Unlocking the Potential of
Public Relations
A best practice study conducted by the
Institute of Public Relations and Department of
Trade and Industry, UK
Prof Anne Gregory FIPR, IPR President
Gerald Chan AMIPR, IPR Public Affairs & Education Officer
A report by the DTI and the IPR
www.ipr.org.uk/unlockpr
In-house PR practitioners
How well PR strategy supports the
organisation’s overall strategy
45
Private Sector
Mean = 3.85
Public Sector
Mean = 4.19
40
40
35
27
Percent
30
29
31
32
25
20
17
15
10
5
4 4
7
5
3
1
0
1
not at all
2
3
4
5
6
fully
Main purposes of PR
and how effectively they are achieved
PR Consultancies
1 = not at all, 6 = completely/absolutely
What constitutes good PR practice?
120 elements of good PR
practice identified covering:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Strategy making
Structure and organisation
Commissioning and resources
Research and planning
Professionalism
Creativity
Technology
Evaluation
Effectiveness of audience research
40
33 34
35
30
Percent
Private Sector
Mean = 3.38
Public Sector
Mean = 3.38
26 26
25
20
15
16 17
12 12
12
10
10
5
1 1
0
1
poor
2
3
4
5
6
excellent
Importance of individual competencies for
PR professionals
1 = not at all, 6 = very important
Activities outsourced to PR agencies/
consultancies and to what extent
1 = all internal, 6 = all external
Organisations running formal training and
development programmes for PR
professionals
Consultancy
In-house
No
47%
Yes
53%
No
54%
Yes
46%
Future directions?
Maximising the
Potential of PR
Professor Anne Gregory
President, Institute of Public Relations &
Director, Centre for PR Studies, Leeds Met. University
and
Dora McCabe
Head of Group Public Relations
Cadbury Schweppes plc

www.ipr.org.uk/unlockpr

DTI funded study of PR competitiveness

@1,000 senior respondents

Lots of best practice…

But highlights some areas for major
concern…
Return on Investment (ROI):
The ratio or percentage of how much
profit or cost saving is realised from an
activity against its total cost
Measuring & Reporting
in Public Relations
An IPR and CDF study conducted
by Metrica Research Ltd
May 2004
Method & Sample

Semi-structured phone survey of
100 senior Communication Director
and CEO respondents
 80 private sector
 20 public sector

Desk and web-based research on
best practice & case studies
Benefits of PR
…long-term
 raise awareness
 build reputation
 improve business standing
 improve positioning against competitors
…short-term
 raise awareness
 build reputation
 contribute to increased sales
 improve internal morale
 support other marketing activities
Measuring PR

Public sector
 In response to pressure for
uniformity
 Combining internal teams &
external agencies
 Using broad range of tools and
techniques

Private sector
 44% conduct regular, planned
& proactive measurement
 31% conduct sporadic &
reactive measurement
 25% conduct one-off
measures
Improving
PR Measurement

59% intend to improve PR assessment and monitoring but plans
vague, poorly thought through and some just ‘tinkering’

Only 4 respondents cited firm and definite plans in place to improve PR
measurement
Measuring PR as ROI

Half referred to some form of financial measure but…

Significant proportion not confident about PR performance in terms of
revenue or profit

8 out of 10 referred to ‘reach and frequency’ or ‘effect on audiences’ as
main forms of measurement
Measuring PR as ROI

Only 6% claimed to measure PR in ROI related terms

34% did consider PR budgets in ROI terms

6 in 10 would use ROI to measure PR to…
 Measure performance
 Justify existing PR spend
 Prove need for additional PR spend
PR ROI versus other communication measures

Over 50% believe that PR ROI would lead to bigger budgets and
create more opportunities for PR

Up to 35% believe that PR ROI could be a threat and encourage
budget restrictions

> 15% believe that only AVEs can provide necessary ROI measures

Others measure coverage (e.g. media analysis), reach and frequency
or effect on audiences
Recap: Measuring PR as ROI

Majority believe in
 Tangible PR assessment
 Reporting
 Universal form of PR ROI
Main issue is choosing
what to measure and
how to measure and report
in ROI-type terms
Does PR ROI make sense?

ROI: Ratio or percentage of how much profit or cost saving is realised
from an activity against its total cost

Confusion over an agreed definition of ‘PR ROI’. Some examples of
cost-savings and increased revenue

Cost-benefits, where identified, defined in different ways
 Different perceptions about how to measure PR
 Translated into cost or revenue
 …but does not conform to strict definition of ROI
IPR concludes…
 Industry largely still too defensive
 ROI terminology in PR
 undervalues PR work
 perpetuates false comparison with advertising
 poor substitute for basic and rigorous PR measurement and
evaluation
Linking PR outputs & outcomes to
Organisation objectives & outcomes
www.ipr.org.uk
www.cdf.com
Timberland: PR sales to boot

Research identifies the market gap

Feb 01 - Jan 02 OTS 107,001,000
across ABC1 18-24 yr old market

Effect of PR campaign
systematically tracked

26% UK store sales increase over
same period = PR effect








Hadrian’s Wall National Trail Path – 7 years - £6bn
Print OTS 20million and TV OTS 8million
Visitor number up 50% on previous year
70% more bus passengers
25,000 trail information leaflets sold, requiring re-print of 30,000
4,000 guidebooks sold out in 3 weeks
Website traffic up 50% on previous year
Information Line calls x 4 times volume
Volvo XC90 Launch
•
Overall UK 4x4 market up
400%
•
PR impact = 45% XC90 sales
•
Advertising cancelled: saving
£2.5million
Miller: disaggregating
the PR effect
•
Over 2 1/2 years communication
analysis identified that PR
generated 1.2% of base product
sales, or 4% of incremental
product sales
•
Cost-effectiveness of PR
understood against TV adv. effect
IPR industry aspirations

Learn from and educate practitioners about meaningful PR
programme planning (this includes measurement and evaluation)

Educate clients/employers about PR

Not ‘PR ROI’ but Evidence-Based PR
 the difference made to business and organisation objectives
made as a result of PR (PR outputs and outcomes)
Evidence-Based PR:
PR outputs and outcomes
•







Media evaluation: no.of messages sent, coverage obtained, messages featured,
OTS, against competitors
Qualitative & quantitative research: message understood and/or acted upon by
audience, new and repeat behaviours
Attitudinal change: across audiences, against messages and competitors
Audience change: cognitive, affective, conative ????
Quality of relationships: achieved, maintained, protected - by audience group,
against messages
Reputation: benchmarked by audience group, against messages and competitors
Cultural/social/political change: dialogue, partners, licence to do X, change law
Financial measures, share-price, volumes sales, calls made, web traffic,
attendees
…delivering organisation outcomes
Evidence-Based PR

Managerial effectiveness .e.g. delivering strategy, staying within
budget, client handling efficiency…

Monitoring effectiveness .i.e how are we going along the way: outtake measures to modify PR programme to deliver organisation
outcomes

Measuring effectiveness .i.e. how did we do in the campaign to
deliver PR outcomes and business outcomes

Organisation contribution .i.e what is our contribution and value to
the organisation
Evidence-Based PR:
tailoring tools




Surveys: tracking, benchmarking, qualitative research, panels
Clippings and media analysis
Quarterly/annual reviews, meetings and reports
Benchmarking and tracking media coverage or progress on other
specific objectives
…leading to the balanced PR scorecard encompassing Key
Performance Indicators for programme delivery…
Evidence-Based PR
Thank you!
Prof Anne Gregory, IPR President
Gerald Chan, IPR Public Affairs & Education Officer