The Measurement Standard: Blog Edition

The Measurement Maven of the Month Award Goes To: Mark Strouse

Global Communications Leader, BMC Software

Mark Stouse has, in fact, found the Holy Grail of Public Relations Measurement: He measures his PR against earnings per share. Mark was my client years ago at HP, and even back then he "got" measurement. He was among the first people I knew to reject the common metrics of AVE and column inches, pushing us to ensure that his metrics matched up to his objectives.

He left HP a few years ago and became Global Communications Leader at BMC Software, where he has honed his measurement skills to a degree beyond almost anyone else I've ever encountered. Read about him here and listen to a podcast interview.

Granted, it helps to work for a software company, so he has a very robust CRM system that he can tap into. But he takes all of his PR efforts, analyzes cost savings and leads generated each quarter, and reports to his board his department's contributions to earnings per share. If we all did that, PR would take over the world. --KDP

The Measurement Maven of the Month Awards Go To...

The Participants in the
Non-Profit ROI Poetry Slam at SXS

L to R: Danielle Brigida, Carrie Lewis, Wendy Harman, and David Neff. (Thanks to Beth Kanter for the photos.)

You have engagement fully measured,
now calculate the resulting treasure!

Most of the time when I'm asked to sit on panels or judge case studies, I can almost always suggest ways the panelists can improve their measurement programs. But (the requirement to judge it in rhyme notwithstanding) the four non-profit communications directors that served as panelists on the SXSW Non-Profit Poetry Slam were already doing such a good job of measuring ROI, I had no choice but to name them all Measurement Mavens (especially because they told their stories in rhyme!):

• Danielle Brigida, from the National Wildlife Federation
• Carrie Lewis, from The Humane Society of the United States
• Wendy Harman, from the American Red Cross
• David Neff, from the American Cancer Society

For more information on SXSW Interactive, see the main site here.

For excellent coverage of the Slam, visit organizer Beth Kanter's blog, where you'll find an entertaining and informative slide show and the text of all the poems.  --KDP

The Measurement Maven of the Month: Kenneth Duberstein

The Measurement Maven of the Month:

Kenneth Duberstein

This month's Measurement Maven, Kenneth Duberstein, is calling for a national dashboard of Key Performance Indicators. In a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece "1000 Points of Data," Duberstein wrote:

What we need now is a Web-based system for measuring our changing society with key national indicators — in a free, public, easy-to-use form. Ideally, it would be run by the nonpartisan National Academy of Sciences, which would ensure it has the best quality of information and is kept up to date. The system would enable us to offer in one place statistical information that we spend billions of dollars collecting but that is now underused and undervalued.

Imagine everyone having at their fingertips answers to questions like: How many quality jobs are we adding to the American economy? How many more students are getting into college? How many more people are gaining access to affordable health insurance? Are we increasing economic growth along with savings and investment? Are we reducing our greenhouse gas emissions?

What a notion. A government that measures success in real terms!-- Be still my beating heart! Now, if we could just get corporations to think the same way about their PR and Communications programs! --KDP

Sharron Silva is The Measurement Maven of the Month

Sharron Silva
Director of Market Research
The American Red Cross

It's not often I'm called into a meeting to review an organization's measurement program and find nothing to add. In fact, I'm not sure that it has ever happened before. But last month, that's just what occurred when I paid a visit to Sharron Silva, Director of Market Research, and the comms team at the American Red Cross in Washington. I should have expected something like this would happen, since the first time I met Sharon she had a copy of my book, Measuring Public Relationships, on her desk, and was actually reading it.

Sharron and the Red Cross have clearly taken a lot of what I propose to heart and have actually implemented it:

• They do regular consumer tracking polls to measure their reputation and their relationships.
• They capture detailed web analytics to determine the impact of their various outreach programs on web site visits and donations.
• They track the degree to which their messages are believed and understood.

In short they have not just an excellent measurement system in place, but use it as a way to continuously improve their communications.

For example, when they were looking for ways to get information out to the victims of floods in the Grand Canyon, they determined that because of its ubiquitous accessibility via cell phone, Twitter was the best way to communicate with both the media and the victims.

I've been saying for awhile that non-profit organizations are doing some of the best measurement work around, and Sharron Silva, this month's Measurement Maven, is just one more example of it. --KDP

The Measurement Mavens of the Month: The Brits

Doing a jolly good job of measurement.

While I don't agree with everything that researchers in the UK subscribe to, I have to admit that I am more and more impressed by the thought that goes into measurement in the UK. From Metrica's Consumer Pulse study (see here, too) and Measurement Matters blog, to the rigorous methodology that they use to determine public opinion, you can't help but be impressed by these guys.

When I asked Philip Dewhurst from Gazprom if he was tying his PR results to outcomes, he could immediately cite evidence from his German counterparts. And even though I may disagree with their content analysis methodology, I have to admit that Report International has certainly put more thought into it than most of my American colleagues. So pip pip and all that: Let's raise a pint to our cousins across the pond for doing some jolly good work. --KDP

The Measurement Mavens of the Month: All the Measurement Wonks Out There in Blogging Land...

...that anyone interested in measurement should be reading on a regular basis.

It's about time that the hard-working measurement bloggers of the world got some recognition, so here's a quick list of some of them off the top of my head. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and it's presented here in no particular order. In fact, please feel free to contact me with your own favorites, and we'll add more here as they come in.

Leo Bottary:
relentlessPR
Leo recently wrote a blog post about PR measurement that is so smart we'll just let you read it. What an incredibly good point: If we're ever going to improve our profession, we have to stop whining about the fact that what we do can't always be measured in terms of business results.

Alan Chumley:
Measurement PRoponent / PRomulgator
Alan Chumley always has something interesting to say. My favorite description of him is that he's the only other person (other than myself) who would get excited about a 6-hour discussion of measurement.

Don Bartholomew:
Proving the Value of Public Relations
Don, who often writes as "metricsman," is a fellow member of the IPR Measurement Commission. While we don't always agree, he always has something interesting to say. A recent very popular post of his was about important considerations when selecting a social media measurement vendor.

Avinash Kaushik:
Occam's Razor
Avinash is far and away the most thought-provoking of the measurement bloggers, just read him and you'll see. This post on Google Trends, for instance, is comprehensive and stimulating.

Metrica:
Measurement Matters
Metrica has a number of different contributors to their blog, all of whom are smart and provocative. See this post for yet a another reason why AVEs suck.

Jeremiah Owyang:
Web Strategy by Jeremiah
Jeremiah thinks and writes a lot, and makes lots of connections. Here's a really interesting post of his about Exxon Janet -- or Not-Exxon Janet, as it turns out. --KDP

 

Measurement Maven of the Month: Misty Moyse

Misty Moyse
Director of Media Relations, Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Like Shonali Burke, Misty is a real pioneer in the world of non-profit communications measurement. Last fall she began a program that tracks her social as well as traditional media. She makes decisions about where to allocate resources using the research data. And, best of all, she recently called her metrics program "The most important thing we're doing." For that alone she deserves the coveted Maven award. --KDP

Kami Huyse is Measurement Maven of the Month

Kami's case study of Sea World's measurement of a social media program is rapidly becoming one of the classics of social media lore. It's a great example of combining social media with traditional market research to calculate a solid ROI.

But the real reason that Kami deserves our coveted Measurement Maven of the Month Award is to recognize her endless pursuit of solid metrics. She's always on the lookout for new measurement tips and techniques and shares what she learns on her blog, Communications Overtones. And we're not just naming her a maven because we tend to agree with her. Okay maybe we are. --KDP

The Measurement Maven of the Month Award: John List

The Measurement Maven of the Month:

John List
Economics Professor at University of Chicago

When three or more people forward you the same article saying, "You have to read this!" -- it makes you pay attention. That's what happened with the New York Times Magazine piece about John List and his research on why people give to philanthropic organizations. And, since KDPaine & Partners is doing quite a lot of work in that area, we were thrilled with his main premise: Non-profits need to be making decisions based on data, not on long-standing beliefs that may or may not still hold water.

Professor List brought together results from several research projects to demonstrate some interesting, if unexpected conclusions. One of which was that, for stimulating donations in fundraising campaigns, challenge grant seed money works better than matching grants.

Of course we'd like to factor in some PR metrics into his research to figure out what impact headlines have on charitable giving. We know PR works with the ASPCA (see this article from last fall) but we'd love to see it factored into a broader range of philanthropic efforts. Nonetheless, he's this month's Measurement Maven for the rigorous approach he brings to the subject. --KDP

Cubic Applications Earns Platinum Research Award For Media Analysis

We are proud to note that Mike Daily (a recipient of The Measurement Standard's coveted Measurement Maven of the Month Award) and the company he works for, Cubic Applications, Inc., has won a Platinum Award in the 2007 MarCom Creative Awards. Well done, Mike and Co.! Read more here.