By Greg Bailey, APR

The prospect listened intently until I mentioned the word “research.” You would have thought I dumped a can of garbage from the nearest greasy spoon on the sleek conference room table by the way he recoiled in virtual horror.

“Isn’t that going to be expensive? I don’t think we can afford … research,” said the prospect.

So begins and ends the conversation about truly measuring the value of a public relations program beyond site clicks and newspaper clips.

Without conducting target-audience research prior to launching a strategic PR plan, it is impossible to collect critical attitudinal information about a product, service or issue and set benchmarks to measure the effectiveness of our efforts. Results of this research can assist in crafting primary messages, where to focus marketing and media relations efforts – and sets a benchmark for our programs to exceed.

The conversation was salvaged with the prospect by assuring him that research does not have to be expensive. There are methods to gain insight into how target audiences think, feel, react to your product, your company and your competition.

For the Legends Ridge development in Williamson County, we developed economical focus groups of Realtors whose scope of business was homes in excess of one million dollars in the county. We found out their communications preferences, what publications they read and why Legends Ridge wasn’t on top of their list for prospective buyers. With that information, we developed a campaign that included marketing materials, advertising, direct mail, e-mail marketing and media relations. The successful program helped generate the sale of five lots in 90 days and13 houses sold in four months.

Armed with e-mail addresses, the online survey sites SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang allow customers to tailor their surveys and drill down through results to identify opportunities and possible issues. At KVBPR, we have executed our annual client survey through the SurveyMonkey site for many years.

The media coverage audit is an important tool to identify messages delivered to editors and reporters that are passed along to readers/viewers/listeners. Through relationships with trade and consumer media, as well as online searches, our staff knows where to find the stories and how to analyze them.

Meaningful program measurements begin with a research foundation – knowing who thinks what about your organization and why. That beginning allows us to target specific key messages and program activities directly to move the audiences’ thinking and behavior (cost-effective program implementation) – and conducting year-end research provides real results on how successful our efforts have been.