Alright… clearly, I am a smidge behind when it comes to setting my New Year resolutions but, after the year we’ve had, can you blame me? While many of us feel like 2019 was just yesterday, (guilty!) the truth is we, as communication professionals, have come a long way in just a few short years. The pandemic served as a catalyst for societal change across the board and as we find ourselves constantly daydreaming about what the ‘new normal’ may look like, one thing is clear: the way companies reach, communicate and resonate with consumer audiences has changed drastically. With that, so has the importance of our work.
According to the fifth annual 2021 Global Comms Report, C-suites’ reliance on communications has never been stronger. Yet, often, many comms professionals are still faced with the age-old question, “How can we prove the impact of our work in a way that the C-Suite will understand, appreciate and care about?”
Measuring communications results used to be more of an afterthought than a strategy, but today, measurement is at the forefront and is arguably the most powerful tool we have. With 83% of communications professionals believing that we can effectively measure and prove the impact of our work on business objectives, up 76% from just two years ago, it’s more important than ever to get with the times and revamp your team’s approach to reporting.
Of course, finding the elusive holy grail to proving the value and impact of our work to the C-Suite isn’t always an easy task, but it does make for an awesome New Year resolution for you and your team. Let me assure you, it can be done – finally. Our industry is beginning to crack the code and can now draw a clear connection between our work’s impact and the bottom line.
Where should you begin, you ask?
From an agency standpoint, Coyne begins by reinforcing the idea that it is 100% possible to link earned media to the bottom line. PR has a lot to offer, and it’s time everyone knew it. Say it with us now:
“It is 100% possible to link earned media to the bottom line!”
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s a few things to keep in mind as you look to revamp your team’s reporting practices this year:
Take what you know and throw it out the window. Embrace change.
Yup, you heard me. One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen when it comes to improving reporting practices is the human urge to resist change. I mean, it’s natural – learning Boolean search terms? Adjusting to new reporting tools? Understanding how and when to use new metrics? It can be a doozy to take in all in at once, and we’ve been doing things a certain way for so long that an immediate switch can be shocking. But, let’s face it: this will not be, and should not be, an overnight transition – it will be important to set this expectation with your teams and clients early on.
Accept that there is no “One Size Fits All” approach.
And I’ll let you in on a little secret… There is no single ‘magic metric’ either. Rather than simply looking for a replacement for the current standard – impressions, clip logs, etc. – it will be important to lay out a measurement and reporting plan that is unique to each brand and its business objectives.
Begin by clearly identifying your work’s impact on the brand.
This one is important. And remember, it’s all feel-good fluff unless you connect it back to broader business goals. You’ll need to know, in detail, what the business you serve hopes to achieve, whether it’s this month, this quarter or this year. And, if you don’t know this already, it will be important to work hand-in-hand with key stakeholders to establish that connection. Once you do, you can then identify how communications contributes to the business goal, begin planning to consistently achieve and report the desired outcomes, and decide which metrics you’ll need to track to prove your impact.
When choosing metrics, think outside the “impressions” box.
It’s important to shift your perception of measurement from being a traditional report card to, instead, a tool that will improve your team’s performance over time. While big number vanity metrics like impressions may seem exciting in one-off campaign reports, they fail to illustrate the impact your work has in a broader business context. So, don’t let yourself get fooled by the flashy numbers (and remember this the next time you attend an awards dinner and see a campaign that you’ve never heard of have ‘500 billion media impressions!’).
Instead, try supplementing impressions with other metrics in your next report to provide both quantitative and qualitative analysis. My personal favorites are analyzing a campaign’s Quality of Coverage (prominence, outlet, sentiment, headline appearances, rate of key message penetration, etc.) or tracking Share of Voice to show how your campaign helped break through a cluttered media landscape.
Start early and keep a pulse, seriously.
Remember: measurement is not, and no longer should be, an afterthought. Develop a measurement approach far before the launch of your campaign and, if you don’t already have benchmarks, set them. If you don’t, when it comes time to report, you’ll be faced with far too many questions, like “Have we been successful?” or “How will I show that my team’s efforts have made a meaningful impact on business goals?” Make it easy for yourself and do not let these questions go unanswered. Be sure to track your results before, during and after your campaign launch in order to capture the full picture.
It takes a village.
To cultivate truly elevated reports, it’s important to rebuild from the ground up. Revamping your approach to measurement cannot be done by any one team member. It’s important to keep each member of your team informed on campaign goals, benchmarks, metric terminology, and measurement tools. In addition, each team member, from the C-Suite down, should be in agreeance on the performance metrics – especially since much of the day-to-day monitoring and reporting is often handled by our freshest faces.
Well, there you have it! If you walk away with nothing else, just remember this: in a business environment that wants data-driven insights, no time is better than the present when it comes to providing new, elevated reports that truly prove the value of your hard work.
