EVALUATION

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EVALUATION

• Chapter 8

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4th Step in the PR ProcessResearch, Action,
Communication, EVALUATION

• Evaluation is the measurement of results against
  established objectives set during the planning
  process (2nd step).
• It is The systematic assessment of a program and
  its results. It is a means for practitioners to
  offer accountability to clientsand to
  themselves. (Bissland)
• Your program is intended to cause observable
  impact to change or maintain something about a
  situation (Broom/Dozier)
• Evaluating PR efforts can help you do a better
  job next time
• It also fits in with the business worlds desire
  to see that money, time, and effort expended on
  PR are well spent contribute to the organ.
  objectives

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Measurable Objectives

• Before any PR program can be properly evaluated,
  it is important to have a clearly established set
  of measurable objectives. This should be part of
  the program plan.
• If an objective is informational, measurement
  techniques must show how successfully information
  was communicated to target audiences this
  doesnt show effect on attitudes or action
• Motivational objectives can be more difficult to
  accomplish you may need to show that it was the
  PR efforts that caused the increase rather than
  advertising and marketing strategies
• If the goal is to change attitudes or opinions,
  research should be done before , during and after
  the PR activity to measure the percentage of
  change (can use baseline or benchmark studies)

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Basic Evaluation Questions

• Was the activity or program adequately planned?
• Did the recipients of the message understand it?
• How could the program strategy have been more
  effective?
• Were all primary and secondary audiences reached?
• Was the desired organizational objective
  achieved?

• What unforeseen circumstances affected the
  success of the program or activity?
• Did the program or activity fall within the
  budget set for it?
• What steps can be taken to improve the success of
  similar future activities?

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Different Ways of Measurement

• Production
• Message Exposure/Compilation
• Media Impressions
• Internet Hits
• Advertising Equivalency

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Production

• How many news releases, feature stories, photos,
  letters, etc are produced in a given period of
  time.
• This can give management an idea of a staffs
  productivity and output.
• But PR pros dont put much stock is this
  measurement form because it emphasizes quantity
  over quality.
• It may be more cost-effective to write fewer news
  releases and spend more time on the few that
  really are newsworthy.
• For example, it may be more important for a staff
  person to spend five weeks working on an article
  for the Wall Street Journal or Fortune than to
  write 29 routine news releases.

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Message Exposure

• The most widely practiced form of evaluating
  public relations programs is the compilation of
  press clippings and radio-television mentions
• Staff members will methodically scan and clip
  area/national newspapers or use clipping services
  to scan/record hundreds of papers or broadcast
  news programs

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Monitoring Services

• Large companies will hire such services to scan
  large numbers of publications, broadcasts and
  websites
• Burrelles/Luce, for example, claims it can
  monitor 40 million blogs and Internet forums,
  16,000 Web news sources, 10,300 daily and
  nondaily newspapers, nearly 8,000 magazines and
  trade journals, and 925 TV and cable stations
• National Aircheck can search almost 8,000 hours
  of news talk radio each week
• We should be able to tell someone within 10-15
  minutes where and when theyre being talked
  about, says National Airchecks president

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Media Impressions

• This is defined as the potential audience reached
  by a periodical or broadcast program
• Media impressions are a way to document how many
  people may have been or potentially have been
  exposed to the message.
• They dont however document how many people
  actually read or heard the stories and, more
  importantly, how many absorbed or acted on the
  information

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Hits on the Internet

• This is a cyberspace version of media
  impressions.
• Each instance of a person accessing a site is
  called a hit, visit, or unique visit.

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Advertising Equivalency (AVE)

• This involves calculating the value of message
  exposure
• This is done by converting news stories in the
  newspapers/magazines or on the air into
  equivalent advertising costs
• C of C mens basketball team in 1997 NCAA
  tournament received media coverage worth 3.4
  million in advertising equivalency

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AVEs Downside

• But some say advertising equivalency is like
  comparing apples and oranges because of
  differences between free publicity and paid
  advertising.
• Is a 15-inch article that mentions your
  organization only once among six other
  organizations comparable to a 15-inch ad that
  clearly highlights your organization?

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Audience Awareness, Attitudes and Action

• can also be measured and evaluated through
  various types of survey research
• Baseline (also called benchmark) studies can
  measure an audiences attitudes and opinions
  before, during, and after a public relations
  campaign
• Day After Recall is another way to measure
  audience awareness and comprehension read a
  particular news story or watch a specific TV
  program next day you are interviewed to learn
  which messages you remembered
• Ultimately, public relations campaigns are
  evaluated based on how they help an organization
  achieve its objectives through changing audience
  behavior, whether it involves sales,
  fund-raising, participation/involvement levels,
  changes in public policy, or the election of a
  candidate, for example.

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Communication Audits

• The entire communication activity of an
  organization should be evaluated at least once a
  year to make sure all publics are receiving
  appropriate messages.
• At PR firms and departments these are usually
  done by outside companies specializing in such
  audits, to ensure impartiality and objectivity
• This can be done through focus groups, surveys,
  interviews, content analysis of company
  newsletters and other printed pieces
• Communication audits help critique and better
  establish communication goals and objectives,
  evaluate long-term programs, identify strengths
  and weaknesses, and identify areas which require
  improvement or increased activity.