Shut your eyes and imagine that you are in your communications measurement dream job, with a dream client or boss. What would that look like? NPR’s Marketplace has been doing that with the economy in general, and that got me thinking about communications and how we would measure it in a new economy.
What does your new economy communications measurement dream job look like?
Whether you are in PR, internal communications, social media, crisis communications, community communications, or public affairs, I’m guessing your dream job is one where:
- Your advice is taken seriously,
- You feel like you make a difference to your organization,
- You make a difference to your local community and/or society as a whole, and
- You are part of a creative team that doesn’t just come up with award-winning ideas, but also achieves concrete results that help the business or the mission.
Which brings us to measurement… This fantasy job and team of course has project goals and objectives that clearly tie to business or mission results. It includes a data scientist and someone with a financial background who mine data to evaluate effectiveness and efficiency of ideas.
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Want to improve your expertise so you can actually land this measurement dream job?
Read: “Reimagining the Skill Set of a Professional Communicator: 7 Vital Skills for Your Future.”
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And speaking of data…
In your communications measurement dream job, you have access to the all the good data you need. Not just real-time accurate and clean social and traditional media coverage, but Google Analytics, SEO, and CRM data. From your stakeholders you also have real-time trust and satisfaction data. And of course you also have competitive data to know how you are faring on any number of issues and crises relative to your competition.
At your fingertips are a plethora of subject matter experts and spokespeople, ready, willing, and able to talk to the media or speak in public. They are all outfitted with a “WMMD,” a Wearable Message Monitoring Device. That’s our new invention that checks whether they are on message, and emits a soothing massage-like pulse when they are. And, of course, it zaps them with a powerful electrical shock whenever they stray. (We’re still trying to get that one through the FDA.) A similar device is worn by your paid influencers, and it alerts you when their behavior, tweets, or speech stray off brand.
Since almost all of your events now take place online, measuring them is a breeze. Not only do you know how and when your invitees respond to your promotions, you also know how much attention attendees pay to each of your speakers and how engaged they are with your content. And of course you track which ones inspire people to visit your site and perhaps buy something. For in-person events, you employ a wearable feedback device on attendees’ badges that gives them access to your events and automatically gauges their level of interest in your content.
Dream job, dream career
Armed with all this data, your financial and data experts provide you with insight and recommendations every week, so you continuously fine tune and improve your programs. As a result, you have unlimited credibility with senior leadership and your board. They shower you with new responsibilities and larger budgets. Promotions come rapidly, and your dream job becomes your dream career. You and your organization flourish, and you change the world for the better. You live happily ever after!
Okay, okay… back to reality 🙂 So we’re not at the perfect communications measurement dream job yet. But a lot of the tools and techniques that we have imagined will be here soon enough, if they aren’t already. They will shape your future, and you need to be prepared. That’s what this issue of The Measurement Advisor is all about. ∞
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
