Myth: It’s impossible to determine accurate ROI from communications efforts.

Fact: Successful campaigns will have been measuring their return on investment from communications strategies from the very beginning.

Hence the final entry in our DHC process series (catch up on research, strategy and implementation).

Measuring a completed or ongoing communications plan is essential to knowing what has been successful and which elements of your strategies might need tweaking to finish strong.  Measurement helps answer important questions like, “what strategies should we continue to invest budget and manpower in and what should we forgo implementing next time?” 

A campaign implemented without measurement is a like making a movie but ignoring all the critics and fan feedback, then making a sequel with no idea what anyone liked or disliked about the original.

Let’s begin with what you weigh your implemented strategies and tactics against—the objectives you created at the beginning of your communications plan. Objectives serve as the roadmap while implementing and the judge of ROI upon completion.

If you remember one thing about objectives, remember this: make them specific, measureable and outcome-based, not output-based. 

For example, say you work for a utility company and, through customer perception research, you’ve found that there is a lack of awareness for the energy efficiency programs you offer.  Knowing that the majority of your customers get their information about the utility through the media, you might decide that the utility needs to raise awareness of energy efficiency programs by increasing media coverage by 20% over the next six months.  The tactical level is where you would then include news releases, media tours, etc.

The medium we get the most measurement questions on is social media.

The major social media platforms are nothing new at this point, but the advent of social media is still a new enough shift in the basic way people and organizations are conversing that it is still hard to wrap one’s arms around solid ROI. What is the value of a Facebook Like or a Twitter Follower? You have access into impressions and click-throughs, but the technology is still too new for a reliable way to pin a dollar amount to these numbers. Some researchers are trying, but the variance in their formulas is still too great for us to state the value of a Tweet.

That isn’t to say one can’t measure social media success. You just need to take a different approach focusing on content analysis and qualitative feedback. Instead of measuring Likes and Followers as primary factors, critically analyze the conversations you’re engaging in and the types of people following you.  Social media is a case where quality is much better than quantity. If you only have 100 Likes, but they all engage with you on a weekly basis, that’s much better than having 1,000 friends who never engage with you.

Whenever possible, especially with full campaigns, we suggest that clients test out messages with another round of research midway through the campaign to determine shifts in audience perceptions and the impact messages have had. This allows room to alter any messages to make them as compelling as possible and ensure the campaign is achieving its goals.

Still unconvinced? Here are some general examples of measurements for common tactics we employ:

TV/ Radio Spots

• Frequency and reach
• Impressions
• Phone calls received since run began
• Attendance at events
• Changes in perception/awareness in annual survey

Website

• Numbers of site hits
• Length of time on pages
• Responses in interactive sections

Collateral Materials

• Inquiries
• Changes in perception/awareness as measured in poll or qualitative interviews
• Number printed and disseminated

Media Relations

• Number of articles
• Number of gross impressions
• Advertising equivalency
• Placement of key messages

Special Events and Community Partnerships

• Groups and organizations participating
• Event attendance
• Feedback from attendees
• Tracking the number of trainings, presentations and public exposures for the campaign

There is still a persistent myth within many organizations that it is impossible to glean ROI from public relations and marketing efforts—that communications results are just too nebulous and qualitative in nature to quantify. We consider that myth busted. With the right goals from the outset and the right measurement techniques for each strategy, you’ll be able to watch your communications plan working to support your overall business plan and track exactly what your investment yielded.