Measurement Resources

Guidance for Quantifying Public Relations' Impact on Business Outcomes

Measurement and evaluation are critical elements of every public relations practitioner's professional competencies and are central to making a "case" for public relations.

Organizations and professionals who understand and believe in the benefits of public relations evaluation are able to:

• Validate the results of their efforts.
• Link the results to business outcomes that further the achievement of organizational goals.
• Credibly merchandise the impact of those results to those who fund public relations programs.
• Set smarter objectives, develop better strategies and employ more compelling and engaging tactics.
• Make midcourse program adjustments and corrections.
• Adapt their measurement approaches over time in light of changing objectives, new competitors and emerging best practices.

Coalition for Public Relations Research Standards

PRSA has joined with the Council of Public Relations Firms, the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communications Management, IPR and AMEC to form the Coalition for Public Relations Research Standards (“Coalition”).

Together, the Coalition has created a series of webpages to facilitate the development and adoption of industry-wide standards for public relations research and measurement.

Public relations professionals and other interested parties now have the ability to review and comment on proposed and interim standards available at www.instituteforpr.org/researchstandards.

The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communications

In 2010 PRSA formed a partnership with AMEC (The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communications). Together with other international public relations associations, agencies and suppliers, AMEC developed best practices concerning public relations measurement, the Barcelona Principles. To put these principles into actions, AMEC has developed a series of metrics frameworks to demonstrate how and what to measure with different types of public relations campaigns.

American Statistical Association

In 2011, PRSA and the American Statistical Association (ASA) collaborated to develop a best practices guide for the use of statistics in public relations campaign. The guide serves as a primer for public relations professionals on the role and value of statistics in communications campaigns.

Institute for Public Relations

PRSA and the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) share a responsibility to help organizations and the public relations professionals who serve them show the value of public relations in contextually relevant ways. PRSA and IPR have assembled a vast database of measurement resources that offers practical help for demonstrating the value of your communications programs.
 
These resources will help you to evaluate public relations successes in different practice areas, including:

• Crisis Communications and Issues Management
• Employee Communications
• Event Sponsorship
• Integrated Marketing Communications
• Investor Relations
• Media Relations
• Multicultural Relations
• Relationship Measurement
• Reputation Management
• Speaker Programs
• Using Statistics in Public Relations Campaigns

The resources included here also provide industry-specific metrics for:

• Airlines
• Association and Nonprofits
• Automotive
• Financial and Insurance
• Food and Beverage
• Government, Military and Public Affairs
• Health Care and Pharmaceuticals
• Industrial
• Retail
• Telecommunications

Other resources will help you generally measure the value of public relations, specifically measure the value of online messages, conduct communications audits and understand the challenges of using advertising value equivalencies (AVEs) as part of your measurement metrics. We've also include a bookshelf with additional suggested readings on public relations measurement.

PRSA and the IPR gratefully acknowledge the various authors and researchers who have made this resource possible. Please send any comments, thoughts or suggestions you may have to businesscase@prsa.org.

(Note: Access to Public Relations Tactics and Public Relations Strategist articles is free to PRSA members. Non-members may access full text of these articles for $3.99 each.)