The Harte of Marketing

Archive for the ‘measurement’ Category

After discussing the inauthentic nature of PR in my last post, I hope you know that I do respect and enjoy being part of the PR profession (well, except those PR areas that are broken) and truly believe that most PR folks are engaging in PR in a way that is effective. That said, I still believe that ghostwriting from PR pros (or profs) isn’t necessary or authentic (I am not sure that there’s much that can convince me…but I’ll keep an open mind, I promise).

I thought it might be a useful conversation to discussion how PR 2.0 will keep you SO busy providing strategic services/counsel for your clients or employer you won’t need to worry about ghost blogging and tweeting as a source of income or a way to show value for one’s job. And I know for a lot of PR agencies and pros that might not truly understand the nature (dare I say, culture) of social media, those are areas of concern. I get it, I really do. 

While this might not be as interesting as a debate, perhaps it will prove to be more useful. 

Today’s typical and traditional PR person does a lot of the following tasks: 

• Builds relationships with third-party resources (usually the media, sometimes bloggers)
• Maintains existing relationships
• Does research
• Listens/Analyzes (usually online/print pickups)
• Writes plans
• Provides counsel
• Creates targeted messages
• Conveys timely news with constituents (but typically media and maybe bloggers)
• Builds a brand’s reputation
• Maintains a brand’s image
• Deploys crisis communications
• Clips or tracks pickups or mentions
• Provides measurement of campaigns
• Handles some marketing communications (including collateral, website content if a marketer isn’t part of the team)

 With PR 2.0 you can add the following to your skills, deliverables and job description:

• Monitors brand in real-time
• Listens/Analyzes online conversations or mentions in real-time
• Responds promptly
• Conducts primary research in real-time
• Engages in two-way conversations with ALL constituents (in-house PR folks)
• Participates in social networking in a value-add way (in-house PR folks)
• Develops new online skills (blogging, wikis, RSS, etc.)
• Understand the importance of building relationships with all constituents (media, bloggers, employees, investors, fans, friends, followers, detractors, etc.)
• Responsible for Search Engine Optimization
• Identifies & engages with influencers and brand evangelists (in-house PR folks)
• Manages communities of constituents (in-house PR folks)
• Integrates new technologies into PR plans
• Shares industry information, not just key messages
• Builds communities
• Engages evangelists to help create word of mouth
• Understands that engaging in PR 2.0 will help at time of crisis
• Stays up-to-date on trends
• Trains management, co-workers and/or clients constantly 

I don’t know about you, but to me that looks like a pretty busy job to me! All without having to ghostwrite or tweet (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

I cannot take complete credit for these lists. While I have been engaged in PR for a long time, some people just say things more succinctly than I do…and I like to give the credit they deserve. So, please, seriously, if you haven’t read PR 2.0 by Deirdre Breakenridge, add it to your reading list. She makes the transition to PR 2.0 crystal clear, easy-to-swallow, and provides a lot of proof points (i.e. some of the list information is from her book). John Bell at Ogilvy is another source of great information when it comes to the PR pro of the future (be sure to read John’s post when you get a chance). He’s the guy behind this post’s image and some of the items on the PR 2.0 list. 

I am sure that I am leaving things off of both lists, so please be sure to add where necessary if this is too simplified.

Thoughts? Opinions? Objections?

[Image: John Bell]

There’s been a lot of buzz around measuring the ROI of social media here and other places and it seems to come up a lot during the #pr20chats (PR 2.0 chats on Twitter). Sometimes measurement is a deadly sin (lack thereof) and sometimes it’s seen as a holy grail (can’t get there). Whichever it is, it’s not limited to social media…measuring ROI is also a huge issue for marketers and PR folks too. 

Measuring marketing, PR and social media can be relatively simple if you have a plan. And the plan is probably the hardest part, especially getting consensus (management and co-workers), being able to implement it and-most importantly-being agile enough to change on a dime when an element of the plan isn’t working. 

I’ll let you in on a little secret, I didn’t learn how to write objectives (the part of the plan that makes it measurable) in college or on the job. Nope! In fact, I learned how to write measureable objectives from the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) when I took their weekend APR (Accreditation in Public Relations) course about 8-9 years ago. Because understanding how to write a plan with measureable objectives is a large part of achieving the APR, it was also a large part of the weekend course. Since then, I have used what I learned for marketing and PR campaign plans throughout the years and it’s really been helpful to show management if campaigns have been successful (or not) and how I’ve been a contributing member of the marketing team. 

I’ve heard a lot of people say that there isn’t standardization when it comes to measurement. I’d say what I am about to share is as standard as it gets… And if you haven’t already picked up a copy of Katie Paine’s ‘Measuring Public Relationships,’ you better rush on over to Amazon. 

Some of this you might know, some maybe not. In any case, feel free to share your best practices. 

Writing a Plan: The Basic Elements 

A basic plan should have: 

• A goal (One. If you find yourself writing “and” in your goal, you’ll probably need two plans)
• Measurable objectives (as many as needed)
• Strategies (every objective gets its own strategies)
• Tactics (every strategy gets its own tactics)
• A way to measure

 A plan could essentially look like this: 

• Goal
• Objective 1.1
• Strategy 1.1
• Tactic 1.1
• Strategy 1.2
• Tactic 1.2
• Objective 2.1
• Strategy 2.1
• Tactic 2.1
• Strategy 2.2
• Tactic2.2

 [This basic plan assumes you know your or your client know their challenge, audience, budget, etc.]

Basic example: 

Goal: I want to lose weight.

Objective: I want to lose 10 pounds by July 15th

Strategy 1.1: I will go to the gym 5 times a week

Tactic: I will use the elliptical machine, weights and the pool at the gym

Strategy 1.2: I will watch what I eat

Tactic: I will write down everything I eat

Measurement: I lost 8 pounds by July 15th (I didn’t achieve my goal)

Knowing the difference between goals and objectives

When I ask marketing/PR folks what’s their measureable objective is I often hear “to generate more sales” or “to get our key message out.” These are not objectives…they are goals. And because goals and objectives are often confused, it leads people thinking that they can’t be measured in a truly impactful way.

Outputs, Outtakes and Outcomes: Three types of objectives

 For objectives to be measureable they must include (no exceptions):

1.  A specific desire communication or behavioral effect;
2. A designated public (or publics) among whom the effect is to be achieved;
3. The expected level of attainment; and
4. The timeframe in which those attainments
   are to occur.

Basic Example: To increase number of presentation downloads by online public #1 by 20% within 3 months. (Pretty easy, right?)

Once you understand what is required for a measureable objective, then you need to understand what type of objective makes sense: output, outtake or outcome. 

• Output: Physical products (i.e. whitepapers, tweets, blog posts, articles, etc.)
• Outtake: What will the publics take away? (i.e. messages, perceptions, understandings)
• Outcome: What quantifiable changes in attitudes, behaviors, or opinions (i.e. did they buy something?)

 Here’s the catch:

Outputs are easy and it’s apparent whether or not you did what you said you would in your plan (was that whitepaper written and tweeted out?). Outtakes require bench marketing and monitoring (how do you know where you ended up, if you didn’t know where you started). And Outcomes require heavy lifting. Because, and this is VERY important, Outcome objectives are usually where ROI ties in, and an organization will need to track all efforts and follow them, most likely, through a CRM system, which isn’t always easy to do. 

So what’s the point to this post? Well, people are losing patience when it comes to conversations around social media (as well as marketing and PR) not being measureable. Everything is measurable; you just need to make the time to plan for it. And trust me, as I have said in the past, I have never worked for an organization that enforced or required a plan. That said, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have one. A plan is a great way to show, whether you’re client or agency side, your value as a marketing, PR or social media pro. That said, no one ever said it was easy… 

What do you think? Too basic? (That was the point.) Not real-world enough? If so, why are we trying to complicate it? 

As always, I am interested in your thoughts, experiences and where this is all heading.

I was reading Marketing News (the American Marketing Associations’ magazine) recently, the 5.30.09 issue on Measuring, and I came across an interesting quote in their “Measure Up” article (you need to be a member to access the article) on the return on marketing investment (ROMI): 

“Marketing is in the process of maturing from a communications function to a business function.” (Tom O’Toole, adviser with Diamond Management & Technology Consultants Inc.) 

Say what? 

The first concern I have with this limiting comment is that marketing has never only been a communications function. Let’s not forget that there are 4 P’s in the traditional marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion). Yes, I get that the statement was used to, perhaps, make a valid point that marketing needs to be an “accounting line item for ROI (i.e. business function).” But from a business perspective, all 4 P’s have always been measureable (in one form or another) and those managing these functions can and should be held accountable for their budgets, spending and ROI (if we spent X, what was the return). Is there a communications aspect with all 4 Ps? Sure people always communicate, right? But let’s assume with this particular statement Mr. O’Toole is addressing the “Promotion” aspect of marketing and equating “communications” to things like advertising, direct mail, online, interactive, PR, etc. 

The second is that even if we look at marketing promotions alone, accountability isn’t anything new and any marketing communications manager, VP or CMO that isn’t measuring marketing communications objectives (and campaigns) is doing a complete disservice to the profession and the company (that business function referred to in the comment). That said I get that marketers struggle with planning, measuring ROI and dealing with accountablity. It’s also tough to work within a corporate mindset (client- or agency-side) that if a campaign doesn’t bring in positive ROI (and lots of press or leads) marketers might face retribution instead of redirection. (BTW, we need to change that mindset.) I also understand that a lot of marketing management skips the important step of planning at all. 

From a measurement and communications perspective, marketing has many aspects that need to be considered, understood and―more importantly―bridged by tearing down marketing silos so that marketers work together AND have experience across the mix. For example, often product managers & product marketers determine the product/service and pricing long before marcom folks are tapped into for promotion. And business development folks determine the distribution (place) for the product. And it’s the marketing researchers that help the product managers & product marketers (and sometimes the marcom folks) to determine the product/service or if there’s even a market for it in the first place. I could go on with lots of combinations, but you get my point. It’s marketing management’s job to ask the basic questions like “did that supply chain partner help to reduce costs, increase sales and justify the marketing communications costs of selecting them as a business partner?” or “did the marketing research we conducted help the product marketers prove that there was a market for our new product and was that research built into the price of the product?” 

I am sure by now you are thinking “Beth, so what does all of this have to do with social media?!” Well, I have noticed a trend that people are stating, thinking or promoting that social media will replace all the corporate (and agency) ills of marketing and that just isn’t the case. 

I wanted to demonstrated that marketing is complex and isn’t just about communications (I hope I accomplished that in a simple manner…otherwise you’d be here all day reading a textbook or 10). As well, many marketing functions reside outside of the marketing communications department. And yet, they all need to work together, like well oiled gears. So while I do think social media (the tools and the concept) can help enhance all of the 4 Ps, it definitely won’t replace them. Saying that is equivalent to saying social media will replace accounting or HR. 

My question is this… if you think that social media will replace marketing, share with us how you think it will replace all the four Ps and how you will measure the return.

[Image: iStock]

Monday and Tuesday I’ll be at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum and I am really looking forward to it! After attending the MarketingProfs’ Digital Marketing Mixer in October, I have no doubt that the B2B Forum will deliver on its promise to re-charge, re-invent, re-engage us marketers! 

The B2B Forum will focus on three key areas: 

• Integrating marketing programs for better results
• Measuring and evaluating marketing programs to prove ROI
• Keeping customers and prospects engaged 

With the economical situation in the US and marketing campaigns, well, just not working quite the way they used to…we can safely say that these are the top three areas a lot of marketers are concerned about. 

I am looking forward to meeting a lot of new people, meeting people I’ve only known online and hanging out with good friends.

While at the B2B Forum Ann Handley and I will be taking turns doing one-on-one Twitter therapy sessions so if your attending and need some help integrating Twitter into your marketing or communications strategy, stop by! 

I also plan on blogging some of the sessions so you can see the value you’ll receive by attending MarketingProfs events. Some of the sessions I’ll be attending include: 

• Marketing 2.0: Integrating Social Media into Your Marketing Mix with Sandy Carter, IBM
• The 2009 Economic Impact on B2B Marketing Budgets and Practices with Roy Young, MarketingProfs; Sandy Carter, IBM; and Laura Ramos, Forrester
• Developing Online Communities that Increase Customer Loyalty with Diane Hessan, Communispace; Gretchen Harding, Intuit; Joanne Del Toro, Network Solutions; Nathan Beverly, WellPoint Corporate Marketing
• Tales from the Trenches, How Organizations are Measuring Value in Social Media with Katie Payne, KDPaine & Partners 

If you’ll be in Boston for the B2B Forum, I hope to see you there!

As I mentioned yesterday in my dirty little secret about social media post (by the way, which was neither dirty nor a secret…just a catchy headline), I spoke to the Greater Fort Worth Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) about implementing and measuring social media. 

I wanted to share my slides with everyone and hopefully share the love that social media can indeed be measured by those who so choose to do so.

Now to be perfectly clear, I am not the magician behind measuring social media. That, my friends, would be Katie Delahaye Paine. If you are in business and shooting from the hip (which your executives might not appreciate or you may be wondering how to quantify all that time on Twitter) when it comes to your social media engagement (or with your publics in general), I strongly suggest that you get Katie’s book Measuring Public Relationships because it makes the scary task rolling up your sleeves to  benchmark, analyze and measure seem like an easy thing to do…and at the end of the journey, there is proof for your management team (or yourself) that you are indeed heading in the right direction and making a difference with your efforts (and perhaps either saving money or increasing sales!). 

Katie’s book covers:

• An Introduction to Measurement
• Measuring Tools
• Measuring Relationships with the Media
• Measuring Relationships with Analysts & Influencers
• Comparing Media Relations to Other Marketing Disciplines
• Measuring Trust and Mistrust
• Measuring the Impact of Events and Sponsorships
• Measuring Internal Communications
• Measuring Blogs and Online Relationships
• Measuring Relationships in a Crisis
• Measuring Relationships developed through Speaking Engagements
• Measuring Relationships with Members of your Organization
• Measuring Relationships with Sales People, Channel Partners, and Franchises
• Measuring Relationships with the Investment Community
• Putting it all Together

Now, I know what you might be thinking. “I am not in PR.” Well, guess what? If you are engaged in social media, you are in PR now. As you can see from the list of chapters above, public relations aren’t just about the media…. It’s about all your publics, no matter who they are or where they may be. 

In my presentation, I focused on measuring blogs, but you can use Katie’s guidance to measure all aspects of social media. [NOTE: All content used from Katie's book was done so with permission from KD Paine & Partners.] 

Here are some other great books to help you get started in using social media to work with your publics: 

• PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences by Deirdre Breakenridge
• Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge

I’d also suggest checking out your local PRSA chapters. The PRSA is just another great way to learn about all types of public relations.

A side note for non-profits: If you are considering engaging in social media…contact Katie Paine. She has a wonderful non-profit benchmark report & starter measurement kit available that shares important stats like: what’s “normal” in non-profit social media; what percentage positive/negative comments are standard; what people are doing on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc.; and who the influencers are in the non-profit space.

I would be interested in your feeback on my presentation…is it helpful for your social media planning and measurement?