Linking PR to Sales (South Carolina Governor's Conference on Tourism & Travel)

- February 21, 2011

South Carolina Governor’s Conference on Tourism &

Travel – February 21, 2011

Tim Marklein, Executive VP, Measurement & Strategy

[email protected]

Twitter: @tmarklein

Communications Measurement:

Linking PR to Sales

Planning Optimization ROI

The Long, Winding Road

Go to the wrong airport

Wait in line 45 minutes to rebook

“We can’t get you to Aspen today”

“The last bus leaves before 6:00”

Ignore signs: “Independence Pass CLOSED”

Backtrack 2.5 hours to Aspen

Slide 2 -- February 21, 2011

Don’t Let This Happen to You…


Linking PR to Sales Requires…

Determination

Persistence

Creativity

Strategy

Methodology


Industry snapshot:

Current state of communications measurement

Everyone agrees: Measurement is important

Basic standards, tools in place for measuring media

CMOs, CFOs and CEOs are asking for more

TH

E G

OO

D

Still lots of lip service without investment

“What tool should I use?” – wrong question

Quarterly reports are shelfware, don’t drive decisions TH

E B

AD

PR metrics aren’t translated into executive terms

Not enough definition or accountability for outcomes

“Random acts of measurement” – not enough integration

TH

E U

GLY

Source: Weber Shandwick

Measurement & Strategy practice Slide 5 -- February 21, 2011

Watershed moment: Moving beyond AVE

• Oct’09: IPR Measurement Commission “condemns the name, concept and practice of ad value equivalencies”

• No evidence that earned media space = paid media space

• Simply measures media “cost,” doesn’t measure the “value”

• Misused as a cheap proxy for ROI – distracts from outcomes

• IPR and AMEC working on alternatives, transition plans

• Shift focus to business outcomes – awareness, understanding, attitudes, behaviors, engagement, sales, market share, etc.

• Always evaluate media quality and message, not just quantity

• Options for comparative “cost” evaluation: CPM, targeted reach, “weighted media cost,” engagement/CPE, market mix analysis

• Follow updates at www.iprmeasure.org


Proving PR’s value: Watch your language

Typical PR metrics

• Total clips

• Total clips in top-tier media

• Total circulation/impressions

• Share of voice

• Media sentiment

• Message pull-through

• Ad equivalency

• Cost per thousand

• Influence on stakeholder awareness

• Influence on stakeholder opinion

• Influence on employee attitudes

• Influence on corporate reputation

Key business metrics

• Contribution to sales

• Contribution to market share

• Contribution to profitability

• Influence on stock performance

• Influence on stakeholder awareness

• Influence on stakeholder opinion

• Influence on employee attitudes

• Influence on customer consid/pref

• Influence on customer satisfaction

• Influence on customer loyalty

• Influence on brand equity

Source: Adapted from GAP V report, Annenberg

School of Communication, “Fifth Annual Public Relations

Generally Accepted Practices” study, Q1’08

“It will be difficult for PR to get a larger share of the total

communications expenditure without quantitative means that

go well beyond measurement of media outputs.”


Or as Duane Parrish put it…

Heads in the beds

Feet in the fairways

People in the parks


Proving PR’s value: Focus on outcomes

• Define clear, precise and measurable goals in business or marketing terms

• Borrow from outcomes inventory published by PRSA and IPR (left)

• Don’t worry whether you can prove PR’s impact – assume you can, and then work backwards to determine how

• Anecdotal evidence

• Data-based evidence

• Correlation

• Contribution

• Causation


http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=628

Anecdotal evidence


The customer said they read a magazine

review, and that’s why they called us to

buy the product.

Data-based evidence


9.7% of the customers we surveyed last

quarter said they called us because they

read a magazine review.

Correlation


Every time our competitive media share

goes up, our sales in that region go up for

the next two months.

Contribution


Based on our marketing mix model, we

determined that PR contributed 2.7% to

our sales goal last quarter.

Causation


720 customers that read about us online,

then went to our site, bought the product

at an average sales price of $675.

Proving PR’s value: Integration is critical

• Old world, meet new world

• Integration of traditional, digital and social media

• Integrating WOM and other new influence patterns

• Silo #1, meet silo #2, silo #3, etc.

• Integration of PR with other communication disciplines

• Integration of PR with other marketing disciplines

• Integration across business units, products, geographies

• Measurement, meet strategy

• Integration of metrics, data sources, tools, dashboards

• Integration of data and insights into decision-making flow


Old world, meet new world:

New metrics, data sources, concepts

measures: Assess how content is accessed, shared, adapted, amplified across various sites and media properties

measures: Assess the volume, engagement, sentiment and reach of content shared via the web.

measures: Assess the paid and organic search rankings for company content, brands and keyword associations

measures: Assess the volume, engagement, feedback and reach of content shared via company’s web properties

measures: Analyze volume, content, sentiment of conversations about company/brands across sites, media

measures: Assess audience, reach and “touch points” of company content/conversations across sites, media

• Outcome measures: Assess how the content, conversation and community measures correlate with desired outcomes

Source: Weber Shandwick Measurement & Strategy

practice, “Inline” measurement framework Slide 16 -- February 21, 2011

Old world, new world:

Digital/social outcomes


Source: Altimeter Group and Web Analytics

Demystified, http://bit.ly/dldIHf

http://bit.ly/dldIHf


Analyzing WOM conversation volume, quality

Source: Weber Shandwick Measurement & Strategy analysis,

based on Keller Fay TalkTrackTM survey data Jan’08-Dec’08

AIG

Industry

Average

State Farm

All State

Prudential

Nationwide

High Volume / High Quality Low Volume / High Quality

High Volume / Low Quality Low Volume / Low Quality

Share of Conversation (%)

Qu

alit

y o

f A

dvo

ca

cy (

%)

Metric Score Industry

Share of Conversation 10% 4%

Net Favorability -62% 18%

Net Recommendation -24% 29%

Propensity to Relay 31% 50%



Shifting media changes criteria and scale

• What’s more valuable?

• Chicago Tribune print story

• WSJ.com online story

• Industry blog post with lots of comments

• Customer recommendation via Twitter

• Depends on objective, audience, message, tone, influence

• Not all easily measured or compared across media channels

• Key considerations

• Total impressions vs. targeted impressions – efficiency matters

• Earned CPM vs. Social CPM – very different scales, don’t equate

• Engagement, CPE and Conversion – varies by channel, outlet

• Comparative Media Cost – inconsistency of source data


Silo #1, meet silo #2, silo #3, etc.:

Cross-media evaluation shows mutual impact


Media Analysis

(traditional)

Media Analysis (social)

Web Analytics

(site)

Keyword Analysis (search)

WOM Analysis (surveys)

Brand Tracking (surveys)

Customer Satisfaction (surveys)

Employee Satisfaction (surveys)

Lead Gen & Sales data

(CRM)

Events & DM data (CRM)

Analyst Data & Reports

(third party)

Ind. Awards & Scorecards (third party)

Source: Weber Shandwick Measurement & Strategy practice –

ARROW Measurement Suite, February 2009

Silo #1, meet silo #2, silo #3, etc.:

Cross-discipline metrics are key to insight

Slide 21 -- March 23, 2010

Measurement, meet strategy:

Flexible + repeatable + integrated metrics

Source: Weber Shandwick Measurement &

Strategy practice, “ARROW” measurement model

activities reach relevance outcomes worth

What activities

were performed

to achieve

results?

Did you reach

your audience?

How many

impressions,

web visits,

reports,

attendees, etc.

were

generated?

Were you

relevant to your

audience? Were

you credible?

Did your ideas

and messages

resonate? Did

you drive

conversation?

What business

results did you

achieve?

Awareness?

Engagement?

Reputation?

Leads? Sales?

Loyalty?

Advocacy?

What is the

estimated dollar

value of your

communication

efforts? What

was the ROI?

Communications Team Marketing Team Executive Team

Quantity/Output Quality/Outtakes Business Impact Value/Efficiency



Sample dashboard for “inline” programs


Activities 47 Media, Blogger & Influencer Interviews

Reach 170 Earned & Social Media Placements

Relevance 64% Earned & Social Message Penetration

Outcomes 14% Increase in Brand Engagement (via web data)

Worth $4.72 Earned CPM (Cost Per 1K Impressions)

94 Facebook, YouTube, Blog & Twitter Posts

3.9M Earned & Social Media Impressions

27% Earned & Social Media Share

27% Category Sales Share (source TBD)

$8.22 Social CPE (Cost Per Engagement)


Sample dashboard for integrated comms



Advocacy drives sales

their competitors

Advocates can

help a company grow an

average rate of

Slide 25 -- February 21, 2011 Source: Bain & Company

- 26 -

Thank You!!!

Email:

[email protected]

Blog:

www.allaboutadvocacy.com

Twitter:

twitter.com/tmarklein

Linking PR to Sales (South Carolina Governor's Conference on Tourism & Travel)

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