:
- 60% of companies are measuring PR/communications at the request of senior management. So as a communication professional it’s probably wise to take an initiative and start measuring activities before management asks for it.
- Measuring just one form of PR/communications activity, such as print media mentions, doesn’t offer a comprehensive view of your strategy – a combination of data is recommended to provide a complete picture. In a recent article by Drs Gregory and Watson, they point towards the trend of using multiple formal and informal metrics and feedback to measure PR/communications.
- As PR/communications is primarily concerned with managing perception and building strategic relationships, one key metric should be measuring relationships. How can this be done? A good starting point is to read the Dr Grunig / Dr Hon “Guidelines for measuring relationships in PR“.
- Presentation of the measurement report is important. Top executves only need a high-level summary of results. Dr Macnamara calls this “two-tier evaluation” explained well in this article (pdf).
Join the communications evaluation group on LinkedIn
If you are a member of LinkedIn, you might want to join the group I’ve created for all people interested in evaluation of communications, public relations programmes, campaigns and projects – wherever you are, wherever you work!
Glenn
First European Summit on Communication Measurement 10 – 12 June 2009
The first European Summit on Communication Measurement is planned for 10 – 12 June 2009 in Berlin, Germany and the program looks very interesting so far. The summit starts with a full day of workshops and the speakers over the next two days include:
* Bjorn Edlund, VP Communications, Shell International
* Pablo Fernández Calvo, Director of Communication, BBVA
* David Michaelson, President USA, Echo Research
* Neil Martinson, Director of News & PR, UK’s Central Office of Information
* Frank Oviatt, President & CEO of the Institute for Public Relations
* Katie Paine,CEO, KD Paine & Associates
* David Rockland,Partner,Managing Director,Ketchum
* Dr Christopher Storck, Principal, HeringSchuppener
* Dr Tom Watson, Bournemouth University
* Dr Donald K Wright, Boston University
* Professor Dr Ansgar Zerfass, EUPRERA/University of Leipzig
Some of the topics to be covered include:
* Social Media – The Big New Opportunity for Communications
* Traditional Media is Adapting with Confidence to Embrace the Challenge of Social Media
* How Clients see Media Change and Experiments with Communications Models
* International Measurement – an Insight into the Latin American Regional Analysis for BBVA
* In Defence of AVE’s
* What Media Evaluation will look like in the future: the next generation
* Public Relations in Europe – Status Quo and Future Challenges
* The Comparative Communications Effectiveness of Advertising and PR
* Social Media Measurement Case Studies
* The Role of Research in Communications
* Predicting the Future for Communications-What International Research Tells Us
The conference is organised by the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communications , the Institute for Public Relations (US) and the German Public Relations Public Relations Association (DPRG).
New guide to evaluating communications for non-profits and foundations
The Communications Network has just published a new guide “Are we there yet? A Communications Evaluation Guide (pdf) “. The guide has been written for communicators working in non-profit organisations and foundations – it contains interesting case studies and useful advice. Download the guide here (pdf)>>
Communications evaluation – 2009 trends
Last week I gave a presentation on evaluation for communicators (pdf) at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. A communicator asked me what trends had I seen in communications evaluation, particularly relevant to the non-profit sector. This got me thinking and here are some of the trends I have seen in 2008 that I believe are an indication of some directions in 2009:
Measuring web & social media: as websites and social media increasingly grow in importance for communication programmes, so to is the necessity to have the capacity to measure what their impact is. Web analytics has grown in importance as will the ability to measure social media.
Media monitoring not the be-all and end-all: after many years of organisations only focusing on media monitoring as the means of measuring communications, there is finally some realisation that media monitoring is an interesting gauge of visibility but not more. Organisations are now interested more and more in having some qualitative analysis of data collected (such as looking at how influential the media are, the tone and the importance).
Use of non-intrusive or natural data: organisations are also now considering “non-intrusive” or “natural” data – information that already exists – e.g. blog / video posts, customer comments, attendance records, conference papers, etc. As I’ve written about before, this data is underated by evaluators as everyone rushes to survey and interview people.
Belated arrival of results-based management: Despite existing for over 50 years, results-based management or management by objectives is just arriving in many organsations. What does this mean for communicators? It means that at the minimum they have to set measurable objectives for their activities – which is starting to happen. They have no more excuses(pdf) for not evaluating!
Glenn
Research in communication projects
I came across this useful table from the Devcom blog which explains how research can be used at different stages of communication projects. There are many elements that will be familiar to readers, but what caught my eye was the first method “audience analysis” – which is often ignored by communicators in their rush to create materials and campaigns. The blog also has an example of an audience analysis (pdf) for readers. And method 3 – pretesting of prototype material – is another step often skipped over.
|
Method |
Purpose |
|
1. Audience analysis |
To characterize audience (demographics, communication environment) to develop content of materials, set campaign targets |
|
2. Baseline survey |
To assess knowledge, beliefs and behavior – to document current scenario |
|
3. Pretesting of prototype materials |
To determine appeal, understandability of materials (radio drama, campaign materials) |
|
4. Management monitoring survey |
To track implementation plans and make adjustments as needed |
|
5. Content analysis |
To analyze the content of audience feedback |
|
6. Post-test survey |
To determine whether the project has achieved its objectives |
Evaluation and communications for development
If, like me, you are interested in how communications can support development programmes – and consequently how it can be evaluated – then you might want to check out the evaluation page of the Communication Initiative Network website – where you can find 100s of evaluation studies and reports on communication for development – ranging from reproductive health to tobacco control to conflict. View the range of subjects here>>
New portal on communications evaluation
A new portal has been launched on evaluation communications – with plenty of interesting resources. The Communication Controlling portal is supported and updated by experts from Leipzig University and the “Value Creation through Communication” working group of the German Public Relations Association (Deutsche Public Relations Gesellschaft, DPRG). Visit the portal>>
Guidelines for Evaluating Nonprofit Communications Efforts
For those interested in the area of campaign/advocacy evaluation, here are some very good guidelines on evaluating nonprofit communications efforts (pdf) from the Communications Consortium Media Center. The guidelines focus on “lessons learnt” in the evaluation of campaigns and sets out some key concepts to consider.
Glenn
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