7
"Must Have" Metrics for Media Measurement
Anyone with a serious media relations program will benefit from unbiased
media analysis performed by a reliable third party who does not have a
stake in the outcome of the research. Going beyond the simple identification
of media source, story length, impression figures, headlines, bylines,
and photo identifiers will lead to more informative analytic components
that ultimately spotlight the trends that impact your success. Below is
a list of the content options that our clients most often include in their
analysis programs or projects:
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Advertising value |
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A dollar figure
that corresponds to the story length as it relates
to the equivalent amount of advertising space.
Since positive news is usually worth more to
you than negative coverage, we recommend that
you incorporate editorial tone with advertising
value. |
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Editorial tone |
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Analyzing media coverage for editorial tone enables you to determine how favorably your organization is being portrayed in the press — knowledge that is vital to effective follow-up with your media contacts. |
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Spokespersons |
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By analyzing
for spokespersons cited in a story, you can discern
whether your organization's point of view is
being effectively conveyed by its designated
representatives. |
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Marketing Power |
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In addition to evaluating news stories based on editorial tone and prominence, we evaluate the marketing power of the coverage. Marketing power is a tool developed by BurrellesLuce MediaMeasurement to help its clients gauge whether a story may have affected the purchasing-decision process through any of the following persuasion components:
- Identification – Did
a story explain a mission or function?
- Attributes – Did
a story describe benefits?
- Differentiation – Did
a story make distinctions among competitors?
- Endorsement – Did
a story express support of an organization,
product or service?
- Call
to Action – Did a story contain information,
such as a telephone number or a Web address,
that is likely to prompt a reader, viewer
or listener to contact an organization for
more details?
These elements contribute to the “selling
power” of news coverage — its ability
to distinguish a company from its competitors,
persuade the reader of the value of the firm
and its products, and prompt positive action. |
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Story type |
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Analysis of
story type (such as, editorial review, feature,
letter to the editor...) is a valuable tool for
evaluating the media's receptivity — and
the public's exposure — to your organization's
point of view. |
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Strategic messages |
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Tracking
strategic messages provides solid intelligence
on the media's depiction of matters that your
organization considers vital to its interests
or objectives. Through this option, you can
learn the extent to which the media coverage
that you received is communicating the themes
that have been created to define a brand or
other distinguishing characteristics.
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Quality Rating and Return On Investment |
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This is a numeric
score that quantifies the potential impact of
your organization's news coverage and assesses
your return on investment by combining crucial
content and media factors. The content and media
factors used are entirely dependent upon what
is important to your organization and often include
many of the options listed above. This fully
customized metric is a valuable component of
your measurement package, because it rates the
success of your coverage according to standards
that have been set by you. |
Significant knowledge can be gained by carefully and consistently analyzing
the outcome of your media efforts according to the standards that you
deem to be important. Working with MediaMeasurement consultants to design
a program that focuses on the content of interest to you will result in
presentation-ready reports that are suited to your needs and require no
further formatting revisions upon receipt – leaving you free to
learn from the findings, pass them on to colleagues, and intelligently
begin strategizing your next campaign.
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