For several years, I was the communications manager in the public affairs organization for a large industrial complex. I managed the flow of all news and public information through press releases, story pitches, and media inquiry responses. I wrote opinion-editorial pieces for major newspapers and industry journals and managed the speechwriting, media interview talking points and public statements of the board chairman, board members, and senior managers. My department also produced high-impact publications, web site content, branding/marketing collateral, and employee communications materials.
To overcome growing public opposition to an expansion project, my team met the challenge to deliver a $1.5M annual branding and public awareness media campaign highlighting the industrial complex’s economic value, community outreach and industry-leading ISO 14001 environmental stewardship initiatives. I guided the creative development and media buys for placement of campaign advertisements. Beyond the “I buy, you bill me” model, I formed partnerships with some 50 media outlets, including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV channels and specialized media services to maximize message penetration through editorial outreach to complement the advertising placements. The results of the campaign were reflected in a public opinion survey:
- 58% overall positive awareness of the industrial complex.
- 69% approval of overall industrial complex activities.
- 60% agreement that the industrial complex expansion project is a good idea.
After years of roadblocks, the expansion project was finally able to move forward. The first phase of the complex opened a couple of years ago, creating jobs and generating millions of dollars in economic ripple-effect impact.
Public relations is no longer about pushing your agenda onto your communities the way my campaign did. Public relations 2.0 is about engagement with the many publics that are involved with and impacted by your organization. It’s still about traditional media. But it’s also about monitoring the various and multiple conversations taking place in social media about your organization, and participating in those conversations.
In this recession-era landscape of uncertainty, there are many employees, customers, vendors and industry watchers wondering what and how your organization is doing. Many of them are online asking good questions, making uninformed statements, sharing concerns, and engaging others about your organization.
Given what’s at stake, it’s astounding to me that some of you are not there. Their assumptions about your organization go unheard and without a response from you. Meanwhile, your press releases have less of a chance getting printed today, and fewer are reading them on your website because the conversation going on about your organization isn’t taking place at your online corporate office.
Marketing your organization in new media is about more than having a static Facebook page. It’s about engaging your many communities in social media. Your employees, customers, vendors, and industry watchers are there. Where are you?
In addition to discussing the importance of communication share over absolute values and explaining why media costs have a higher correlation to outcomes than media reach, Jeffrey also shared insights and perspectives on ROI, message consistency, and how integrating data better predicts outcomes.
1) The return on investment in advertising focuses on quantitative metrics, not the impact of creative production. An impression on TV is not the same as a print impression or an Internet impression because the dollar expenditures are different, she noted. “So advertising needs to go
beyond spend with a qualitative metric just like non-paid news media. Quantity and quality need to be combined for best correlations.” 
contamination at some outlets indexes at 20, the $30 million budget now has an impact of only $6 million (20 percent of $30 million). Jeffrey’s research found that substituting $6 million for $30 million in the company’s market mix model came close to reality in customer count and revenue estimates. 
3) Integrating news and advertising results in greater actionable insights. By definition, a correlation is a relationship between two independent variables. Perfect correlation, achievable only in a clinical lab, is stated as r = 1.0. According to Jeffrey, an r = 0.7 is usually a good indication that there is a relationship between the media effort and business results. 
such as attendance at an open house, product sales, or increased awareness.
Compiling print and broadcast mentions is a widely practiced form of evaluating PR programs. This, however, is just the first level of assessing message exposure to potential audiences. 
organization appears in a local daily that has a circulation of 130,000, the media impressions are 130,000. If another story is published the next day, this counts for 130,000 more impressions. If there’s a brief mention of a new product or service on NBC’s Today show, this might constitute 20 million impressions if that is the audited size of the audience that regularly watches that program. 
advertising value equivalent, or AVE. In other words, a five-inch article in a magazine that charges $1000 per column inch for advertising would be worth $5000 in publicity value.
for the same amount of space and then multiplying that total three to six times to reflect the common belief that a news story has greater credibility than an advertisement. There is no empirical evidence, however, to support any multiplier factor.
Advertising copy is directly controlled by the organization and can be oriented to specific objectives. The organization also controls the size and placement of the message. News mentions, by contrast, are determined by media gatekeepers and can be negative, neutral or positive. Also, a new release can be edited to the point that key corporate messages are deleted; therefore, the organization can’t control size, placement, or content.
Some argue that AVE metrics help corporate management put a value on PR. Others say it helps marketing executives decide on how to split resources between PR and marketing.
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