Everybody wants to see tangible results when they invest their hard-
earned cash. But when it comes to public relations, we are dealing
with ideas and persuasion rather than nuts and bolts. There is an
ongoing challenge in the communications business to prove that a
$50,000 PR campaign, for example, generated at least $50,000 worth of
business-building media. Here's one way to get a quantifiable
evaluation of your media relations programs.
Content analysis is the rather dry term used to describe the
quantitative and qualitative value of news stories generated by an
organization's PR department. Content analysis goes beyond
determining "equivalent advertising value" - what the coverage would
cost if it were purchased as advertising – to determine the impact of
specific messages on reporters in a media campaign.
And while learning that the equivalent ad value of your campaign is
multiples greater than your original budget is indeed gratifying,
diving deeper into the details will tell you whether your messages
are hitting their mark and how a campaign may be refined to increase
its effectiveness.
IS YOUR NEWS GENERALLY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE? In comprehensive content
analysis, we tabulate every news story and track how positively or
negatively news items about your organization are being covered.
WHICH OF YOUR MESSAGES ARE BEING CONVEYED? Most organizations seeking
media coverage understand the power of key messages – the, perhaps,
three succinct media lines that are woven into interviews, releases
and other interactions with the media. Content analysis, we can tell
you whether those messages are getting out. It will also tell you the
specific issues the media is focusing on.
HOW SUPPORTIVE ARE YOUR STAKEHOLDERS REACTING TO YOUR NEWS? You'll
have supporters and critics of your news and content analysis can
tabulate what third-party commentators are saying about you and your
organization.
WHAT PRIORITY DID THE MEDIA GIVE YOUR NEWS? In newspapers, for
instance, most readers look at pictures, captions, headlines and
other "display" copy. They tend to read the first few paragraphs of a
story rather than the whole story. They tend to spend more time with
the front page than other sections. Consequently, your story has more
impact if it has more prominence or if it comes with a picture. It
has much less impact if it is buried. Similarly, if your
organization's name is in the lead of a story, the coverage is more
valuable than if you are mentioned at the end of a story.
Comprehensive content analysis will assess the impact you carry with
the story.
WHERE ARE YOUR MESSAGES BEING SEEN? Although content analysis can't
tell your who read your article, it can tell you media outlet-by-
media outlet which audiences were exposed to your message.
Not only does content analysis assist you in objectively assessing
your campaigns, it can also highlight other communications issues
that need to be addressed. Organizations that are sensitive to
developing issues – nascent stories that are gathering steam and will
need to be dealt with in the future – find that continual analysis of
their news coverage helps them manage, defuse or deflect problems
before they become problems. Alternatively, content analysis helps
organizations identify new opportunities that they would not
otherwise see.
Of course, there is a cost to doing comprehensive content analysis.
Depending on the volume of news items, it may cost $2,000 to $5,000
per month. But organizations that make content analysis an integral
part of their communications strategy report that they can, based on
the hard evidence, make decisions about and refinements to campaigns
that yield a high return on that investment.
About the Author
Clive Camm is VP at Verus Public Relations (http://www.verus.com) and
provides the only comprehensive content analysis service in western
Canada. A specialist in campaign evaluations, he has a special summer
PR package to introduce organizations to the promotional power of the
media and the Internet.