Growth & Revenue Centre: PR Measurement’s vision for our Industry

The raison d’etre of a PR Measurement ecosystem is to bring growth to the PR & Corporate Communications industry and transform it into a revenue centre. This is the bottom line! Whether it has been successful on this measure thus far and to what extent can be a separate discussion.

Measurement, in its true sense, if implemented well, can easily double PR industry’s growth rate. Not just that, many operational challenges such as talent attraction & sustenance, technology, agency free structures, and many other issues will receive a tailwind thrust towards solutions-based conversations & prosperity.

Transitioning from cost to a revenue centre is equivalent to getting closer to the boardroom. KRAs & KPIs, performance evaluations, etc. will observe a sea change.

This will happen when we understand & identify the common link across the two! The common link is the end customer called the top management:

1. PR Industry will grow when top management’s dependency and recall of our industry changes, increases and therefore invests more into PR & Corporate Communications
2. PR Industry will transition from cost to a revenue centre when the Top Management accrues tangible brand or business values…not count of clips or advertising value

This is where a neutral & holistic Measurement & Analytics framework comes in as the Samaritan! It has the inherent ability to build an expressway between the PR & Corporate Communications industry and the top management through the science of numbers & data – in a language top management believes in! In fact, the industry should start thinking of designing its house around the turbo engine called measurement.

Below are FIVE immediate ways in which measurement & analytics will add growth and transition the industry into a revenue centre:

1. Enable Corporate Communications speak Top Management’s language: The Top Management speaks a different language with regards to business and brand management. The beauty of a realistic measurement framework is that it is a reflection of the entire business and communication process and not a mere month-end compilation of some self-gratifying numbers in a PowerPoint file. This is where a well-structured measurement framework gives the corporate communications machinery ammunition to express itself in the language top management uses and understands.
2. Help showcase tangible value – ROO & ROI: The definition of value can be shown in two forms – ROO (Returns on Objectives) that further leads to ROI (Returns on Investments). Realistic measurement has the capability to deliver this.
3. Increase Top Management’s dependency for business planning: A realistic measurement will ensure that the top management will involve the corporate communication desk not only in business planning but also as a part of ongoing course corrections during the year. The boardroom will no longer look at this desk as tactical and pull it closer. Not only will the frequency of interactions go up but also the quality of time spent between top management & corporate communications desk will enrich.
4. Will justify (increase in) budget allocations for corporate communications: Measurement will enable corporate communications desks with tangibility, addressability & linearity when it comes to discussing budget requirements with top management. Irrespective of business as usual or business not as usual, requesting top management for budgets or increasing the kitty is a challenging drill that many organizations witness occasionally.
5. Performance evaluation of corporate communications will be wider, deeper and fairer: Generally speaking, top management’s evaluation parameters for corporate communication desk reflects lack of perspective of what PR & Corporate Communications can actually bring to the table and how it should be leveraged. Measurement arms corporate communications desk with the ammunition to showcase the real work it is capable to doing and the business outcome of what it is doing currently.

Measurement & analytics are meant to be the engine for industry’s growth and transformation. It is not a tactical vendor but your strategic partner.

The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.

Siddhartha Mukherjee

Siddhartha is the founder of Brand Balance that helps the C-suite & CCO collective optimize its Brand Reputation Management ERPs (efforts, resources & processes) across stakeholders. His professional mission is to establish the Corporate Communications function as the only engine towards brand reputation and valuation success.

Before setting up Brand Balance, a neutral organization, his past 23 years of holistic learning curve includes leadership roles across all the three sides of the industry – corporate communications, communications firms and as a business head of a brand data analytics, audit, research & measurement global behemoth. During spare time, he bikes across the Indian highways, writes articles, consults students & professionals and teaches at media and business schools.