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PUBLIC RELATIONS EVALUATION
INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF PRACTITIONERS
 
Thank you for agreeing to take part in this international survey of public relations measurement and evaluation practices. It will take 15 to 20 minutes to complete and your response is completely confidential. You will be sent a copy of the full survey findings via member companies of the Association for Measurement & Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) later in the year.

In this questionnaire, the term “PR communication” is being used to encapsulate the wide range of activities that are covered by public relations, marketing PR, marketing communications and corporate communications. References to “your organisation” can mean either your employer (for in-house practitioners) or clients (for consultancies)
These questions are about your work and workplace
What type of PR communication are you involved in?
 
What is the size of annual PR communication campaign budget(s) that your organisation normally works with? (Expressed in $US)
 
Which term best describes your workplace?
 
How many employees are there in the whole of your organisation?
 
Where do you rank in terms of PR management responsibility?
 
Your evaluation and research practices 1

Different methods can be used to evaluate PR communication. Please answer according to the way public relations is practised in your organisation, not the way you think it should be practised.
Does your organisation evaluate PR communication activity?
 
 
 
 
 
How does your organisation (employer or client) value PR communication activity?
         
Relate it to pre-agreed Key Performance Indicators        
Relate it to broad business or organisational objectives        
Relate it to specific sales or marketing objectives        
Seek a monetary value from it in terms of a cost/benefit        
Seek a “Return on Investment”-type result        
Measures by media output        
Use Dashboards or Communication Scorecards        
Other method        
How often does your organisation use the following methods to help plan PR communication?
         
Library searches        
www information searches          
Focus groups          
Phone surveys          
Mail surveys        
Online surveys          
Questions in omnibus surveys          
Media coverage monitoring (clippings/tapes etc)          
Media content analysis          
Customer comment analysis        
PR/communication audits        
     Readability tests        
Dashboards or communication scorecard        
Other formal research        
How often does your organisation use these methods to monitor progress of PR communication programs?
         
Library searches        
www information searches          
Focus groups          
Phone surveys          
Mail surveys        
Online surveys          
Questions in omnibus surveys          
Media coverage monitoring (clippings/tapes etc)          
Media content analysis          
Customer comment analysis        
PR/communication audits        
     Readability tests        
Dashboards or communication scorecard        
Other formal research        
How often does your organisation use these methods to evaluate PR communication programs after they are completed?
         
Focus groups        
Phone surveys          
Mail surveys          
Online surveys          
Questions in omnibus surveys          
Media coverage monitoring (clippings/tapes etc)        
Media content analysis        
Customer comment analysis        
PR/communication audit        
Dashboards or communication scorecard        
Other formal research        
Your evaluation and research practices 2
How often does your organisation measure the following?
         
Changes in behaviour resulting from PR communication        
Changes in target group knowledge resulting from PR communication        
The number of listeners or readers reached by PR communication        
The volume of PR communication (e.g. number of news releases or publications sent)        
Changes in attitude or perception resulting from PR communication        
Business indicators (such as sales, turnover, cost reductions) resulting from PR communication        
How often does your organisation measure the following?
         
Volume of media coverage (the appearance of media items featuring the organisation)        
Favourability or unfavourability of media coverage        
Advertising $ value of media coverage        
Inclusion of the organisation's key messages in the media coverage        
Relevance of the audience exposed to the media coverage        
Number of the target audience reached by the media coverage        
Target audience response to the media coverage        
How often does your organisation measure the following?
         
Relationships between the organisation and stakeholder        
Attitudes/sentiment towards the organisation        
Its reputation        
Outcomes of sponsorship and events        
Which of the following most accurately reflect your PR communications evaluation?
         
Evaluation is conducted in-house                      
Evaluation is conducted externally        
Evaluation is done internally and externally about equally        
Evaluating online and social media

One of the major changes affecting public relations and corporate communications in the past decade has been the emergence of online and social media. These questions cover your current monitoring and evaluation of these new media channels.
How do you rate the level of control that your organisation has over its reputation, since the advent of online media and social media?
 
How often does your organisation measure the following?
         
Online media        
Online conversations on blogs and other social media        
Sentiment towards your organisation expressed in online media and social media        
Does your organisation optimise press releases for online distribution (with metatags, XPRL, keywords, unique URLs, etc)?
 
If Yes, how do you measure the results? Please tick the appropriate box
 
Which measure, in your opinion is the most effective for evaluating the effectiveness of online-linked PR communication? Please tick the appropriate box only
 
Budget and trends

Over the past 15 years, the issue of budgets for PR measurement and evaluation has been widely discussed - a frequent question is what represents an appropriate ratio of the overall PR communication budget.
Which of the following is most true of your PR communication work?
 
How much of your total PR communication budget/expenditure is allocated to evaluation?
 
What is the budgetary trend for evaluation in your PR communication work?
 
What do you think the budgetary trend for evaluation should be in your PR communication work?
 
Views about PR evaluation

There is a wide range of views on the measurement and evaluation of public relations. This section covers an extended list of positive, neutral and negative views. You may find that some prompt comments that can be written later in the questionnaire.
Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements
         
   Budget is difficult to obtain for PR evaluation        
Measuring PR communication is important        
   PR evaluation is difficult to sell to clients/ executives/ sponsors        
Practitioners often lack training in [or knowledge of] evaluation techniques        
It is hard to obtain information on PR evaluation techniques        
   Practitioners often forego evaluation because of lack of time        
   PR would be more credible if there was one agreed measurement technique          
   PR is an "art" and therefore difficult to measure        
   Practitioners fear evaluation because it can reveal unsatisfactory results        
   PR communication is more about relationships than measurable results        
   PR evaluation is too costly        
   Evaluation is accepted by most PR practitioners as an integral part of developing effective programs        
Advertising Value Equivalent is not a valid measure of PR effectiveness        
   Evaluation is essential for credibility with clients and employers        
   PR evaluation is more talked about than done        
PR evaluation is best delivered by external specialist        
 The larger the financial investment in the project, the more likely it is to be evaluated        
   PR credibility is more closely related to practitioner charisma than measured results        
   There is pressure from clients/employers to more clearly demonstrate results of PR communication        
PR evaluation is best delivered by external specialists        
These questions are about you

Please tell us about yourself. All details will be remain confidential
Gender?
 
Age Range?
 
What is your highest level of education?
 
Are you a member of a public relations professional body?
 
Please indicate your current annual salary range (Expressed in $US)
 
Thank you for your time. Hit submit once to lodge your completed survey.
This survey is being conducted under the code of conduct of the Market Research Society. All data and written responses will be treated as confidential. Data will be used for analysis of samples and sub-samples and included in various reports on the survey.

If you have any questions about this survey, please contact Dr Tom Watson, The Media School, Bournemouth University, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1202 965140 or email twatson@bournemouth.ac.uk
© Tom Watson 1992-2007
 
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