PR: EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE - How do you measure the effectiveness of PR?(Editorial)

Rob Gray discusses the pros and cons of the various measurement systems available to practitioners.

Public relations has always been one of the most nebulous parts of the communications mix and one reason why it does not command a greater share of client marketing spend is the challenge in measuring its impact and effectiveness. In recent years, evaluation has become one of the most hotly debated issues in the sector, particularly among PR agencies eager for a more sizeable slice of bigger budgets.

And because PR seldom commands the lion's share of a marketing budget, it is difficult to isolate its contribution from that made by other communications channels.

'On brand activity, if you are doing just a PR campaign you can see if it has an effect or not. But we would seldom do a PR campaign on its own,' Lever Faberge's corporate and consumer affairs director, John Ballington, says.

How does one put an equivalent advertising value on coverage by the BBC, for example? And how can one differentiate between the value of endorsement by a generally well-respected third party and endorsement by somebody else who is somewhat less respected? How do you even work out with precision the level of esteem in which these various parties are held?

Due to these limitations, Advertising Value Equivalents, or AVEs, which attach an advertising value to the media coverage received, were thought to be on their way out. But in the present economic climate they have found favour again as PR professionals seek to show that they offer value for money. This is especially the case for marketing clients Corporate affairs directors are less concerned with AVEs, often preferring instead to link payment by results to delivery of key messages in the media.

'Payment by results and establishing credible ROI measures for PR is 'the next big thing' for our industry to tackle,' Weber Shandwick's director of strategy, Chris Genasi, says.