Government agrees first ever mandatory standards for measuring PR value

PR agencies who supply communications services to government are to evaluate their effectiveness against a mandatory set of metrics issued today.

The government’s marketing and communications procurement arm, the Central Office of Information, has circulated the ‘core standards’ advice to all suppliers on its PR framework following a recent industry consultation.

The aim is to set out clear definitions for the terminology and methods that can be used to measure PR’s value where evaluation is an agreed part of the campaign brief.

Most of the standards are already well-established. On a basic level, suppliers should calculate the actual number of pieces of coverage generated including through syndication.

Another key element is ‘reach’ expressed as a percentage and quantity of a target audience exposed to one or more mentions.

There is also a new cost per impact metric, a helpful way to try to establish value for money and return on investment.

Data sources will continue to involve JICREG for local press and the National Readership Survey for national press and magazines. On the broadcast side, there is BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) and RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research).

While there is no single comprehensive measure for digital, the advice mentions data sources such as comScore, Google Analytics and Nielsen.

The COI says that a consistent approach to evaluation will make it easier to compare results across PR campaigns and other marketing disciplines.

Standardisation will help to ensure accurate measurement and to benchmark results for future planning and evaluative purposes.