In 2015 Annual Conference, 2015 Conference - Tuesday, 2015 Conference - Updates, Professional Development

By Jason Medina (Tampa Bay Chapter)

FPRA15_0538Summary: A good plan is a mix of defined goals and metrics, and evidence-based reporting that organizational leaders can understand and use.

Gerber: “Good marketing plans begin with a vision and strategy.”

Gerber: “PR measurement has become a PR problem for PR professionals.”

 

Gerber: “We can’t measure everything, but we can help clients gather as much information as possible regarding their customers.”

Overall, PR professionals should know how to:

  • Ÿ Create a plan rooted in measurement.
  • Choose metrics/tactics.
  • Determine tools and reporting channels.

Developing a solid goal/objective:

Three elements:
1. What will you measure?
2. What is expected change?
3. During what time period?

Example: Increase online sales 200% by January 2016. “Raising awareness” is not a solid goal

Solid goals help:

  • Ÿ Manage expectations (identify tactics, estimate budgets and measure ROI).
  • Align team on “what keeps the CEO up at night.”

Gerber recommends researching Avinash Kaushik (@avinash)

  • Google’s “Digital Marketing Evangelist”
  • His focus is big data, enterprise-level projects, but we should still be able to glean good information.

Gerber looks at engagement through a four-tiered “sales funnel” to describe various stages of customer experience:

Ÿ See: Basic awareness. Customers visit a site or read an article. Organizations should encourage/measure this behavior by monitoring traffic, followers, likes, etc.

Ÿ Think: Initial interest. Customers demonstrate a willingness to “hear” about the organization (email subscription, content). Organizations should encourage/measure this behavior by monitoring click-through rates, being responsive and creating relationships.

Ÿ Do: Decision. Customers demonstrate an interest to “engage” the organization by downloading apps, requesting demos or more information. Organizations now have the opportunity to “close the deal” on customer-initiated phone calls, chats.

Ÿ Care: Advocates. Customers are posting reviews, referencing the organization in social networks. Organizations can encourage this behavior by engaging influencers, creating case studies and publicizing rankings (Yelp, Trip Advisor, etc).

Customers “travel” through this funnel randomly. Some may become content in one tier or even fall to a different tier if not encouraged. Not all customers will become “brand advocates.”

Gerber used Google Analytics as an example of a commonly recognized measurement tool.

  • Ÿ Recommends PR representatives have “full admin access” to client’s account to view analytics.
  • Recommends PR professionals have a basic knowledge of Google Analytics, as well as other tools like “MailChimp” and “CallTracking Metrics.”

 

Lisa GerberLisa Gerber
Founder, Big Leap Creative

Lisa Gerber, founder of Big Leap Creative, helps brands get discovered. With more years of experience than she cares to admit (almost 20). She has worked in a variety of industries from urban development, resort development, hospitality, B2B, energy, and aerospace and defense. Based in the mountains of Sandpoint, Idaho, Lisa works with clients around the world thanks to the beauty of technology. She founded Big Leap Creative in 2004 as a mountain lifestyle PR firm and took a two year hiatus in 2010 to join the executive team at Arment Dietrich in Chicago where she was the chief content officer for the blog Spin Sucks and led digital and content strategy for the agency’s clients. She blogs here and speaks frequently at conferences nationally on the topic of storytelling for business. When she’s not in the office she might be out trail running or nordic skiing with her husband and black lab, Pepper. It’s where she does most of her creative problem-solving.

Contact Us

We're not around right now. But you can send us an email and we'll get back to you, asap.

Start typing and press Enter to search