What is Your Media Coverage Saying About Your Media Relations Program?

Spotting trends in your media coverage is the key to managing an active media relations program, according to Joe Brown, Senior Media Relations Consultant at Orlando Regional Healthcare System. He reviews monthly reports from BurrellesLuce MediaMeasurement looking for changes in the types of media outlets covering their stories. This allows him to focus on outlets that are not covering the health system.

As a busy media relations professional, Brown says, “I don’t have time to do monitoring and analysis on my own,” so he relies on BurrellesLuce for an accurate monitoring and analysis mechanism. BurrellesLuce analysts provide expertise in the metrics and unbiased reports. “The media coverage is a direct reflection of me and our entire team. It takes willingness of the staff to do interviews, so they affect the overall outcome,” says Brown. Looking to get a snapshot of the past month, Brown reviews the length of his stories which help him discover the quality of the stories he placed. Next, he reviews the advertising value equivalency (AVE), which he says is the bottom line value for his executives.

Over the past 15 years, Erik Elvejord, Director of Public Relations, Holland America Line, has evolved a media measurement program to track circulations, inches and article pick-up. Recently, they have added tonal analysis and a breakdown of overall pick-up by specific cruise destination, which has helped them to determine which regional topics have the most potential for pick-up by media outlets.

“Because it is an integral part of our PR efforts, analysis helps to focus our attention to stories that have teeth and to measure our success in pitching other areas, “ explains Elvejord. “ We must, of course, ask why one story had better pick up than another but we must know where things are running to review these things. The success of our media relations has a direct impact on budget. Success translates into fewer questions about the use of budget effectively, so knowing where we stand and what needs to be adjusted is very important.”

Similarly, by including on-going media analysis as part of Orlando Regional Healthcare System’s overall media campaign, Brown is able to review quarterly and yearly trends. This allows him to see how changes in his strategy affect his corporation’s media coverage over long periods of time. Like most media relations professionals, Brown has a wish list of services he would like to implement for the next fiscal year. The reports help him to leverage additional funds for his budget.

Both Brown and Elvejord share their measurement reports with others in their organizations. Brown uses the measurement reports to prepare a snapshot review for the directors in his department. A more abbreviated report with two to three points is sent to the executives in the corporation. Elvejord says the entire management team sees the summary portions of the report and the vice president and the director of PR review the details. The entire team can access the complete report if they desire.
“When professionals turn to BurrellesLuce, it is because they are looking for an accurate, impartial analysis of their media coverage. Clients use the charts and graphs we provide to illustrate the effectiveness of their media relations outreach and show changes in the overall media climate,” says Carol Holden, manager of BurrellesLuce MediaMeasurement service. She continues, “We enjoy working with Joe (Brown), and Erik (Elvejord), because they really optimize the service we provide them to show the effectiveness of their teams’ efforts.”