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Advertising and Public Relations Effectiveness Measurement
Description of Our Advertising and Public Relations Effectiveness Tracking
As distinguished from Message Testing/Ad Copy Testing, which is like a laboratory experiment, Advertising and Public Relations Effectiveness measures the actual effects of the message in the “real world.” Having developed the message and media strategy out of our Marketing Opportunity Analysis® it is important to ensure that the dollars invested in media are indeed generating a high level of Marketing Return on Investment (MROI). The Marketing Opportunity Analysis® should be used as a benchmark against which the effectiveness of the campaign is measured in terms of the Key Marketing Effectiveness Measures (Unaided Awareness, Favorable Predisposition, Market Share, and the Image Index). Our Advertising Effectiveness Measurement approach is also often used to measure the effectiveness of public relations. Below is a list of the key information generated in this type of research.
Unique Features of Our Advertising and Public Relations Effectiveness Measurement
Steven C. Ethridge is one of the most experienced advertising and public relations effectiveness researchers in the business. He has been conducting research to develop campaigns and measure their effectiveness for more than 30 years.
We have seen many clients start running a new campaign and then conduct a survey and conclude that any measured effects of the campaign are positive. The problem with this approach is revealed in the question, “compared to what?’” What if the previous campaign was more effective? Or what if a competitor’s campaign is more effective than your new one? To overcome these problems and measure the true effectiveness of advertising or public relations requires an experimental design. Three types of experimental designs are appropriate for measuring the effectiveness of advertising or public relations. These are listed and defined below.
- Pre-Post Design — First is a design that compares a pre-campaign benchmark to a post-campaign measure.
- Control-Test Design — The second design is one that compares a control-group benchmark (in markets where the message did not run) to a test group measurement (in markets where the message did run).
- Continuous Tracking Design — The third type is continuous tracking design in which a pre-campaign benchmark is taken and then the performance of the campaign is monitored through daily or weekly interviewing with reporting daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually.
Of these three types of designs, continuous tracking is the most valuable type for two reasons. First, whereas the other two designs are like viewing a “snap shot” of a particular point in time, continuous tracking is like viewing a “movie” of what is happening throughout time. Second, because continuous tracking provides frequent reporting, any problems with the campaign working as desired can be discovered and corrected.
Recently Ethridge was asked, “How do online advertising and the new social media change how we need to measure advertising effectiveness?” The answer is, it doesn’t! The reasons are that:
- While, with the new media, we do need to monitor online measures like the number of impressions, number of website hits, click rates, open-rates and so on, ultimately what matters is how well the message is sinking into minds, hearts — and yes, the wallets — of the market.
- Even online conversion rates are inadequate measures. The reason is that someone may buy in a store as a result of an online ad or website. For this and other reasons, an approach that relies on web analytics alone will severely understate the effectiveness of a campaign.
- Thus, measures of how well the message is sinking into the minds, hearts, and wallets of the market can only be accurately measured using survey research.
Whether or not we decide to use a websurvey to measure the effects of even traditional advertising, the types of effectiveness measures that need to be generated will always be the same (the ones listed in the next section below). Telephone surveys are still very effective for such measurement. Often we use hybrid approaches that involved both web surveys and telephone surveys.
Key Benefit Deliverables from Our Advertising or Public Relations Effectiveness Measurement
Regardless of the media in which the advertising or public relations message appears, we have found over the years that the most meaningful measures of advertising and public relations effectiveness are as follows.
- Conscious Effects of the campaign, measured in terms of the following diagnostics:
- Total Ad/PR Recall — the percentage of the market who recalled the message
- Proven Recall — the percentage who could play back some specific copy point or visual element that was an intended and important part of the message
- General Recall — the percentage who could only play back some generic element of the message but not an important, intended part of the message
- Claimed Recall — the percentage who claimed to have seen, read or hear the message but could not recall anything specific about it
- Misidentification — the percentage who ascribed some competing brand’s message to the client
- Likability of the Message — how many people like vs. dislike the ad (which has been generally shown to correlate with the persuasiveness of the ad)
- Media Effectiveness — which media generated the advertising or public relations recall
- Subconscious Effects of the campaign, measured in terms of significant increases compared to the benchmark on the Key Marketing Effectiveness Measures of . . .
- Top-of Mind Awareness
- Favorable Predisposition
- Market Share (of visits and of spending)
- Brand Image/Position/Reputation
- Direct Economic Effects of the campaign, measured in terms of significant increases in . . .
- Trial of the brand
- Frequency/volume of purchases/usage of the brand in units
- Amounts spent in on the brand
- Share of dollars (share of wallet) spent on the brand
- Acquisition cost of acquiring new purchases
- Inquiry Conversion Rates (especially common in tourism marketing research)
- Marketing Return on Investment (MROI)
Types of Clients That Use Our Advertising or Public Relations Effectiveness Measurement
Any type of organization that uses advertising or public relations to build or maintain their brand image and to influence public behavior (e.g., purchases, donations, votes) can benefit from our Advertising or Public Relations Effectiveness Measurement. We have conducted advertising or public relations effectiveness studies for a wide variety of different types of brands, including hotels, entertainment companies, financial institutions (banks, credit unions, investment banking firms, insurance companies), restaurant chains (full-service and fast food), grocery stores, electronics manufacturers, non-profit foundations and political campaigns.
Our Advertising or Public Relations Effectiveness Measurement At Work
As with our other services, we could choose from dozens of case studies. Yet, two common themes have run through our case experience in this area.
- First, without a single exception, every client that has based their new campaign development on the recommendations resulting from our Marketing Opportunity Analysis and then has kept us involved to make sure that those recommendations were followed, has found in their follow-up Advertising Effectiveness or Public Relations Effectiveness Measurement (whether we do it or another firm does) that the campaign achieved an unprecedented Marketing Return on Investment.
- Second, every client that has developed a campaign without following recommendations from our Marketing Opportunity Analysis has found through their effectiveness measurement that there was significant room for improvement in the campaign message or media mix.
While most of our case studies in this area are confidential due to the competitive and strategic nature of these types of campaigns, we do have a few that are we can share by name because they were done for government or quasi-government agencies and therefore are public record, or that we otherwise have client permission to share. For two of these, which coincidentally are both tourism-marketing case studies, click here.