Measuring Outcomes
Measuring Effectiveness: The Gauge for Communications and Marketing
CASE online seminar — November 16, 2006
Main Questions
- Why measure?
- What to measure?
- Outputs show that you've been busy.
- Outcomes show that you've been effective.
- How to measure?
- When to measure?
Measuring Outputs
Measuring integrated tactics
- Annual marketing plan
- Build in measurement strategies
- Response mechanisms by audience segment
- Events marketing
- Track results of cross-functional initiatives
Measuring media relations
- Quanity of outputs and coverage
- Number and distribution of pitches and releases
- Nmber and importance of placements
- Even more important, quality of outputs and coverage
- Brand-relevant pitches and placements
- Ad Value Equivalency (AVE) — see Institute of Public Relations summary of debate over AVE usefulness.
- Share of public discussion
Measuring Web site tactics
- Splash page (Unique URLs)
- Use as a call to action in marketing
- Measure marketing-driven activity
- Web stats
- Number of unique hits
- Activity on priority pages
- Average length of visit
- Interactive data collection
Measuring Advertising
- Reach and frequency
- Reach — number of unique pesons exposed to ads (goal: 80-90%)
- Frequency — average number of times exposed (goal: 8 times)
- Target Rating Point — percent of the target audience reached (reach x frequency) (100 per flight per media)
- Post-buy and value-add analysis
- Projected performance versus actual
- Track value-added PSAx
- Quantify results of sponsorships
Measuring Outcomes
Surveys
- General and top of mind awarenss
- Willingness to recommend
- If you were asked by a friend or relative to recommend a college or university in your state, which one would you recommend first, second, third?
- Importance of quality factors and perceived performance
- Portrays a bold spirit
- Entrepreneurial attitude
- Culturally-diverse student population
- A culturally diverse faculty
- Performs groundbreaking research
- Internationally respected faculty
- A culture of innovation
- Opportunities for personal discovery
- Transforms the lives of students
- Contributes to the community and society
- Opportunities for academic discovery
- Up-to-date classrooms, libraries and labs
- Challenging academics
- Access to the best available technology
- High academic standards
- Reputation for academic quality
- Recall of associated concepts
- Audience satisfaction
Survey techniques
- Print
- Web
- Quick, inexpensive
- High response-rate bias (non scientific)
- Intercept
- Telephone
- Quick, accurate
- Moderate cost
- $30,000 for average telephone survey of 400 people
Guiding principles
- Need baseline and comparison data
- Comparing segments creates actionable data
- Segments: opinion leaders, prospects, alumni, parents, general population
- Number of segments define scope, costs
- Each segment = 50-200 respondents
- Balance precision, cost, and threshold for actionable data
When to Measure
Year one
- Situational analysis
- Awareness and perceptions survey
- Creative focus groups
- Strategic plans
Every year
- Strategic plan
- Annual marketing plan
Every 2-3 years
- Situational analysis update
- Awareness and perceptions survey
- Creative focus groups
Summary points
- Measuring both tactical outputs and strategic outcomes is critical to your career as well as your institution
- Build measurement strategies into each and every marketing and communications tactic
- Measure and report tactical output in the context of how it helped achieve strategic objectives
- An annual marketing plan is a useful tool as the framework for planning and reporting measurement strategies
The Bottom Line
Annual marketing plan
- Link plan goals directly to institutional objectives
Strategic plan metrics
- Marketing plan impacts all strategic objectives
- Participation builds collaboration
- Planning itself becomes a marketing tool
- Marketing team sites at the big table