I’ve been meaning to write on the recently proposed Media Rating Points system. If you are a small business that can’t afford to pay for a media measurement solution, or an agency that needs a means of communicating results, then this could work well. I don’t like the idea of rating coverage… this introduces a layer of opinion and complexity not needed. Focus on opportunities to see and frequency of messages.
The MRP™ system includes templates and reach data. The templates can be downloaded free of charge by clicking here.
Don Bartholomew has a summary of the evaluation/measurement findings from the latest GAP IV study from the Strategic Public Relations Center at USC Annenberg.
Key findings include that respondents spent only 4% of their budgets on evaluation. In terms of measuring PR performance (articles generated etc.) this could be right but if this number includes measuring impact (did we change minds, move markets, influence decisions?) then it is way low. That number should be closer to 15-20%.
Read Don’s post for a thorough analysis and the differing metrics used by PR departments that report to the C-suite and those that report to Marketing. Having run both functions in a number of companies I was always impressed how the brand teams started with deep research into the customer. The PR teams generally started with a brainstorm. I’ll say no more.
Katie has more on this…
