Frank Sinatra crooned three little words that can make the heart skip a beat: I love you.
These days in the world of public relations, there are three words that can make my heart skip a beat, too, and not the way it did the first time someone other than my mother told me she loved me: return on investment. 
Regardless of the service you provide or product you sell, ROI always will be a consideration. Measuring ROI in public relations has always been particularly challenging. There are books written about it and experts on the topic.
But in my experience, our firm is being challenged more and more on ROI in PR. It’s 2014, and budgets are tight. “What am I getting for my money?” In a sign of the times, we recently received an RFP to provide public relations services, a significant portion of which is media relations. The RFP was peppered with phrases like “measurement of success of PR initiatives and plans.”
Further proof of the measurement-charged world of strategic communications and public relations: a long-term client that has always been satisfied and qualitatively believed the media placements we’ve earned on its behalf were having a positive effect on the business is now asking how we’re going to quantitatively measure results. It’s a righteous question, and good strategic communications firms should be able to demonstrate their value.
The world today seems to revolve around technology, and public relations does in large part, too. The web site is a cornerstone of most marketing communications efforts, most especially in the business-to-business world. Google Analytics provides a basic dashboard of measurement data. Implement a strategic social media plan that drives visitors to the web site, and you can begin to really put together some meaningful measurement. In doing so, you’re also on your way to developing a smart inbound marketing strategy.
Inbound marketing is the practice of creating a strategy to “get found” by people who are already researching your industry for potential purchases. Your web site serves as a new sales channel and is the very hub of the entire process. By creating compelling content, you can naturally attract visitors through search engines, blogs and social media. A platform like HubSpot enables measurement not only of visitors but prospects in the sales pipeline.
Still, there’s much more that can be done to measure the success of public relations.
But like public relations – it’s something that WordWrite does collaboratively with its clients, not to them – measurement, too, must be a collaborative effort.
Our structure for measuring results is based in part on the “Barcelona Principles.”
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Outputs: Timely and cost-effective execution of marketing activities on a consistent basis
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Outtakes: Broad, accurate and compelling articulation of the client’s story, as evidenced by feedback from customers and potential customers, media coverage and visibility of the firm in the news media
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Outcomes: Increased activity, in terms of media, prospects and leads who reach out to the client
In practical terms, we ask clients questions like:
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How can WordWrite’s public relations goals in working with you best tie into your marketing and communications business goals?
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If media exposure to a particular market is an important measure for WordWrite’s success, then what internal metrics and processes can we help you put in place — if there aren’t already processes in place — to make sure you capitalize on this exposure?
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Are there existing measures for other marketing and communications efforts that we could align our measurement with in some way? If none exist, how we can help create some that are meaningful, relevant and achievable?
None of these measures – even the simplest outputs – can be made without input and collaboration from the client. And the most sophisticated measures – outcomes – require commitment and discipline from agency and client.
And therein lies one of the secrets to any successful relationship. Commitment. Commit to measure in a meaningful way, and those three little words – return on investment – will have your organization loving its public relations partner.
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Jason Snyder is a senior vice president for WordWrite Communications.
