Day: July 27, 2005

OK, take a deep breath, I’ve had a lot of catching up to do.

• Michael O’Connor Clarke has unveiled part five of his “Seven Deadly Agency Types”: If it moves, bill it.
• Andy Lark takes the whingeing bloggers to task. Om Malik also chimes in.
• Shel Holtz pleads with PR people to address the recent spate of online attacks against the profession by using some common sense in our daily working lives. Hear Hear! I wouldn’t hold my breath however… John Wagner adds some interesting insight to the discussion.
• The fifty third installment of Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz‘s PR podcast, For Immediate Release, is now online.
• Duncan Chapple has some thoughts on UK Analyst firm Bloor Research‘s new business plan.
• Meanwhile, Adam Zand over at Topaz Partners asks if the analysts relations market is broken.
• Dan Gillmor explains that the only difference between the recent US Military press release snafu and traditional press releases is that the military were silly enough to let the fabricated quote in a second time. [Thanks to Alice Marshall for the link].
• On a related subject, Kevin Dugan has come up with twelve excellent alternatives to the traditional news release. I love his suggestion of a PR Haiku – now that would solve the quote problem.
• Stephen Baker over at Business Week compares the editorial process of blogging versus a magazine. Very interesting post. [Thanks to Chris Thilk for the link].
• Jeneane Sessum has published an excellent, no-nonsense guide {PDF] to blogging and more importantly should you be interested in blogging.. or not.
• Mike Manuel shares some comments from a recent panel his firm, Voce Communications hosted on Corporate blogging.
• Matt Galloway looks at the emergence of influential bloggers.
• Business Week and Interbrand have released [PDF] its annual list of the world’s leading brands. [Thanks to Richard Bailey for the link]:
1. Coca Cola
2. Microsoft
3. IBM
4. GE
5. Intel
6. Nokia
7. Disney
8. McDonalds
9. Toyota
10. Marlboro

The subject of measurement is something marketers face on a regular basis. How do you specifically justify your spend and how does specific tactical spend contribute to the bottom line?

I say marketers, because although this is an acute problem for PR practitioners, it’s also something of a black art in most marketing disciplines.

According to the New York Times, a recent Forrester survey found that :
“73 percent of respondents were not confident that they understood the effects that an advertising or marketing campaign could have on sales.”

However, whereas you can measure the contribution of some marketing activities in terms of the number of prospects it delivers, PR has been grappling with this issue for as long as I can remember. Without finding an answer, we have cobbled together various nebulous quantative or qualitative metrics without actually addressing the question. In fact I often think we don’t know or even understand the question!

That’s not to say there isn’t work underway on looking at how to address PR measurement. People like KD Paine have a long track record of helping companies to try and map PR spend/activity to the bottom line. I also know many agencies (including my alma mater Text 100) have developed reasonably sophisticated measurement tools. But are these different approaches causing more confusion? Do we need to agree a framework or frameworks for measurement that can be used across the business?

Todd Defren outlines SHIFT Communications measurement model which is focused on how PR impacts lead generation. Andy Lark believes a commoditized approach to media measurement is required.

My personal view is that while it’s great that agencies (and in-house folks) are building more sophisticated measurement tools, if one of the objectives of these “services” is competitive differentiation, then they have failed. What’s required is a relatively standard means of measurement that can enable clients and employers to get a clearer understanding on the success of their PR spend – whether it be media, internal etc. If clients cannot understand the differences between how agencies measure success then confusion will set in. And remember the first thing that gets cut from the marketing budget is the line item with no tangible link to the bottom line…

Some more new PR-related blogs for your perusal:

• Jorge Camara has a blog called PR Inquisitor.
• Rohit Bhargava, a VP of Interactive Marketing at Ogilvy PR has a blog called Influential Interactive Marketing.
• Deb Owen has a new blog called Voce.
• Brian Oberkirch of Lightbox 5 has a blog called: Like it Matters.
• John Bell, Creative Director at Ogilvy PR has blog entitled The Digital Influence Mapping Project.