How To Measure Public Relations

How to meas­ure pub­lic relations?

During a sem­in­ar on meas­ur­ing pub­lic rela­tions (PR) activ­it­ies in social media, an audi­ence mem­ber asked:

Is it pos­sible to meas­ure relationships?

Here, we get into chal­len­ging ter­rit­ory, and I will demon­strate why atti­tude- and beha­viour meas­ure­ments are super­i­or to oth­er types of meas­ure­ments in pub­lic relations.

Here we go:

Methods for Measuring Public Relations

How To Measure Public Relations

How To Measure Public Relations

How do you meas­ure pub­lic rela­tions (PR)? I recom­mend meas­ur­ing atti­tudes and beha­viours using ques­tion­naires, rat­ing scales, inter­views, reports (logs, journ­als, diar­ies, etc.), and observations.

The gen­er­al recom­mend­a­tion for PR meas­ure­ment: I recom­mend the soci­olo­gic­al meth­od for get­ting valu­able and action­able res­ults from meas­ur­ing pub­lic rela­tions. This means meas­ur­ing atti­tudes and beha­viours. ³Silfwer, J. (2021, March 4). Methods of Measuring Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​m​e​a​s​u​r​i​n​g​-​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​ns/

Attitude Measurements in PR

There are a few things to con­sider when meas­ur­ing atti­tudes and beha­viours cor­rectly. ⁴Educational Communications and Technology. (2001, August 3). 34.5 Measuring Attitudes. The Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology. … Continue read­ing

An atti­tude meas­ure­ment should meet the fol­low­ing criteria:

There are four main types of atti­tude meas­ure­ment approaches:

There are four main types of atti­tude meas­ure­ment methods:

Learn more: How To Measure Public Relations

My Preference: The Rhetorical Approach

Approaches To Public Relations

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

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. 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: 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. ⁶Silfwer, 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. ⁷Silfwer, 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 ⁸Grunig, 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?

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 ⁹Heath, 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?

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 ¹⁰Coombs, 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?

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

The Close Relationship Argument

“Not everything that counts can be coun­ted. And not everything that can be coun­ted, counts.”
— Albert Einstein

In the rhet­or­ic­al approach, PR is all about rela­tion­ships. And I tend to agree whole­heartedly with that sentiment.

And in life, some rela­tion­ships are more import­ant than oth­ers. My most import­ant and closest rela­tion­ships are those with my wife and son. Those are my most valu­able relationships.

What if I wanted to meas­ure those relationships?

I could meas­ure vari­ous met­rics, from my wife’s salary to my son’s grades. But my wife could make good money, and my son could do well in school des­pite hav­ing an awful rela­tion­ship with me.

What’s the best way for me to gauge my closest rela­tion­ships? For res­ults that mat­ter and are help­ful, engage in open and con­tinu­ous con­ver­sa­tion and codi­fy out­comes. So, in my view, com­mu­nic­a­tion is the best way to meas­ure relationships.

Most rela­tion­ships aren’t that close, but they’re still rela­tion­ships that shape atti­tudes and behaviours.

Money, Money, Money

Most com­pan­ies are man­aged via one single prin­ciple—money.

Money defines their suc­cess.
Money dic­tates their gov­ernance.
Money func­tions as their prime motivator. 

We all care about money, busi­nesses and people, but that’s not how we form trust and deep relationships.

Money is a great cent­ral value for nearly everything except for one thing: rela­tion­ships with oth­er humans.

Only meas­ur­ing pub­lic rela­tions by how to squeeze more money out of every rela­tion­ship means treat­ing your pub­lics like wal­lets with legs. And that would be a shame because human beings have so much more to give oth­er than just their money.

In the eyes of fun­nel fun­da­ment­al­ists, we are demo­graph­ic entit­ies stripped of our essence, mere pup­pets of con­sump­tion with wal­lets in place of hearts.

Some argue that money is how everything in an organ­isa­tion gets meas­ured, so the PR func­tion must con­form. I take the oppos­ite view: If so, at least one func­tion should focus on the human aspect.

Read also: Why ROI and PR Mix Like Oil and Water

The Golden Rule of Measuring PR

The Barcelona Principles 3.0

Public Relations Objectives

Public Relations Objectives

“Public rela­tions is a young aca­dem­ic field with poten­tial to inform vari­ous areas of com­mu­nic­a­tion and offer tools like issues man­age­ment for vari­ous applied com­mu­nic­a­tion fields.“
Source: Journal of Communication ¹²Botan, C., & Taylor, M. (2004). Public rela­tions: State of the field. Journal of Communication, 54, 645 – 661. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​1​1​1​/​J​.​1​460 – 2466.2004.TB02649.X

Building trust and cred­ib­il­ity is a cru­cial object­ive of pub­lic rela­tions. In an era where con­sumers are increas­ingly scep­tic­al of advert­ising and cor­por­ate speak, PR offers a more authen­t­ic and cred­ible way to com­mu­nic­ate with the public.

But what exactly are PR pro­fes­sion­als focused on achieving?

Categorised by the stake­hold­er mod­el, here are examples of com­mon pub­lic rela­tions objectives:

Corporate Communications Objectives

The primary object­ive of cor­por­ate com­mu­nic­a­tions is to stra­tegic­ally man­age and con­vey an organ­isa­tion’s mes­sages to intern­al and extern­al stake­hold­ers, pub­lics, and influ­en­cers while fos­ter­ing a con­sist­ent brand image, trust, engage­ment, and align­ment with busi­ness goals.

Corporate com­mu­nic­a­tions = an organ­isa­tion’s stra­tegic use of mes­saging to shape its repu­ta­tion, artic­u­late its vis­ion, and engage with key audi­ences across intern­al and extern­al chan­nels.

Targets: External and intern­al pub­lics, busi­ness journ­al­ists, reg­u­lat­ory insti­tu­tions, part­ners, sup­pli­ers, vendors, etc.

Examples of objectives:

Investor Relations Objectives

The primary object­ive of investor rela­tions is to effect­ively com­mu­nic­ate a company’s fin­an­cial per­form­ance, strategy, and value pro­pos­i­tion to cur­rent and poten­tial investors, fos­ter­ing trust, trans­par­ency, and sup­port for the company’s long-term objectives.

Investor rela­tions (IR) = an organ­isa­tion’s delib­er­ate com­mu­nic­a­tion efforts to build trust and main­tain trans­par­ency with investors, ana­lysts, and the fin­an­cial com­munity.

Targets: Shareholders, investors, mar­ket hubs, mar­ket ana­lysts, fin­an­cial insti­tu­tions, trade journ­al­ists etc.

Examples of objectives:

Media Relations Objectives

The primary object­ive of media rela­tions is to build and main­tain pos­it­ive rela­tion­ships with influ­en­cers, journ­al­ists, and media out­lets to ensure accur­ate, con­sist­ent, and favour­able cov­er­age of an organisation’s mes­sages, ini­ti­at­ives, and reputation.

Media rela­tions = a brand’s tar­geted use of com­mu­nic­a­tion to foster pos­it­ive inter­ac­tions with journ­al­ists, edit­ors, and media out­lets and to gain favour­able cov­er­age.

Targets: Journalists, edit­ors, influ­en­cers, etc.

Examples of objectives:

Digital PR Objectives

The primary object­ive of digit­al PR is to enhance an organ­isa­tion’s online pres­ence and repu­ta­tion by lever­aging digit­al plat­forms, cre­at­ing share­able con­tent, and secur­ing high-qual­ity inbound traffic to drive vis­ib­il­ity, engage­ment, and authority.

Digital PR = the stra­tegic use of online com­mu­nic­a­tion to build brand com­munit­ies, foster engage­ment, and man­age repu­ta­tion in the digit­al space. ¹³Silfwer, J. (2017, November 20). What is Digital PR? Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​w​h​a​t​-​i​s​-​d​i​g​i​t​a​l​-​pr/

Targets: Inbound web traffic, brand com­munit­ies, sub­scribers, fans, fol­low­ers, influ­en­cers, social net­works, etc.

Examples of objectives:

Public Affairs Objectives

The primary object­ive of pub­lic affairs is to influ­ence pub­lic policy, legis­la­tion, and soci­et­al atti­tudes through stra­tegic com­mu­nic­a­tion and advocacy to foster mutu­ally bene­fi­cial rela­tion­ships between organ­isa­tions and gov­ern­ment­al or reg­u­lat­ory stakeholders.

Public affairs (PA) = a brand’s inten­tion­al use of com­mu­nic­a­tion to engage with gov­ern­ments, poli­cy­makers, and com­munit­ies to influ­ence pub­lic policy and social impact.

Targets: Voters, polit­ic­al journ­al­ists, polit­ic­al ana­lysts, colum­nists, interest groups, etc.

Examples of objectives:

Lobbying Objectives

The primary object­ive of lob­by­ing is to influ­ence decision-makers, par­tic­u­larly legis­lat­ors and gov­ern­ment offi­cials, to sup­port spe­cif­ic policies, reg­u­la­tions, or actions that align with an organ­isa­tion’s or advocacy group’s interests.

Lobbying = the focused use of advocacy and com­mu­nic­a­tion to dir­ectly influ­ence legis­lat­ive and reg­u­lat­ory decisions in favour of spe­cif­ic interests or causes.

Targets: Politicians, legis­lat­ors, gov­ern­ment offi­cials, com­mit­tees, influ­en­cers, etc.

Examples of objectives:

Internal Communications Objectives

The primary object­ive of intern­al com­mu­nic­a­tions is to engage, inform, and align employ­ees with the organisation’s goals, cul­ture, and strategies, fos­ter­ing col­lab­or­a­tion, motiv­a­tion, and a sense of shared purpose.

Internal com­mu­nic­a­tions (IC) = an organ­isa­tion’s delib­er­ate use of mes­saging to align, inform, and motiv­ate employ­ees while fos­ter­ing a pro­duct­ive work­place cul­ture.

Targets: Coworkers, poten­tial recruits, etc.

Examples of objectives:

Crisis Communications Objectives

The primary object­ive of crisis com­mu­nic­a­tions is to pro­tect and restore an organisation’s repu­ta­tion, trust, and sta­bil­ity by man­aging the flow of accur­ate, timely, and stra­tegic inform­a­tion dur­ing and after a crisis.

Crisis com­mu­nic­a­tions = a brand’s rap­id, stra­tegic deploy­ment of com­mu­nic­a­tion to mit­ig­ate repu­ta­tion­al dam­age, address urgent chal­lenges, and restore pub­lic trust dur­ing crit­ic­al situ­ations.

Targets: Crisis vic­tims, wor­ried pub­lics, the gen­er­al pub­lic, cowork­ers, journ­al­ists, influ­en­cers, cus­tom­ers, share­hold­ers, etc.

Examples of objectives:

Marketing PR Objectives

The primary object­ive of mar­ket­ing PR is to gen­er­ate aware­ness, interest, and demand for products or ser­vices by lever­aging earned/​shared/​owned media, storytelling, and influ­en­cer engage­ment to com­ple­ment mar­ket­ing efforts and enhance brand credibility.

Marketing PR = a brand’s tac­tic­al integ­ra­tion of com­mu­nic­a­tion and pro­mo­tion­al efforts to enhance product aware­ness, drive sales, and sup­port mar­ket­ing object­ives.

Targets: Potential cus­tom­ers, exist­ing cus­tom­ers, trade journ­al­ists, mem­bers, affil­i­ates, etc.

Examples of objectives:

Industry PR Objectives

The primary object­ive of industry PR (B2B) is to build cred­ib­il­ity, foster trust, and enhance thought lead­er­ship with­in a spe­cif­ic industry by com­mu­nic­at­ing value, expert­ise, and innov­a­tions to busi­ness pub­lics, niche influ­en­cers, and stakeholders.

Industry PR (B2B) = a busi­ness’s pur­pose­ful use of com­mu­nic­a­tion to build cred­ib­il­ity, foster trust, and estab­lish thought lead­er­ship with­in its pro­fes­sion­al sec­tor.

Targets: B2B cli­ents, B2B pro­spects, trade journ­al­ists, trade organ­isa­tions, niche influ­en­cers, etc.

Examples of objectives:

Learn more: Public Relations Objectives

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