It’s a truism: The communicator’s job is to communicate. Yet today’s PR pro operates in multiple venues, inside and outside the enterprise. None may be more important than the work the PR pro does with the CEO and other members of the C-suite. We asked communicators for tips about the best ways to present data and other issues to the C-suite.
Determine Your Objectives
For Therese Van Ryne, head of global PR and the global customer reference program at Zebra Technologies, a public entity that makes and sells marking, tracking and computer printing technologies, the first consideration in relaying data to the C-suite is creating a useful dashboard.
Before setting up a dashboard, though, the communicator must determine the key communications objectives. To be most effective with the C-suite, she says, it is critical to allign PR objectives with the company’s business goals.
For example, Zebra wants to raise awareness for its mobile computing and scanning businesses. One communications tactic it deployed is a fast-paced, 30-second video showing multiple applications of Zebra’s scanning solutions, including a health worker scanning patient charts and a construction worker scanning building materials.
Choose Your Metrics
Next, she says, you must determine what metrics you will use to show progress to the C-suite. In 2017, Van Ryne’s team measured nearly one dozen metrics, including share of voice (SOV), media impressions, bylines, awards, speaking opportunities and awards. These metrics were entered by hand into a manual dashboard that eventually became a PowerPoint presentation for the C-suite and board, she says. It showed the year’s performance vs goals and how Zebra fared against the tactics that drove those metrics the previous year.
“We realized that was too many [metrics...and] some were not critical,” she says. In 2018 the main metrics the team will measure are SOV, media impressions and validation of customer references, which are also on the dashboard of the company’s chief marketing officer. “Measurement is a journey,” she says.
Global Measurement and Equity
Beyond those tips, though, she offers caveats, particularly when dealing with global measurement.
First, make sure you’re measuring impressions equitably.
For example, in some Asia Pacific countries it is traditional to count unique articles equally with press release placements, where a release is copied and pasted on a media site. “It’s debatable whether or not they should be counted equally with a feature article where a reporter might have taken the time to interview you,” she says.
Van Ryne also notes media impressions “are not the only or even the most important metric.”
For example, she points to an article in a trade magazine that scored just 50 impressions, yet “our marketers were thrilled” because the periodical’s readership was composed of “excellent leads.”
Numbers Game: Therese Van Ryne, head of global technologies and the global customer reference program at Zebra Technologies, provided this chart for PR News to illustrate how tools vary their counting of daily readership. As you can see from the first line for Barron’s, Compete’s figure for eyeballs is more than twice the TrendKite estimate, while Cision’s is nearly twice the Compete figure. It’s critical to explore these differences before settling on a tool, she says.
SOV: Patience, Time, Team Work
A particularly difficult metric to measure is global SOV, she notes. For example, with a global entity do you measure against a plethora of competitors or just a few? Her suggestion is to “allign on four competitors globally.” Again, her guidance is that less is more. Still, properly assembling your targets for global SOV will take “time, patience and team work,” she says.
Other tips: Align your global media lists to determine which publications to track; figure out which key terms to translate; and decide on which form(s) of SOV you’ll track. For example, you could track regional SOV, SOV of headlines, social SOV and SOV from controlled circulation publications.
Dashboard Decision: Avoid picking a dashboard too quickly, she says. The key is to find one “that will ease your measurement” tasks. “Do your work on [pros and cons of] the tool before you commit to buying it.” Ask the tool’s maker for references, ask colleagues from other companies about their experiences with it, she says.
Another tip: part of your research about tools, she says, is to understand how their measurements might vary. She points to the chart shown here to demonstrate how the figures you report to the C-suite could be wildly different depending on the platform you’re using to measure media impressions [see chart].
Speaking to the C-suite: A Multi-Step Plan
Several years ago Nisha Morris, executive director, communication, Providence St. Joseph Health, a multi-state, nonprofit hospital system, believed her employer had a communications issue. Its various hospitals in five states had strong local presences and communications programs, but the brand as a whole lacked a national footprint that was able to convey the company’s story on a larger level. Nationally “we did crisis only and reactive PR,” she says.
The solution, her team felt, was creating a plan to relate the company’s narrative in a unique way that resonated with audiences internally and externally. Before the team presented this solution to the CEO, however, Morris and her communications colleagus followed a multi-step process.
1. Clearly Define the Problem: In addition to laying out the issue, this step also involved discussing the subject informally “in the hallways...[and] at lunch,” and soliciting feedback from various parts of the company. “You never know where you can get an interesting idea,” she says.
2. Socialize Your Idea: The concept was discussed with members of the C-suite. It was at this point that the team looked for supporters. Those who bought into the solution could be tapped later as advocates.
3. Why It Matters: Here’s where the team began talking formally about the bottom-line potential of its plan.
“You tell [the CEO and C-suite] what the problem is; present your solution; how you’ll measure it; present a call to action (CTA); and tell the C-suite what you need from it to make the solution a reality.”
A tip: It’s critical, she says, to present an issue and solution with a “less is more” approach. “The [C-suite] doesn’t need to know every little detail...be concise.”
Another tip: when having difficult conversations with senior leaders, she recommends “being factual, concise and authentic...and then offer your solution.” It’s critical, she says, “to take the emotion out of a difficult situation...[usually] the C-suite doesn’t care about [the particulars] of a bad problem, they just want it to go away.”
In sum, Morris says not to be afraid to have difficult conversations with the C-suite. Before you enter into a diaogue, though, “know your facts...[and realize the C-suite] is looking to you for strategic input.”
CONTACT: [email protected] @ThereseVanRyne
The CEO’s Dream Metric
PR News rarely writes about dreams or fantasies when discussing PR, but once in a while it can be useful. We asked four senior communicators what they think would be the fantasy or dream metric that CEOs they’ve worked with would want to hear from PR. Below are their edited responses.
Therese Van Ryne, Head of Global Public Relations & the Global Customer Reference Program, Zebra Technologies: “I’ve worked with several companies. I’d say it would probably be a direct correlation between PR and the impact on sales and revenue. I don’t know if we’re there with any metric today, but in a dream world that would be it, I think.”
Eric Koefoot, President/CEO, PublicRelay: “[A metric that correlates PR and] sales is certainly aspirational…that’s certainly out there…there are some companies [that claim to be able to directly correlate PR and sales, but] there are a number of holes in their methodology…nobody is there yet…but I agree [with Therese], it’s a great goal. Putting that aside, the closest things to measure are what affect the success of sales: brand positioning, brand reputation [and] perception. In the case of a financial services company [I’ve worked with], their surveys show success of sales is directly correlated with perception of financial trustworthiness, innovation, thought leadership and social responsibility…If a CEO sees the connection [to factors that influence the success of sales], and most do, that’s probably the dream metric in the real world we’re seeing today.”
Nisha Morris, Executive Director, Communication, Providence St. Joseph Health: I completely agree with Eric. When we can tie our reputation and branding efforts to more consumers utilizing our services and programs, that to our C-suite is pure success. And Eric’s right, we’re not there yet. We’re able to measure some of that. Is it consistent? Not really. So, outside of that, the one thing that our C-suite really looks for is not the quantity of articles [that mention us], but truly the quality of articles in well-known, influential publications with a large readership...who influence or change laws. So, Politico, the Washington Post, those are target publications…we know our partners and policymakers are reading and so we want to be featured with our own view and opinion.
Ron O’Brien, Senior Director, PR, Thermo Fisher Scientific: The leaders [at Thermo Fisher Scientific] have expressed to me [what their dream metric is] and it ties directly to specific publications, so a cover story in the NY Times, an article in the Wall St Journal, the Washington Post. Globally we have tier-one publications in Europe and Asia that we track. What I have done recently is gotten them to focus on responsible investing. So we look at ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) as more of longer range indicator of the effect of our effort at creating awareness.
Takeaways
1. Know that PR measurement is a journey.
2. Gain alignment on key objectives throughout
your company and in the C-suite before you begin
a communications effort.
3. Apply less is more when measuring.
Track the most important publications and
audiences.
4. Allow time for preparation and change.