The ongoing industry debate surrounding the use of advertising value equivalents (AVEs), to measure PR success, has been interesting to observe. For some years Broadgate Mainland has been developing its own methods for evaluating PR campaigns and demonstrating to existing, and prospective, clients the powerful benefits of engaging in a communications programme.
For too many years the industry has huffed and puffed about moving away from the crude AVEs, without making real advances. This is changing as witnessed in June 2010, when the second European Summit on Measurement, created a new charter, named the Barcelona Declaration of Research Principles. The seven principles are:
1. Measurement and goal setting are fundamental for any PR programmes
2. Media measurement requires quantity and quality – clip cuts are generally meaningless
3. AVEs do not measure the value of PR and do not inform future activity; they measure the cost of media space
4. Social media can and should be measured
5. Measuring outcomes is preferred to measuring media results
6. Business results can and should be measured where possible
7. Transparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurement
More recent announcements from agencies around the global shunning AVEs illustrate that alternative methods of PR measurement are gaining momentum. The move by PR Week to ban AVEs as a method of measurement in its industry awards is welcomed. However, embracing change is not without its difficulties as internal systems, staff, and clients need to be educated to understand the shift in evaluating PR.
We support this move and relish the challenge of focusing on goal setting and business objectives. The vital aspect of evaluation is to discuss and agree parameters and goals at the outset of a new client programme, project or campaign. Evaluation and measurement is a fundamental part of a PR campaign and clients should allocate a percentage of PR spend to this. Having a thorough understanding of your campaign’s penetration is essential. Agreeing key performance indicators (KPIs) that form the basis of an evaluation matrix is imperative to demonstrate the real value of PR.
Getting a client to articulate the objectives for engaging with PR is itself a fascinating exercise and quickly highlights how differently individuals view PR as a tool, and the wide variety of expectations on what it can achieve. Each client and campaign is different and this needs to be taken into account for evaluation of results.
Like other agencies we are leading clients on this journey away from AVEs by challenging them to think about the objective and alternative methods in which PR can be measured. The emphasis is placed on quality not quantity and impact on the target audience. Using sentiment analysis, social media, website traffic and delivery of key messages are much more persuasive tools for showing companies the power of PR.
In these harsh economic conditions when companies have to justify expenditure, proving the value of a PR fee is surely the most obvious element that agencies should address. For this reason alone the move away from AVEs can’t come soon enough.
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