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Tracking & ROI

Press activity or “hits” can be measured by using a tracking service such as Bacons, Hound Dog, Burrelle’s, and others who scour the press worldwide (via trade pubs, local papers, national press, international publications, newsletters, radio, online, broadcast, etc.) and send paper, video or electronic clips of product coverage on a regular basis (preferably weekly). These clippings can be reviewed to ensure that your product and company positioning are coming across accurately.  They also provide criticism which may help us develop a better product ( it is important to note the author so the PR team can keep him/her on the radar screen for future submissions, or gracefully and professionally inform them if they were in error).

To determine ROI, we first have to rate the press hits--since they are not of equal value. We measure and rate the value of a placement plus the quality of the article itself with a formula called the Media Quality Quotient Analysis (MQQ).  The following grid shows how PR value is calculated:

Pub Points Publication Quality Place Points Placement Quality Message Points Message Delivery 1 Low value 1 Company mention 1 1 message 2 Neutral value 2 Brief listing 2 2 messages 3 Good value 3 News, roundup article 3 3 messages 4 Exceptional value 4 Standalone feature / editorial 4 4 messages

• Publication Quality. Higher point values are awarded for publications that target our desired audience.  For example, we would place more value on a national publication like Newsweek, than for a small-town newspaper article.
• Placement Quality. We place more value on a feature article than on a single mention of the company or product.
• Message delivery.  Points are awarded according the number of our key messages that are reiterated within the publication.

Once numerical values have been assigned to the relative quality of the targeted publications, the results can be measured with a simple formula:

Publication x (Placement + Message Delivery) = Total Score

The MQQ helps us determine if our messages are getting out to our audiences, plus it gives us a benchmark for measuring future public relations efforts.

Once we have established the MQQ, we can use the number to estimate ROI. We must first establish an estimated value per hit, which can be compared to the cost of an ad—the “other way” to get our message across. We typically spend $4,000 - $6,000 for a ½ page ad in small trade publications.  If we placed a full-page ad in the general PC publications (PC Magazine, etc.) we would be looking at approximately $30,000 per ad, and global business publications (Fortune Magazine, etc.) would cost over $95,000 per placement.

Since PR has as much value as an ad (although, as quoted previously, PR is “15 times more believable than advertising”), it is reasonable to equate its value (in advertisement savings) to the price for an ad. In our case, for credibility sake, we will use $2,500 as the value per hit. This amount is half the cost of an average ad placed in a small trade publication.

The $2,500 value per hit is also comparable to the high-tech industry average of $150 per MQQ point multiplier.  For example, using a random sample of product announcements, we can tally the initial press and come up with a MQQ. 

• Number of hits: 119
• Total Score (Avg per hit was 14):  1,666
• Times $150 per point:  $249,500

This represents an estimated dollar value (based on the MQQ) that we received for press hits in our example. We could have increased our score significantly if all the press hits were in our preferred publications.  Regardless, the MQQ demonstrates the estimated ROI for the press activity.  We expect to tally the MQQ on a quarterly basis to evaluate the ongoing effectiveness of our efforts.

There are also intangible benefits to the PR efforts that are not accounted for by the MQQ formula, such as increased support by alliances that may have since decided to endorse your product.

Following is a sample goal for PR activity during the year along with the associated return:

Activity # Expected Total Hits Avg. MQQ/Hit Total MQQ Points ROI (MQQ x $150) Product Announcement 1 100 12 1,200 180,000 Alliance Announcement 10 300 12 3,600 540,000 Customer Wins 5 150 12 1,800 270,000 Ghost Articles 2 2 32 64 9,600 Article Mentions 20 20 12 240 36,000 Analyst Mentions 10 10 24 240 36,000 Feature Articles 2 2 32 64 9,600 Value of Total Activity $2,084,400

* Estimated cost = $180,000 (including $10k / month firm allocation)

Using Our Press

It is a pity to get positive press and then not use it. we can order reprints of press reviews and create a testimonial booklet for our sales force and resellers. We can also include press quotes within our collateral, our packaging, and on our Web page. We can get copies of our press by subscribing to clipping services.

Typically, the PR team would review weekly press clippings, photocopy the best ones and circulate them to the executive staff, to sales, engineering, etc. It is also nice to post the best articles on a central bulletin board so the entire company can see and benefit from the feedback. It is also important to circulate any negative press to customer service and sales, along with internal messaging and rebuttals so we can properly deal with it when questioned by customers or prospects.
 

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