So Did It Work? Measuring & Evaluating Your Public Relations Plan

By Phyllis K. Ershowsky, APR, MBA, Principal
PKE Marketing & PR Solutions, LLC
Adjunct Professor in Public Relations, Florida Gulf Coast University

One of the most important yet most overlooked elements of a strategic public relations plan is the measurement component. A well thought out plan must incorporate a method of evaluation so that you have real evidence to demonstrate whether or not the plan has achieved your objectives, or if you need to revise before doing this again.

Take steps to ensure that you or your public relations consultant includes evaluative measures throughout the plan – it is not advisable to wait until the end to discover whether the plan is going well, or not.

Reasons for measuring your results include:

• To determine if you achieved your objectives
• To evaluate if you would make any changes for next time
• To help with decision-making at the management level

So how do you begin? Plan to include evaluation in your program from the very beginning by deciding what your criteria are for success. What are you trying to measure? Attendance at an event? Number of new clients? Votes in a political campaign? Once you know what you want to measure, decide on when you want to measure it. At the end of your program, or at intervals along the way? Finally, you need to develop your measurement techniques – how will you measure your results?

When setting criteria, make sure they are linked to your objectives. They should also be realistic (but challenging), cost effective (not cost more than your gain), and ethical.

As for timing, consider an implementation report that summarizes each of your tactics and then interim progress reports so you can change your program if it needs tweaking. Finally, you will require a summative report to present the results of the completed program. Most businesses expect these from their public relations department or outside consultants.

Some measurement techniques involve a before-after study where attitudes are tested both before and after a program is implemented and then compared to determine the effectiveness of the campaign. Other techniques may be strictly an after-study or a control group mechanism.

As you progress through your plan, you will want to establish your evaluation methodology. Will you depend solely on judgmental assessments like, “I think that went well,” “Or my friends said they read about it in the newspaper,” or will you want more substantive information?  You can track success by evaluation communication outputs (number of press releases and articles in the media), message production (how well crafted the news release was), message distribution (number of media who received it), or message cost (what was your ROI).

Other methods of evaluation include measurement of how awareness might have increased since you sent the message out, if the content was reported the way it was intended and whether or not the message was remembered.

The ultimate feedback is the measurement of your action objectives – did you actually increase audience participation, attendance, traffic, sales and attitudes? Much of this is based on direct observation and feedback from your audience, but it is essential to track these results.

How does evaluation help you in the long run? It adds to a solid public relations plan that will help your firm by:

• Reinforcing positive opinion, reversing negative opinion & promoting awareness of your benefits;
• Making money by generating publicity, adding customers and improving performance, internally and externally;
• Creating understanding and goodwill through all your organizational functions;

*Saving money by retaining customers and keeping you ahead of the competition.

Whether your firm employs an internal public relations manager or hires a public relations consulting firm, the value of measuring the results of your public relations programs is immeasurable.