Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation

If you took the great Kiwi Road Trip and didn't know where you were going, then the cries of 'Are We There Yet?' would soon be too much to bear. So too with public relations measurement and evaluation. You have to know where you are going, why you are going there, how you will get there and how you will recognise when you have arrived. PR measurement and evaluation is not just theory - it is an essential component of good practice that every organisation should expect as part of public relations and communications management provision.

Every organisation - commercial, not-for-profit, public sector or charity - has outcomes that need to be achieved and every organisation has crucial relationships to build, which is where public relations contributes to organisational success.

Public relations is concerned with building and sustaining the relationships we need in order to maintain our 'licence to operate' and the evaluation of that task incorporates far more than mainstream media measurement or a simple counting house approach.

Organisations have the right to expect evaluation that acts as a guide to good strategy and execution and that means looking at the whole picture, not just an indicative nod at the activities undertaken on their behalf.

The evaluation process (above) is simple, but as well as an expectation from organisations that it will be provided, the organisation itself has to buy-in to that process and historically, this has not always been the case. There must be an expectation - and the resources - that recognise it is as much a part of a public relations or communications programme as the tools and channels used to do the job.

There is no 'one size fits all' template. While the process itself is agreed worldwide, there is no 'one size fits all' measurement and evaluation template, as each organisation has its own outcomes, its own expectations of value and a unique set of opportunities and restrictions to work towards. By following the process, concentrating on outcomes and measurable objectives, a research, measurement and evaluation dashboard can be created that provides insight, clarity and focus for public relations and communications programmes.

This Hub is designed to share an overview of the process with organisations and practitioners alike and, in the members section, some resources and help that might be needed to construct a robust and durable measurement and evaluation process for their workplace.

Members can access information and resources for each stage of the process here and, if you are new to this area of practice and want to learn more, the PROOF POSITIVE online development session is also available exclusively to PRINZ members.