In public relations, research is an integral process in planning and developing strategies and activities. In accordance to management practices, public relations professionals are being held accountable for their contribution to the profitability of an organization or a company. Given this demand of accountability, research takes on another vital role which is to measure the effectiveness of public relations activities; therefore, making research an ongoing process and but to be conducted at the evaluation stage. From this perspective, research serves a critical function, specifically in the evaluation of public relations activities and strategies.

 

Public Relations and Return on Investment (ROI)

In his article, Return on Investment (ROI) of PR & Corporate Communication, Jim Macnamara argued that public relations and corporate communications do make valuable contributions to companies; however, they cannot be measured in financial terms.  Macnamara argued that since public relations and communication strategies are designed to achieve non-financial objectives (i.e. increasing awareness or increasing support) that a difference set of measurement tools are required.[1] As Macnamara stated,

 

“Many PR and corporate communication campaigns are focused on objectives such as building good community relations and improving the organization’s environmental image. Accordingly, its contribution must be measured in more than direct monetary returns even in financially-orientated public and private companies. Improvements in analysts’ views, media reporting, internal support, and community attitudes are all important Returns on Investment.”[2]

 

Macnamara explained that the essential part of the measuring the ROI in public relations/communications is by having clear and measurable objectives that are aligned with the appropriate measurement of communication activity.  To supplement the measurable objectives,  Macnamara recognized that in demonstrating ROI it involves a variety of research tools such  as surveys, focus groups, interviews, media analysis, etc and gap analysis to compare pre-and post-campaign levels and conditions.[3]

 

Media Evaluation Research and the Importance of Media Content Analysis

Stressing the importance of evaluating media, Michael Blowers wrote an extensive research paper entitled, “Cracking content – a guide to measuring the media, present and future” where he outlined the academic background supporting media content analysis.[4] Couched in the ROI perspective, Blowers echoed Macnamara’s comments in regards to the importance for public relations professionals need to devise measurable objectives in order to demonstrate public relations ROI for an organization or company. As Blowers stated,

 

“When considering the return on investment for PR it is necessary to measure outcomes and not simply outputs. It is also crucial that the measures adopted are aligned with the overall objectives of the organisation….It is therefore relevant to highlight that return on investment for PR is not measured only in financial terms. Organizations need to consider very carefully their objectives; to see that they are clearly established, understandable, achievable and measurable.”[5]

 

Blowers goes onto to explain how media content analysis is contributing to the measurement of public relations ROI as it involves numerous activities such has tracking favourability and voice share, tracking key messages and tracking media exposure. These same activities are expressed in Macnamara’s table where objectives are aligned with a media measurement to demonstrate ROI of public relations activities.

 

Blowers maintains that there is a growing demand for a link between media output and organization outcomes; media content analysis is central to establishing this link. Despite its researching challenges, he also mentioned the need for public relations professionals to considering measuring online as this medium presents many opportunities.[6]

 

Measuring Blogs

Going beyond traditional media, there is a growing trend in consumer-generated media such as blogs. Blogs provide forum of consumers to voice their opinions on various topics.  As Paine and Lark stated, “[m]ore and more independent bloggers — be they journalists, pundist, experts or ordinary gadflies – are taking to the internet to put forward their views to anyone who will listen. This phenomenon is shaking the communications world, as PR people envision yet another new medium to address. But blogs are also making PR researchers rethink their approaches as well.”[7]

 

Conclusion

From this brief examination, one can understand that research should not stop at the planning and developing of public relations activities. Moreover, research in the evaluation stage has dual purposes as for the public relation professionals it serves as a tool to measure their impact but also it demonstrates to organization or companies the effectiveness of public relations. 

[1] Macnamara, J  Return of Investment (ROI) of PR & Communication http://www.carma.com/research/ROI_Dis_Paper.pdf

[2] Macnamara, p. 3

[3] Macnamara, p. 5

[4] Blowers, M. “Cracking content: a guide to measuring media present and future.” http://www.meresearch.co.uk/MEresearch/index_files/Reports/VersionForWebsite.pdf

[5] Blowers, M. “Cracking content: a guide to measuring media present and future.” http://www.meresearch.co.uk/MEresearch/index_files/Reports/VersionForWebsite.pdf  p.12

[6] Blowers, M. “Cracking content: a guide to measuring media present and future.” p .23 http://www.meresearch.co.uk/MEresearch/index_files/Reports/VersionForWebsite.pdf

[7] Paine, K. & Lark,  A (2005) How to measure blogs and other consumer generated media

    and what to do with the data once you have it http://ipr.wieck.com/files/uploads/PaineLark_05IPRRC.pdf