How to Design the Best Communications Measurement and Analytics Program

Lusine Kodagolian, Insights, Research and Analytics Professional, StratInt Research LLC

The public relations measurement industry has come a long way since I first started my career as a Media Analyst. Feeling like the chosen one when only two out of the many trainees were selected to do media research coding for the company, my fellow researcher and I spent our days in a small room (also doubling as the print room), going over print newspapers and manually coding relevant content for issues, messages, spokespeople, brand presence, and a number of other metrics.

Fast forward nearly 20 years, and there is no lack of tools to meet any measurement and analytical need. With an array of tools to choose from – social media only, social and online media, print and online media, and so on and so forth – there is more than enough to meet every need at every price point. And yet, there is the eternal quest for the one, the only tool, that will meet everyone’s needs, provide every single metric anyone can think of, at a moment’s notice, grow and evolve as the needs evolve, and include the most comprehensive content.After nearly two decades in measurement and analytics and numerous posts on this topic by colleagues in this field, I am puzzled every time the question for the perfect tool comes up. As a consultant, I always try to explain to my clients that the perfect tool does not exist. Nor does, for that matter, the perfect measurement. Good - but not perfect - measurement starts with strategic goals that support the business, a solid measurement framework that will measure progress toward those goals, supplemented by tools that help automate data collection and visualization. Most importantly, however, tools are merely an instrument in the hands of experienced analysts who use the data to tell a story, and are one of the last steps in measurement planning, and definitely not the first one.In all likelihood, every mid-size company and up needs more than one tool, which will be managed by analysts to harvest the data and make sense of it. One of the most respected thought leaders in this field, Google’s Digital Marketing Evangelist, Avinash Kaushik, and my personal analytics guru, said that to achieve Magnificent Success in [web] analytics (or any analytics, for that matter), we need to implement the 10/90 rule, where 10 is the amount spent on tools and vendor professional services, and 90 is the amount spent on resources/analysts. No matter how you feel about the 10/90 rule, if you truly want to achieve Magnificent Success with your measurement and analytics programs, the rule is very simple: it’s people and strategy, then tools. Always. [author]About the Author: Through StratInt Research, Lusine provides highly customized, in-depth research, analysis, and strategic counsel to public and private sector clients and helps guide clients transition to digital analytics ecosystems. She can be reached at lusine@stratintresearch.com [/author]