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.
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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
It took a recession, but resumes finally are receiving renewed scrutiny. The ability to embellish and obscure shrinks when one out of every six workers is under or unemployed. More than ever, recruiters want to see accomplishments, not responsibilities; numbers, not adverbs.
Certain professions have it easier than others. If you’re a lobbyist, you cite legislation passed or defeated. If you’re a fundraiser, you count dollars raised. If you’re a political operative, you record a win-loss record.
Alas, if you’re a social media consultant, you probably shun such metrics. Sure, you’ve helped clients tweet and blog, but who among us hasn’t? Sure, you have 10 years of experience, but what have you achieved?
With the ever-growing pool of amateurs marketing themselves as authorities, the need to distinguish the talkers from the doers is urgent. And what better way to draw this distinction than through the crucible of numbers.
For instance, does your resume refer to “viral videos”? Sounds impressive, right? Well, how many views have these sensations attracted? Have you supported a Web site redesign? How much did that bolster traffic, and how many unique monthly visitors did that result in?
Did you manage an e-mail list? How many people subscribed to it, and how many joined under your watch? Did you conduct blogger outreach? Name five bloggers you’ve successfully pitched.
Did you execute search engine optimization? By what percentages did that drive up organic traffic and referral traffic, and how many negative and positive stories did you navigate in and out of the top 10 search results?
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To be sure, numbers don’t paint a perfect picture. They omit client satisfaction, can elevate quantity to the detriment of quality, and can be massaged.
Moreover, numbers are only a means to an end. So, you doubled the audience for your podcast? Nice! Now tell us how this affected the bottom line. Did it engender a 30% bump in donations? A 50% jump in e-commerce sales? A 100% spike in membership?
Taking these extra steps requires extra work. Yet those confident in their CVs should embrace this charge. After all, there’s nothing like cold hard data to reveal that the common claim, “increased significantly,” in fact was a trivial 8% uptick.
Indeed, like the SAT, numbers serve a crucial purpose: They constitute a uniform, relatively transparent credential. As such, they help to address perhaps the biggest complaint about social media: How to measure its return on investment.
Jonathan Rick is a Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. Follow him on twitter @jrick
