The rest of this newsletter provides tips and techniques to simplify the process of measurement. Now we’re going to talk about what you  do with all those metrics and data points now that you have them. In other words, it’s time to add the real magic: your insights.  Many people have the mistaken belief that data analysis and reporting is the hard part. Actually it’s the fun part—as long as you approach it right. And that means following these rules:

1. When reporting, start with your goals.

Whatever your agreed-upon goals for a project, address your performance against those goals right up front. It’s fine if you didn’t meet them, but you need to understand why. So explain why and what you will do differently next time.

2. Measure early and often.

Measurement is easy to build in at the planning stage, but it’s a whole lot harder (if not impossible) to set up down the line. Too often we forget to think about measurement until it’s too late. Put it at the top of your to-do list and build it into the campaign right from the start. For example:

• If you’re doing an event and want to test the resonance of your messages, ask yourself: Can you leave a questionnaire on the chairs or do a pre/post survey?
• If you want to measure engagement, ask yourself: Can you build in a petition or other sign up mechanism?
• If you want to find out if your efforts are driving leads, ask yourself: Can you tag content or use unique URLs or codes?

3. Report weekly if you can—and monthly no matter what.

Pie charts should be relegated to the dustbin of dumb charts (here are 3 reasons to avoid using them). They tell you very little and enable bad data to look good, For example, I once was sent a report from a client that a competitor of mine had done. It was full of pretty pie charts, including one that showed 75% positive coverage for the FOUR articles included in the analysis  The client had never bothered to look at the numbers, just the pretty green slice of the pie.

Instead of pie charts, use trend charts over time to tell the story of what works, what doesn’t, and whether things are moving in the right direction. Ideally, show results over a rolling 13-month time frame.

4. Check the data for accuracy and validity before creating charts.

It’s miserable spending hours in PowerPoint on deadline only to find that somehow all the stories that you know ran in the Wall Street Journal are missing. (Been there, suffered through that.) If you’re using a good provider this shouldn’t happen, but it does. Pay walls change, access rules change, contracts change—any and all of these can affect which stories show up in your data. So guard against an unpleasant surprise by checking it weekly. And don’t wait till you’re on deadline to produce a report.

5. Look for failures first, then force rank everything based on your definitions of success.

Start with the worst numbers you can find: Where do the numbers drop or where does the graph experience a dip? Those are the warning signs that something needs to be examined more closely.

Next, force rank all your campaigns, events, releases, and social outreach—however you organize your activities—based on your definitions of success. Now dig into the data on the bottom five and the top five. What’s different about them? This is where your gut instinct, your peers, your agency, and your collective experience can really help. Brainstorm about what would make the bottom five better or how you can learn best practices from the top five.

6. Factor in the cost.

Now that you’ve ranked everything from “best” to “worst” performing, compare them by the resources each one required. You don’t have to know the exact dollar amount, just the extent to which they were painless or a pain in the ass. Assign each one a resource score, with 10 being “Total pain in the ass that required all hands on deck,” versus 1 being “Took just a few hours.” Plot them out in a quadrant like this:

What can you learn about what’s in the lower right and upper left? What would you do differently now that you have data?

7. Create a template in PowerPoint and embed the charts.

If you use Excel to analyze your data and create charts, then when you paste the charts into PowerPoint make sure you click “Keep source formatting and embed worksheet.” That way if you update your Excel sheet the PowerPoint is automatically updated. Your template should look something like this, with plenty of room for explanations, context, and next steps:

So if you follow these simple rules, you’ll get to focus on what really matters: the insight and context that you bring to the analysis. It’s your experience and understanding of the context that will make your reporting, and your recommendations, come to life.

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