Evaluate Your Communications Plan
Ways to Measure the Success of a Public Relations Campaign
Most communicators begin preparing for any significant PR campaign by creating a written communications plan. Countless books and websites will tell you how to write such a plan and what elements to include, often with cute acronyms and memory devices. One commonly used formula for communications planning is RACE, which stands for:
- Research — Investigate and describe the situation and the need for communications.
- Analyze — Determine the target audience, goals and objectives and communications tactics.
- Communicate — Implement the tactics.
- Evaluate — Determine your level of success in achieving the plan’s goals and objectives.
Any professional communicator who does his or her homework during the first three steps – especially the first – should find the final step relatively easy. In fact, in an ideal world, one could basically repeat the research done in step one at the end of the campaign to evaluate its success. Of course, we don’t live in an ideal world, and we don’t always have the time, staff resources and budget to conduct full-fledged scientifically valid research studies for every PR project.
Research and evaluation are usually given less time, money and effort than goal-setting and the actual communications tactics. Many communicators mistakenly believe that research is inherently too expensive and difficult for small organizations, nonprofits, etc. They equate “research” with doing a scientific survey. In fact, there is a wide range of valid research techniques available — many of which are “free” (except for the time investment).
Types of Research
Communicators classify research methods in two primary ways. The first is formal vs. informal. Formal research uses the scientific method to ensure that the results can be applied to a larger population — for example, a scientifically designed telephone survey. Formal research generally uses random sampling, is highly structured and provides hard data.
Informal research means that the results cannot be used to draw scientifically based conclusions. It usually consists of more open-ended, unstructured methods, and it provides soft data. But “informal” does not mean “invalid”! Informal research is highly exploratory. It can use to begin the research process and especially to identify what formal research needs to take place.
We can also classify research as primary vs. secondary. These terms refer to the source of the research information. Primary research means that you and your coworkers conduct the research or examine the evidence personally, firsthand. The data received is new and original. Secondary research means that you investigate secondhand evidence — e.g., the results of someone else’s studies or the report of someone else’s primary research. Secondary research uses what’s already available, which means it can sometimes include older data – but again, both types are valid.
A brief list of research methods includes:
- Mail, telephone or e-mail surveys
- Online polls
- Focus groups
- Roleplaying
- Communications audits
- Public relations audits
- Man-on-the-street polls
- Advisory panels
- Readership studies
- Database searches
How Do You Know What Method to Use?
Several factors come into play, and you have to use your judgment. Examine the situation and determine how much time and money you have and what other resources – i.e., coworkers, temps, volunteers. In addition, ask yourself how important this project is to your organization in terms of potential impact on sales, finances or people. Is this a massive new product launch that could make or break the company? Is this your primary advertising and PR campaign taking up most of your communications budget for the year?
It might suffice to give a report to a small nonprofit’s board of directors using mostly informal research. They will understand and appreciate your time and budget constraints. On the other hand, if you are going to have to report on this campaign to your CEO on behalf of your whole department, it might be worth the money and effort to do some serious, original primary research.
When you draft your communications plan, set measurable objectives based on your initial research. This research, your objectives and your evaluation methods should be tied closely together.
For example, you might conduct a focus group to determine a certain audience’s attitudes during the research phase of your campaign, then design and implement a telephone survey based on the results of your focus groups. After you have implemented your PR campaign, you should be able to repeat one or both of these methods in the evaluation phase to determine whether you have met your objectives.
Research helps plan and evaluate a PR campaign.
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