Andrew Lark

Measuring Blogs...

One of the most frequently asked of me at conferences and the like is "how do you measure the effectiveness of blogs. Charlene Li at Forrester weighs in on a methodology to quantify the return on investment in blogging starting with:

1. return on impressions
2. return on media impact
3. return on target influence
4. return on earned media.

This is an interesting view in that it looks at the ROI element of the equation. Some of the other areas we also see benefits in are:

1. Reduced cost of customer acquisition: customers are looking at the blog for education and insight reducing the requirement for hard materials and ongoing dialogue with sales engineers. In short, blogs reduce the sales cycle. We can measure this in hours of people time taken back.
2. Reduced SEO costs: By participating in other blogs (especially those of pundits and analysts) we see more inbound traffic against key topic areas reducing our dependency on paid search to drive traffic. We've seen this go as high as 25%.
3. Participation reduces research costs: Closed blog communities are a great source of insight for polling and thought taking. They reduce the cost of insight.

Charlene points over to Fraser Likel's paper “Perspectives on the ROI of Media Relations Publicity Efforts” which also has some good thinking in this area.

I suggest to companies that they start by aligning the blog goals with business goals and let the metrics flow from there.

Engagement Level - A New Metric of Success for Online Advertising

Worth a read. Measuring engagement should be a priority for communicators as well. And I would extend the mandate to include all marketing.

Measurement Moves

Measurement leader Cymfony today launched its Influence 2.0 initiative with a new set of analytics - Market Influence Analytics:

Messages in the Influence 2.0 world must run the gauntlet of traditional and social media sources on the way to reach their intended target. Along the way they are amended, appended, extended and up-ended. Understanding the paths of influence and how this affects the audience's reception of the message requires a different kind of service than PR measurement or CGM monitoring.

Taking a quick look at what they are up to, Cymfony is making some strong moves toward understanding the power of recommendation (their measurement engine has a unique advantage here) that should make them attractive to any F1000 looking to track influence vs. opportunities to see. Here is what they have to say on the initiative:

Cymfony's goal is to kick off an industry-wide effort to fully understand the changes underway, and educate companies, brands, marketers, PR professionals and others who aren't as deeply immersed in these changes as we are.

This is a great initiative and I like what they are up to here. Igniting a dialog is as important as launching the ideas and solutions. Understanding recommendation and its relationship to OTS should be something that every communicator is looking at. Moreover, it extends the communications measurement mandate into the heart of product, brand and marketing management.

You can read more in the first chapter of their eBook and are encouraging you to contribute to the conversation via their wiki. And they've updated their site along with new blog.

Deb Eastman of Biz360 has also launched a blog.

Technorati : Marketing Measurement, PR, Public Relations

Media Rating Points...

I've been meaning to write on the recently proposed Media Rating Points system. If you are a small business that can't afford to pay for a media measurement solution, or an agency that needs a means of communicating results, then this could work well. I don't like the idea of rating coverage... this introduces a layer of opinion and complexity not needed. Focus on opportunities to see and frequency of messages.

The MRP™ system includes templates and reach data. The templates can be downloaded free of charge by clicking here.

Don Bartholomew has a summary of the evaluation/measurement findings from the latest GAP IV study from the Strategic Public Relations Center at USC Annenberg.

Key findings include that respondents spent only 4% of their budgets on evaluation. In terms of measuring PR performance (articles generated etc.) this could be right but if this number includes measuring impact (did we change minds, move markets, influence decisions?) then it is way low. That number should be closer to 15-20%.

Read Don's post for a thorough analysis and the differing metrics used by PR departments that report to the C-suite and those that report to Marketing. Having run both functions in a number of companies I was always impressed how the brand teams started with deep research into the customer. The PR teams generally started with a brainstorm. I'll say no more.

Katie has more on this...

Technorati : PR, PR Measurement
Del.icio.us : PR

Edelman Gobbles Up A&R Partners

A&R are one of the most highly regarded independent PR agencies in the Valley. At least one part of that statement stands, but not the independent bit. Edelman is the new owner, completing a much needed strengthening their tech capabilities that makes them a real force now in the Nth American tech market. Bizarrely the story is running on PRWeek and on Steve's blog, nothing on Edelman or A&R.

Edelman's tech footprint also includes Zeno with long-term clients like Oracle. So it's now Next Fifteen with brands like Bite, Outcast and Text 100 pitted against Edelman with Zeno and A&R. Are we looking at the two break-away holding company brands in tech worldwide?

While Edelman will have to deal with the inevitable integration issues that come with any merger(retaining clients and staff, and dealing with conflicts - the big three), what it looks like they are going to do is similar to Next Fifteen - that is, keep the brands independent and fuel their growth. Merging Edelman's tech group into A&R solves another issue - the conflict with Microsoft.

More than anything though, this looks to be about fueling growth through talent acquisition. I meet with plenty of agency heads and they are all saying the same thing. Can't find great talent, can barely find good talent. This is a talent starved market.

Good move by Edelman.

Using Statistics

HBR has a nice little piece on using statitics that is very applicable to anyone undertaking measurement for communications or marketing. The central tenents are:

1. Know what you know-and what you're only asserting

2. Be clear about what you want to discover

3. Don't take causality for granted

4. With statistics, you can't prove things with 100 percent certainty

5. With statistics, you can't prove things with 100 percent certainty

The last one is important in communicating upwards to management. Does anyone care you increased coverage 3.2%? Probably not.

Technorati : PR

Updated: Edelman In Deal with Technorati

Steve has provided answers to my questions in the comments section - so here goes a quick update:

Rubel reports that Edelman has a deal to "fast-track the development of localized versions of their offering in German, Korean, Italian, French and Chinese." I'm not sure what this means so a couple of questions for Steve & Co.:

• Is Edelman paying or funding software development at Technorati? What specifically does fast-track mean? Or to use Peter's words "support"? Is this a case of simply paying to lock-up Technorati for a period of time? Or as Stowe alludes to, is this about getting Technorati some needed cash for global expansion? Edelman is paying to accelerate Technorati's deployment in Europe - as such the probably deserve the short exclusive they are getting.
• What does "exclusive" mean? Does this mean the only way to get access to pre-beta Technorati in those countries is via Edelman? The success of so many Web2.0 properties - Technorati included - has been predicated on getting not particularly robust products into the market allowing people to participate. Isn't this going to turn a public tool into a proprietary one for a period of time - is it about, at least initially, supporting the growth of the blogosphere for Edelman clients? Why not open it to everyone? Reading between the lines of Steve's remarks it seems unlikely that Technorati could have done this as quick without Edelman's support - so, fair game on the exclusive. Ultimately we benefit from a faster time to market on Technorati services.
• Doesn't this call into question Technorati's independence and neutrality. I'm sure its just a coincidence but Steve's favorite blogs are featured on Technorati's home page this morning. In fairness to Steve, this is a rolling banner. Fair response from Steve. This will be an issue for Technorati going forward.

It is great that Edelman is lending its weight to such an important initiative. I'm a big fan of Richard and Steve. But fortunately they aren't the only ones so this does seem to run counter to the notion of "participatory" and open.

While a propriety lock-in to Technorati's international versions is a terrific coup for Edelman - and I am sure is a very profitable commercial relationship for Technorati - doesn't it leave bloggers and other companies as deeply engaged in the blogosphere out in the cold? Steve's comments point to this accelerating the availability of services - Edelman's price is cold cash. Our price is that they get a bit of an exclusive for something we have to wait less for. Seems fair in the context of the commercial realities of the blogosphere.

More reading at PR Squared.

Blog-Based Analysts Shake Up IT Research

According to InformationWeek. They're right! We not only get huge value from the likes of James Governor - but we also benefit from the conversation they ignite in the market. On any given day they can account for around 5% of our web traffic. We're no Sun or IBM, but that's a ton of clicks.

A new breed of IT analysts is sharing insights over the Internet, leaving traditional research firms trying to catch up using the same methods....

...E-pundits such as Vinnie Mirchandani, Dennis Howlett, James Governor, and Stephen O'Grady use the Web to promote their perspectives on topics that suit their different areas of expertise. Through blogs, they open up dialogues in which ideas are exchanged with IT pros, bloggers, and fellow analysts. And they rely on their years of experience to give them credibility and win client contracts that fund their online efforts: Mirchandani was with Gartner, Howlett spent 30 years in finance and accounting, and Governor and O'Grady were analysts at Illuminata.

..."Analysis isn't and shouldn't be a one-way conversation," McGovern says. "Blogging allows meaningful dialogue to emerge and allows others to gain additional insights in a highly transparent way. I don't get the opportunity to read blogs while at work, but at home, I passionately follow James Governor of RedMonk (MonkChips), Brenda Michelson of Seybold (Elemental Links), and Dan Blum of the Burton Group (Identerati) as they are highly relevant to not only work but personal interests."

One thing they don't touch on is the ability of these firms to touch the long tail of tech. By this I mean start-ups. This is a woefully under served segment of the tech market - by media and analysts. These analysts aren't tied to focusing on the basis of extremely large paying customers. In addition, they aren't tied by conventional products - as a start-up I can only afford one set of written insight and certainly can't afford to pay per inquiry or briefing. With these new generation analysts the value comes from the conversation and forward looking insight. They aren't as much rear window facing (basing comment on client insight) they are aggregating conversations from across the "network" to form opinions and views.

Now that is worth paying for.

Six Degrees Of Reputation

Great review on the use and abuse of online review and recommendation systems.

This paper reports initial findings from a study that used quantitative and qualitative research methods and custom–built software to investigate online economies of reputation and user practices in online product reviews at several leading e–commerce sites (primarily Amazon.com). We explore several cases in which book and CD reviews were copied whole or in part from one item to another and show that hundreds of product reviews on Amazon.com might be copies of one another. We further explain the strategies involved in these suspect product reviews, and the ways in which the collapse of the barriers between authors and readers affect the ways in which these information goods are being produced and exchanged. We report on techniques that are employed by authors, artists, editors, and readers to ensure they promote their agendas while they build their identities as experts. We suggest a framework for discussing the changes of the categories of authorship, creativity, expertise, and reputation that are being re–negotiated in this multi–tier reputation economy.

Ten Blogs | PR & Marketing

I'm frequently asked what blogs I follow regularly. The simple answer would be to direct people to my blogroll - but I haven't updated that in ages. Another item for the "to-do on a rainy day" list. So, I'm going to start a short series of posts with my top ten blogs in different categories.

My blog reader is a bit like the New York Times Sunday edition - very diverse. I enjoy the serendipity of stumbling across all kinds of relevant content. So I'm going to start with the practical - the marketing and PR blogs I scan daily.

I keep my hundreds of feeds in different folders - these are pulled from my "Read Today" folder and are the ones I spend time on most.

1. Micro Persuasion: I look at Steve's blog mainly for breaking Web2.0 and PR news. I'd say I read it less as a blog and more as a source of news. I also like what Jeremy as to say over at PopPR and also Johnnie Moore.
2. Richard Edelman - 6 A.M: Great views and opinions. I like Richard's perspective on the industry. His postings aren't that frequent but I also enjoy reading Harold Burson.
3. KDPaine's PR Measurement Blog: Katie is the pioneer of so much of what we see today in measurement. If you are into accountable communications and marketing, you should start here.
4. Keith O'Brien: I like his writing in PRWeek and like the blog.
5. Holmes Blog: I breathed a sigh of relief when PRWeek launched in the US - it just seemed so wrong that all the US PR Industry had was a facsimile newsletter. Saying that, Paul's writing on PR issues and trends is unmatched - the .pdf Holmes Report is a must to subscribe to.
6. Armadgeddon: AR is the least appreciated element of the communications and marketing mix - yet the analysts are as, if not more, influential than the media. The dialogue is good and the observations relevant - if not a tad AR-biased. Some of the posts on transparency and the relationship between Analysts and paying companies are off the mark in my mind.
7. James Governor: Not a marketing or PR blog but James' observations on AR and marketing are very thoughtful.
8. The 463: A tech policy blog. We need more of them. Also read Tim Dyson's blog - leader of Next Fifteen, the mother ship for brands like Bite and Outcast.
9. The Long Tail & Gladwell: Again, not strictly marketing blogs but that is the lens through which I look at them.
10. Marketing Headhunter: Lots of good thoughts from Harry.

OK - so there is more than ten... Ooops, forgot one for all PR and media types. Read Jay Rosen whenever he posts.