Government Affairs Blog

Evaluation, evaluation, evaluation

In recent years measurement and evaluation have been seen as ways of validating the work of communication professionals.  Some have argued that this is unnecessary but many see evaluation as crucial.

There are many ways of evaluating a campaign.  Some areas of public relations are easier than others.  If you work for a FMCG company you might measure the increase in sales or interest in a product on the company’s website.  If you work in public affairs it is more challenging as you are likely to be dealing with perceptions or policy.  How do you identify whether you work altered a Minister’s perception or whether it was the deciding factor in a change to draft legislation?

One way to assess success is to benchmark where you are before you begin.  Then monitor the campaign and at its completion take another look. 

The most popular way of doing this is through market research.  Before entering into the heady world of communications I used to work in research and one of the areas I specialised in was perception monitoring.  So here are a few things it is worth remembering when undertaking this type of work:

Avoid DIY research if you aren’t an expert – it is tempting but can end up being a lot of work for poor results

Be very careful about the questions you ask your stakeholders - this is partly why you need a research professional.  The questions should give you insight into your current position and be ones you can return to in a year or so to track if views have changed

Don’t do the research and then place the report on a shelf – commissioning great research questions and doing nothing about them is self-defeating

Get buy-in from senior management – research outcomes are only actionable if senior management buy-in to what you are doing

Research is only a snapshot – research results are important but they are only a snapshot of how people see a situation at the time: handle the answers with caution

Think laterally – if the research tells you that your stakeholders hold a negative perception deal with the perception not the issue that they think is the problem

Good luck!

Simon Goldie is Head of Communication at The Chartered Institute of Taxation – www.tax.org.uk - and a member of the CIPR GAG committee