If you’re a business owner, chances are you know three letters very well: R.O.I. (Return on Investment.)  It can be tough to put PR into numbers, which is why most of us work in the field.  We checked out of math class when the algebra teacher started putting letters next to numbers on the chalkboard.

Online Media

We want to impress you, so we value impressions.  There are many different ways to show these and many different web sites you’ll hear PR people reference.  For online coverage, we’ll use Google Analytics, Quantcast, Compete and TrafficEstimate, just to name a few.

Oftentimes, these figures are compiled monthly, as in “unique monthly visitors.” If you’d like to know weekly or daily figures, those can be determined quite easily.

Now, because we are looking at a media web site, such as Forbes.com, it is tough to know if visitors actually clicked through to the article about your company’s news.  That said, nothing’s guaranteed in media impressions; Forbes could have 2 million subscribers, but 1 million of them could have left town the month you were in the magazine; The Today Show could have 4 million average viewers every day, but they could have gone to work early the day that your CEO lands on a segment.

The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people   If you have insight on Marketing to share with our audience, contact us about being a Guest GBA Blogger. Or learn more about GBA and our video production prowess!

Online reporting is a bit easier to read, as your site can trackback click-throughs.  Additionally, online coverage can get re-posted via social media networks and through wires.

Print Media

Print media is still alive and kicking and its tough to judge its effect on the public.  Sure, we can look at circulations, but many conversations around the world start with, “I was reading an article in/by/about…”

In print, circulations are often multiplied as a sort of “pass on” factor.  For example, BusinessWeek’s circulation is 926,785, but there is a “pass on” factor to consider, as families, offices and other places of business pass magazines around.  So, an agency may report it as 926,785 x 4, or 3,707,140.

Newspapers are often sent to families or offices, as well, but since they are daily and not weekly or monthly, they are often multiplied by 2.6.  Each issue is thought to have a shorter shelf life.  Thereby, it likely gets “passed on” less.  So, the Financial Times’ circulation of 500,000 is often reported as 1,300,000.

Ad Value Equivalencies (AVE) is also not an exact science.  AVEs are determined by multiplying a medium’s ad rate by the size of the placement.  In print and online, this is measured in inches or quarter inches.  In broadcast, this is measured by seconds or half minutes.   Many people value content more than size though.  For that reason, we have developed a Publicity Value Analysis, which will be discussed soon here on the Green Buzz Agency Blog.

Alison Walsh is an Experienced Public Relations and Marketing Professional. You can reach her at alisonhope.walsh@gmail.com

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The GBA Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people

by Alison Walsh
In an effort to start the week off right, Green Buzz Agency is offering a little bit of education – call it a piece of “flair” – each Monday.  We’ll tackle a different part of PR each week.  Think we’ve missed one? Let us know and we’ll write one or post yours as a guest blog!

Since you only get what you give, we’ll start with Corporate Social Responsibility and the 8 questions you should ask when selecting a partner charity.

Muhammad Ali once wrote, “Community service is the rent we pay for our room here on earth.”  In the spirit of “every little bit helps,”  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is important, regardless of the size of your business.  You may have a charity in mind, but your PR team can help you get the most out of what you give through presence and alignment.  Furthermore, they may have worked with these charities in the past or know their past work well from a media audit or similar connection.

Sure, every charity is a worthy cause, but there are questions you should answer before choosing one (or more) charity.  We also recommend using Charity Navigator, as you vet out your options.

To start:

• Do I want to spread my donations to many different charities throughout the year or focus on a sole partner?
• Is their cause something around which my company and employees can rally?
• Does this charity’s donor base match my target customer base?
• Is this charity like my company: a well-oiled machine?
• Do they keep their web site fresh?
• Are they willing to include links and logos for my company in charity promotional materials online and in print?
• Do they hold events and fundraisers in which my company can get involved?
• Are they fairly well-known or on a growth spurt?

Here’s hoping your Monday’s productive and you don’t have to take a bat to your printer anytime soon, a la Office Space (the movie we’ve been referencing throughout this post).

The PR Specialist behind this post is Alison Walsh. Email Alison: alisonhope.walsh@gmail.com

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Learn more about GBA and our video production prowess!

by Margie Maddux Newman

Not all public relations practitioners (a.k.a. “flacks”) are created equal. I can say that because I am one. Day after day, I see folks out there giving my craft a bad name. Fortunately, there are many great PR pros who will ethically and strategically work to advance your goals. The good flacks serve as knowledgeable, curious and creative partners.  Here are three signs you’ve found one:

Effective flacks listen: if your new firm or in-house communications director shows up on the first day with a plan already drawn up and ready to implement – you’ve got a problem.  How can someone craft your communications strategy when they’ve never asked you about your vision, strengths, opportunities, threats, audiences, and goals? If your firm/comm. director does more talking than you do, tell them to hush; or go find a new one.

Effective flacks teach: I believe online reputation management will be the cornerstone of your successful PR campaign, but the mainstreaming of social media has ushered in a lot of self-declared “gurus.” It drives me nuts. Your business plan doesn’t call for a spiritual leader; you’re seeking the support of a tech-savvy person who will make your message more effective among people, on paper, and in pixels. Your PR pro should be transparent and coach you through the process. At the end of the day, you should be a better communicator because you’ve met this person, not rendered speechless by some secret sauce.

Effective flacks want you to win: one sign your PR pro has her eye on your prize is her willingness to do whatever it takes to get you there. To be clear, I’m not talking about unethical practices; I’m talking about playing well with others.  There may come a time when you need more than just that firm/individual’s hands on deck.  You may need support from both sides of the aisle; maybe you need to hire a digital marketing specialist or Web designer – whatever it takes. If your firm is hesitant to assemble an arsenal of creative/political/technical folks to advance your cause – you can bet they’re more interested in their invoice than your victory.

Whether you use an in-house communications director or an outside consultant, take your time and invest in high-performing, ethical, goal-driven public relations professionals.  Your reputation – and bottom line – will be ever-so-grateful.

Margie Maddux Newman is an award-winning pr flack, technology columnist and social media guinea pig.  A Nashville native, she currently lives, works, blogs and talks to strangers in Washington D.C.

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Two experiences today demonstrated to me the importance of seeing the big picture.

This morning I was trying to work at the Caribou Coffee I’m at every morning, except the WiFi wasn’t working. As I tried to connect to the WiFi, I overheard the shift manager speak with an employee for nearly two minutes about making sure the right-sized cups were placed in the right spot in their work area.

Once the manager finished talking cup location, I approached her for assistance with the WiFi. As soon as I said, “I’m having trouble with the WiFi,” she blurted out, “That’s an issue with the Internet service and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“I was just thinking you could reset the router,” I said, taken aback at her brusqueness.

“There’s nothing we can do,” she said again.

I walked back to my seat, had her refill my half-empty cup, and left.

This afternoon I read on Fast Company that an 18 year old has developed a tool that lets Twitter users quickly find people to follow with similar interests as their own, called FollowFormation. I go check it out.

I did what I needed to do and clicked “follow” to start following those with the interests I had selected, but nothing happened. I ended up waiting eight minutes and still, nothing happened. It seemed to me the application this 18 year old, named Brian Wong, had created wasn’t quite ready for primetime.

I went back to the Fast Company post and wrote:

Decent idea, except I’ve selected six categories w/ 10 people to follow per each and have been waiting 5 minutes for it to “get into formation,” yet nothing has happened. Perhaps you can select more than one, but selecting more than two breaks the app.

If you’re interested in social media, Web, tech, sports or entrepreneurship, my Twitter is http://twitter.com/nbarron.

As I’m leaving work today, I see Brian Wong has started following me on Twitter, and then e-mailed me to see if I was still having trouble with FollowFormation. In order to contact me via e-mail, he had to click through to Societrends from my Twitter profile and fill out the form on the blog. Not exactly manual labor, but more effort than a lot of people would extol to reach out to someone, especially if that someone had not spoken too kindly about something they had worked hard to create.

Yet Brian put forth the effort, and I gave FollowFormation a second try, which I wouldn’t have done had he not reached out to me. FollowFormation worked like a charm the second time around.

The Caribou manager had in front of her a daily customer with a problem. Even if she couldn’t help me, she should have at least taken more time to hear me out and then offer an explanation. Instead, she brushed me aside.

I plan to go back to this Caribou in the morning because I took the initiative to look up the phone number I need to call when having an issue with WiFi at a Caribou Coffee. I think this is probably a phone number the manager could have provided me. Instead, she seemed more focused on where coffee cups were placed.

These stories serve as reminders to all of us that good leaders and successful people are able to see the big picture, even when human nature may pull them in another direction. I gave Brian Wong every right to ignore me, or be curt with me, but he saw the big picture. He didn’t see an angry customer, he saw an opportunity.

In doing so, he gained a user and a fan. It’s people like Brian Wong who create the stuff I write about on Societrends. By reaching out to me, Wong has ensured at least one positive blog post, as well as an automatic connection to me for any future innovations he may unveil.

Brian Wong sees the big picture. Do you?

- Nick Barron, Green Buzz Agency Social Media Consultant