Myth 7: Public Relations Can't be Measured and is Therefore Worthless

From Guy Bergstrom

If you can't measure public relations, how can you say it works?

This myth often comes up during budget season. We're spending X amount of dollars on public relations. What are we getting out of it? Then you see a frantic counting of press relases and blog posts and tallying of circulation numbers for newspapers that had coverage and audience shares for TV news stations.

Here's the thing: you can try to quantify public relations, just like you'd put a number -- or a budget -- on an advertising campaign. Trying to quantify it would take a lot of time and effort. It would generate stress and anxiety. And in the end, it's not a good idea.

Let's say that you did come up with some kind of formula that your client or boss thought pinned the numbers down right. Forever after, whatever you did would be put under that numerical microscope.

And it would be wrong.

Oh, there are established ways to quantify and measure public relations.

One way is to take the earned media and translate that exactly into a dollar number of equivalent advertising.

Here's how that works: Earned media gets in a daily newspaper. The story is on page three and takes up half the page. So you figure out how much a half-page ad would cost. Viola! You've quantified it down to the penny.

Do the same thing for TV, radio or blogs. How much does it cost for a 30-second spot on that TV station during the six o'clock news? The story ran for 45 seconds, so there you go. Your client or boss can report solid numbers to the big boss.

Everybody's happy.

Maybe. Except for this fact: measuring earned media like this is stupid.

Here's why:

1) Earned media isn't directly equivalent to paid advertising. Earned media is superior.

People find it more credible when they read a story, or see it on TV, or hear it on the radio. They are skeptical about advertising. Sometimes, very skeptical. Many people change channels when commercials come on. Audience pay more attention to stories. To earned media. And they put more weight behind it.

How can you quantify that credibility gap?

You can't. It'd be guesswork.

2) Advertising isn't even directly equivalent to advertising. Sure, a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl costs the same fortune whether Doritos buys it or Chrysler does.

So think back to the commercials you remember from the Super Bowl -- where they all equally effective? No. Not even close. Most were forgettable. Some made me cringe. Only a few really stuck with me. I remember an expensive ad for a car with special effects that had to cost more than most people earn in a lifetime. UFOs, aliens, James Bond villains, Greek gods. I remember it looked expensive. I remember it bored me. And I don't even remember the brand of the car they were trying to sell.

3) Other measurements you could use all have flaws.

New research into the brain and how we make decisions shows that focus groups and polls are often fundamentally wrong, not because the pollsters are doing it wrong, but because human beings can't describe their decision-making process over the phone because it's so visceral and fast, only after you make a decision does the rest of your brain rationalize a reason why you did it.

Quantifying public relations is like trying to nail jelly to the wall. That doesn't mean it isn't a good idea and effective.

If somebody close to Charlie Sheen had gotten him to rehab and stopped him from going on radio shows to say stupid things about the creator and producer of his show, NBC wouldn't be losing $250 million in syndication revenue from the lost season of Two-and-a-Half Men -- or even more if the series is completely cancelled. And that's something you can quantify.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 833