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Methods of Measuring Public Relations

Why I recommend the Sociological Method.

Jerry Silfwer
by Jerry Silfwer

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There are three meth­ods of meas­ur­ing pub­lic relations.

Unlock the secrets to accur­ate meas­ure­ment of pub­lic rela­tions out­comes. Stay ahead in the PR industry with these expert tips.

Here we go:

Methods of Measuring Public Relations

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Methods for Measuring Public Relations

There are three basic approaches to meas­ur­ing pub­lic relations:

  • The Traditional Method
  • The Corporate Method
  • The Sociological Method

Please note: I recom­mend using the Sociological Method for meas­ur­ing pub­lic relations.

The Traditional Method

The tra­di­tion­al meas­ure­ment meth­od is based on mar­ket­ing logic. Marketing meth­ods focus on media chan­nels, demo­graph­ic reach, and ad costs.

Examples of PR measurements:

  • Reach approx­im­a­tions
  • AVE (ad value equivalence)

Primary strength: Easy to cal­cu­late.
Primary weak­ness: Low qual­ity for decision-making.

The Corporate Method

The cor­por­ate meas­ure­ment meth­od is based on gen­er­al busi­ness prac­tices. Corporate meth­ods are focused on man­age­ment the­ory and rev­en­ue. (Closely related to the Excellence PR Approach.)

Examples of PR measurements:

  • ROI (return on investment)
  • KPI (key per­form­ance indicator)

Primary strength: Fit well into cor­por­ate hier­arch­ies.
Primary weak­ness: Misrepresent the value of PR.

The Sociological Method

The soci­olo­gic­al meas­ure­ment meth­od­o­logy is based on psy­cho­logy. Behavioural meth­ods are focused on atti­tudes and beha­viours. (Closely related to the Rhetorical PR Approach.)

Examples of PR measurements:

  • Attitude meas­ure­ments
  • Behaviour meas­ure­ments

Primary strength: Highly use­ful for PR.
Primary weak­ness: Not precise.

“Trust, open­ness, involve­ment, invest­ment, and com­mit­ment are key dimen­sions in estab­lish­ing and main­tain­ing good organ­iz­a­tion-pub­lic rela­tion­ships.“
Source: Public Relations Review 1Ledingham, J., & Bruning, S. (1998). Relationship man­age­ment in pub­lic rela­tions: dimen­sions of an organ­iz­a­tion-pub­lic rela­tion­ship. Public Relations Review, 24, 55 – 65. … Continue read­ing

“Public rela­tions mod­els should be meas­ured at the rela­tion­al level and have a devel­op­ment­al com­pon­ent to bet­ter align with rela­tion­ship man­age­ment meta­phors.“
Source: Public Relations Review 2Leichty, G., & Springston, J. (1993). Reconsidering pub­lic rela­tions mod­els. Public Relations Review, 19, 327 – 339. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​1​6​/​0​363 – 8111(93)90055‑H

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My Preference: The Rhetorical Approach

Approaches To Public Relations

There are three schol­arly approaches to pub­lic rela­tions (PR):

Three Approaches to Public Relations - Doctor Spin - The PR Blog
Three approaches to pub­lic relations.

The excel­lence PR approach = this pub­lic rela­tions approach focuses on object­ives and cor­por­ate value cre­ation. The under­ly­ing motiv­a­tion behind the the­ory was that pub­lic rela­tions were mainly a vari­ety of tac­tic­al tools that des­per­ately needed a man­age­ment the­ory to work well in a soph­ist­ic­ated organ­isa­tion. 3Silfwer, J. (2022, November 6). PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​a​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​es/

Notable men­tions: James E. Grunig, Larissa A. Grunig

The rhet­or­ic­al PR approach = this pub­lic rela­tions approach stems from ideas dat­ing back to ancient Greece. It’s a psy­cho­lo­gic­al the­ory of how com­mu­nic­a­tion struc­tures human cul­ture by shap­ing human minds. The rhet­or­ic­al approach is prac­tic­al and lacks mor­al judg­ment. 4Silfwer, J. (2022, November 6). PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​a​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​es/

Notable men­tions: Edward Bernays, The Toronto School of Communication Theory, Robert Heath

The crit­ic­al PR approach = this pub­lic rela­tions approach is deeply rooted in the­or­ies of soci­et­al power dynam­ics. Power is seen as a means of exert­ing dom­in­ance, manip­u­la­tion, and oppres­sion. The crit­ic­al approach bor­rows many ideas from the rhet­or­ic­al approach by pla­cing them in mor­al frame­works. 5Silfwer, J. (2022, November 6). PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​a​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​es/

Notable men­tions: Walter Lippmann, Noam Chomsky

The Excellence Approach to PR

Management the­ory often focuses on oper­a­tion­al excel­lence. The Excellence Study mapped value cre­ation onto stra­tegic com­mu­nic­a­tion and found that best prac­tices cre­ate value for an organ­isa­tion. They reduce costs and risks while increas­ing revenue.

“The pro­gramme of research known as the excel­lence the­ory began in the 1960s with J. Grunig’s research on pub­lics found among Colombian farm­ers. Research then fol­lowed on the role of pub­lic rela­tions in organ­isa­tion­al decision-mak­ing, the sym­met­ric­al mod­el of pub­lic rela­tions, pub­lic rela­tions meas­ure­ment, and how the struc­ture and envir­on­ment of organ­isa­tions shape pub­lic rela­tions beha­viour. […] The excel­lence the­ory has evolved into a gen­er­al the­ory of pub­lic rela­tions as a stra­tegic man­age­ment func­tion, and ongo­ing research now is adding con­cepts and tools that pub­lic rela­tions pro­fes­sion­als who serve in a stra­tegic role can use.”
Source: Excellence Theory in Public Relations: Past, Present, and Future 6Grunig, J.E., & Grunig, L.A. (2008). Excellence Theory in Public Relations: Past, Present, and Future. https://​www​.semantic​schol​ar​.org/​p​a​p​e​r​/​c​c​f​a​d​d​8​7​8​d​4​1​4​5​4​3​7​5​3​5​7​c​e​9​9​e​c​7​f​c​b​1​4​8​e​6​b​48f

How can PR have such best prac­tices? The answers are, non-sur­pris­ingly, man­age­ment-focused: Leadership roles, goal align­ments, high levels of stra­tegic com­pet­ency, high eth­ic­al stand­ards, and two-way sym­met­ric com­mu­nic­a­tion with cor­por­ate stakeholders.

Who typ­ic­ally prefers the excel­lence approach?

  • PR repu­ta­tion coun­ter­weight. PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars con­cerned about the industry’s bad repu­ta­tion and ques­tion­able ori­gins often prefer the excel­lence approach.
  • Management con­sultancy envy. PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars who har­bour an inferi­or­ity com­plex toward man­age­ment con­sult­ants often prefer the excel­lence approach.
  • Dreams of ROI for PR. The excel­lence approach is often pre­ferred by PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars who might dream that ROI and PR will one day work well together.
  • Focus on organ­isa­tion­al status. PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars often prefer the excel­lence approach, which lessens the focus on com­mu­nic­a­tions as a prac­tic­al craft and places more emphas­is on its mer­its with­in organ­isa­tion­al hierarchies.

The Rhetorical Approach to PR

In ancient Greek soci­ety, pub­lic debate and per­sua­sion were con­sidered the best approaches to ensur­ing peace­ful and stable gov­ernance. This was the cradle of ideas like demo­cracy and free speech. There was no best prac­tice, only out­comes from mul­tiple voices.

“Rhetorical the­ory fea­tures how the pub­lic rela­tions pro­cess becomes enriched through the role co-cre­ated, shared mean­ing plays in soci­ety as a blend of mind and self. The rhet­or­ic­al her­it­age fea­tures the potent role of fact (as inter­preted inform­a­tion), judg­ment, and iden­ti­fic­a­tion as dis­course themes enacted in pub­lic aren­as. Public rela­tions can add value to soci­ety by assur­ing that choices become enlightened, risks are eth­ic­ally man­aged, and rela­tion­ships are mutu­ally developed. Through eth­ic­al rhet­or­ic­al prac­tice that res­ults from the reflect­ive char­ac­ter of organ­isa­tions, pub­lic rela­tions helps soci­ety to be more fully func­tion­ing.”
Source: Rhetorical Perspective and Public Relations: Meaning Matters 7Heath, R. L., & Frandsen, F. (2008). Rhetorical Perspective and Public Relations: Meaning Matters. VS Verlag Für Sozialwissenschaften EBooks, 349 – 364. … Continue read­ing

If you hear a PR pro­fes­sion­al talk pas­sion­ately and pos­it­ively about the import­ance of per­sua­sion and per­cep­tion man­age­ment, they are most likely sup­port­ers of the rhet­or­ic­al approach. They’re focused on lan­guage and rela­tion­ships and think of soci­ety descriptively.

Many mod­ern rhet­or­ic­al con­cepts have stemmed from the Toronto School of Communication Theory and were later refined and fur­ther developed by Robert L. Heath.

Who typ­ic­ally prefers the rhet­or­ic­al approach?

  • Real-world res­ults over the­ory. Action-ori­ented PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars who focus on get­ting real-world res­ults often prefer the rhet­or­ic approach.
  • Communication as a tool. PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars com­fort­able with util­it­ari­an con­cepts (per­sua­sion, pro­pa­ganda, spin, rhet­or­ic, semantics, agenda-set­ting, per­cep­tion man­age­ment, man­u­fac­tur­ing con­sent, etc.) often prefer the rhet­or­ic­al approach.
  • Critical of the news media. The rhet­or­ic approach is often pre­ferred by PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars who believe that every­one has a right to defend them­selves in the court of pub­lic opin­ion — and that if you don’t tell your story, someone else will.
  • Free-speech advoc­ates. PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars with pro-liber­tari­an val­ues (demo­cracy, free speech, con­trari­an think­ing, etc.) often prefer the rhet­or­ic­al approach.

The Critical Approach to PR

“Critical the­ory” is a broad term encap­su­lat­ing tools for ana­lys­is from vari­ous fields. Examples of such devices for ana­lys­is are fem­in­ism, cul­tur­al stud­ies, struc­tur­al­ism, semi­ot­ics, and post­mod­ern­ism. As a broad approach, it offers a wide range of schol­arly criticism.

“The dom­in­ance of Excellence Theory in pub­lic rela­tions the­ory and research may be erod­ing as con­tem­por­ary issues in cor­por­a­tions, includ­ing the con­cern with act­iv­ist chal­lenges to repu­ta­tion man­age­ment and cor­por­ate social respons­ib­il­ity, increase in vis­ib­il­ity and demand explan­a­tion. […] Excellence Theory’s acknow­ledge­ment of once-vil­i­fied con­cepts like per­sua­sion and power sets the stage for crit­ic­al pub­lic rela­tions the­ory and research to emerge as sig­ni­fic­antly more cap­able of address­ing act­iv­ist advocacy and con­com­it­ant issues. The paper argues that crit­ic­al the­ory, buoyed by accept­ance of its key con­cepts, its increas­ing access to present­a­tion ven­ues and journ­als sym­path­et­ic to once-mar­gin­al­ised, altern­at­ive per­spect­ives, is poised to infilt­rate the pub­lic rela­tions ortho­doxy.”
Source: Public Relations Review 8Coombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (2012). Fringe pub­lic rela­tions: How act­iv­ism moves crit­ic­al pr toward the main­stream. Public Relations Review, 38(5), 880 – 887. … Continue read­ing

Since crit­ic­al PR the­ory bor­rows from vari­ous schol­arly tra­di­tions, it’s chal­len­ging to sum­mar­ise the crit­ic­al approach. But there’s often a focus on soci­et­al power dynam­ics and detailed vic­timo­logy. The crit­ic­al approach has many touch points with the rhet­or­ic­al approach, but they tend to end up on oppos­ite sides of the excel­lence approach:

While the rhet­or­ic­al approach finds the excel­lence approach too norm­at­ive, the crit­ic­al approach isn’t norm­at­ive enough.

Who typ­ic­ally prefers the rhet­or­ic­al approach?

  • PR is inher­ently flawed. PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars often prefer the crit­ic­al approach, which advoc­ates struc­tur­al pri­or­it­isa­tion of vari­ous social issues (gender inequal­ity, racial biases, gre­en­wash­ing, etc.) in the PR industry.
  • Left-lean­ing polit­ic­al bias. The crit­ic­al approach is often pre­ferred by PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars who believe that PR is primar­ily a soci­et­al force that amp­li­fies cap­it­al­is­m’s adverse effects.
  • Academia as a cor­rect­ive insti­tu­tion. PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars with par­tic­u­lar interests (or aca­dem­ic back­grounds) in crit­ic­al fields of study often prefer the crit­ic­al approach.
  • Social injustice experts. PR pro­fes­sion­als and schol­ars with pro­fes­sion­al roles dir­ectly deal­ing with social injustice, cli­mate issues, anti-cap­it­al­ist act­iv­ism, etc., often prefer the crit­ic­al approach.

Read also: 3 PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical

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1 Ledingham, J., & Bruning, S. (1998). Relationship man­age­ment in pub­lic rela­tions: dimen­sions of an organ­iz­a­tion-pub­lic rela­tion­ship. Public Relations Review, 24, 55 – 65. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​1​6​/​S​0​3​6​3​-​8​1​1​1​(​9​8​)​8​0​020 – 9
2 Leichty, G., & Springston, J. (1993). Reconsidering pub­lic rela­tions mod­els. Public Relations Review, 19, 327 – 339. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​1​6​/​0​363 – 8111(93)90055‑H
3, 4, 5 Silfwer, J. (2022, November 6). PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​a​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​es/
6 Grunig, J.E., & Grunig, L.A. (2008). Excellence Theory in Public Relations: Past, Present, and Future. https://​www​.semantic​schol​ar​.org/​p​a​p​e​r​/​c​c​f​a​d​d​8​7​8​d​4​1​4​5​4​3​7​5​3​5​7​c​e​9​9​e​c​7​f​c​b​1​4​8​e​6​b​48f
7 Heath, R. L., & Frandsen, F. (2008). Rhetorical Perspective and Public Relations: Meaning Matters. VS Verlag Für Sozialwissenschaften EBooks, 349 – 364. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​0​7​/​978 – 3‑531 – 90918-9_23
8 Coombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (2012). Fringe pub­lic rela­tions: How act­iv­ism moves crit­ic­al pr toward the main­stream. Public Relations Review, 38(5), 880 – 887. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​1​6​/​j​.​p​u​b​r​e​v​.​2​0​1​2​.​0​2​.​008
Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at Spin Factory and KIX Communication Index. Before that, he worked at Whispr Group NYC, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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