Communication measurement 101

I was reading some of the excellent commentaries posted in the new IABC Communication Commons series of blogs which launched last month.

One gem in particular caught my attention – Connecting inputs to outcomes, a common-sense and concise view of communication measurement by Angela Sinickas posted to IABC Measurement Commons.

In essence:

To link communication impact to a business result, I work backwards from outcomes in developing the communication approach:

  1. Identify a measurable business outcome that communication can impact.
  2. Break out specific behaviors/actions for different key stakeholders that need to change in order to achieve the business outcome. (This is the step most communication plans skip over.)
  3. Use qualitative research with the affected stakeholders to identify what knowledge and attitude changes are required before they would change their behaviors, and which communication channels would be preferred for knowledge and for attitude inputs.
  4. Develop your communication tactical plan with specific messages and channels you will use to influence #3 to change #2 that will result in #1.

Read Angela’s post for the next steps.

Pure 101. And more of it in each of the other IABC blogs – IABC Branding & Marketing Commons, and IABC Employee Communication Commons.

These are terrific professional development resources whether you’re an IABC member or not (indicators of the good reasons to join, though).

[Technorati: iabc]

Neville Hobson

Social Strategist, Communicator, Writer, and Podcaster with a curiosity for tech and how people use it. Believer in an Internet for everyone. Early adopter (and leaver) and experimenter with social media. Occasional test pilot of shiny new objects. Avid tea drinker.

  1. Glenn O'Neil

    Hopefully communication measurement is finally getting the attention it deserves. And for good reason, as your podcast partner Shel Holtz recently wrote in a post:

    “For skeptical executives, measurement remains the most convincing and compelling tool for changing minds”

    For those interested to learn more about communication measurement, I suggest to look at the PR measurement page on the newPR/Wiki:

    http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?pagename=PRMeasurement.HomePage

  2. neville

    Glenn, I think it’s always had attention yet, as Angela mentioned in her post, maybe not full attention (eg, the skip she mentions in point 2).

    Thanks for pointing out the link to the New PR Wiki. That page is a good starting resource.

  3. Corante Marketing Hub

    ‘Open Source’ PR?…

    Is the PR world moving forward with open source tools? You bet. PR: Mike Manuel’s ‘Young PR Pros Go Forward’ points us to a relatively small but very cool idea that will probably grow into something BIG: “Erin (Caldwell) mentioned……

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