A better way to measure the value of earned media

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Earned media is perfectly positioned to solve the biggest challenges senior marketers face. It generates qualified prospects, identifies potential leads and engages customers at the right place and time.

By rights, communications should play a far more prominent role in the marketing mix. The reason it doesn’t can be summed up in just three words: lack of measurement.

Marketing execs want to know their investments are achieving tangible business goals. But old calculations like Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) simply aren’t up to the job. Today, technology is helping communicators measure the performance of their campaigns with far greater accuracy.

Why communicators need a new way to measure earned media

You’d be hard-pressed to find a marketing director who considers AVE a meaningful metric. So, perhaps it’s not surprising that some major PR organisations are calling for it to be abandoned altogether.

AVE ascribes the same value to both positive and negative media coverage. It doesn’t account for when coverage reaches the wrong audience for your brand. And it does a bad job of measuring the impact of coverage received through social media.

“AVE is a lazy way of persuading marketers schooled in old ad ways that PR counts,” says Robert Phillips, Edelman’s former CEO. “The model of the future must be able to analyse the depth, resonance, importance and influence of the conversation.”

Other common measures like Opportunities to See (OTS) and reach also fall short of this standard. But new innovations are helping communicators assess the impact their campaigns are having on tangible metrics like conversions, lead generation and ROI.

Armed with these insights, not only will you be able to demonstrate the success of your campaigns to senior stakeholders. You’ll also have the tools to optimise them for maximum impact.

Better tools mean better measurement – and better results

Great PR measurement is about showing you the future, not just measuring the past. Only then can you use smart insights to develop a content strategy that leverages the best combination of earned media tactics for your business.

“The entire industry needs to change its mindset,” explains Sean O’Driscoll (pictured), Cision’s chief strategy and insights officer. “At the moment, we use data retrospectively to assess what’s already happened. But we should be using it as a guide to doing things better in the future.”

Cision created its brand new white paper, Driving growth with PR measurement, to help communicators do exactly that.

Comms teams sight “complexity” as one of the main reasons for skipping this vital step in the planning process. But, as this white paper reveals, this kind of forward thinking approach is now accessible to everyone.

With latest tools and techniques, you can turn the masses of data your campaigns generate into clear insights that help you optimise your campaigns. Then, you can use these same insights to make the case for greater investment in earned media and comms.

So, download Driving growth with PR measurement today using the form below – and discover the analysis breakthroughs set to transform earned media’s place the marketing mix.

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Amy Rowe, Foco co-founder

Foco appoints Amy Rowe as partner

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Brighton-based consultancy Foco has recruited Amy Rowe as its third partner, to lead the firm’s content proposition, build its fintech unit and nurture the business’ own talent, writes Mario Cipriano.

Rowe worked with Foco’s Michael Taggart for two years at financial PR firm MRM. Taggart left MRM in June to co-found Foco.

Rowe also co-founded finance blog Mouthy Money with Taggart in 2016. Previously, she managed Citywire’s social media and website.

“Amy is a visionary when it comes to content that inspires change,” said Taggart. “Knowing, as I do, her tremendous energy, her instinct for leadership and the joy she takes in seeing great people do great work, I feel good about Foco’s future.”

Rowe added: “This feels like the sort of opportunity that you don’t pass up. The goals Michael and John have for Foco – to create a talented community of happy and accomplished professionals working with businesses that want to make people’s lives better – align perfectly with mine.”

The Fourteen Forty team

Ex-Brands2Life duo launches Fourteen Forty

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Former Brands2Life directors James Boyd-Wallis and Guy Corbet have launched a communications consultancy called Fourteen Forty.

Named after the year the printing press was invented, the founders say Fourteen Forty will help businesses “connect in better ways with the range of people, influencers and interest groups on whom their success depends”.

Boyd-Wallis will lead the agency. He was previously Brands2Life’s practice director and ran global campaigns for clients including global bank MUFG, teaching resources firm Tes, Seven Investment Management and Just Eat.

Previously, he worked at Camargue and recently completed an executive programme in behavioural science at University College London.

Corbet was Brands2Life’s managing director and established its corporate affairs practice. Before that, he was marketing director at the Fishburn Hedges Group and he is now Fourteen Forty’s first associate.

Other associates at launch include Warren Davey, Fourteen Forty’s marketing director and planner, and digital marketing specialist Cameron O’Brien.

Davey’s experience includes McCann Erickson, MoneySupermarket, TravelSupermarket and npower.  O’Brien has worked for the Premier League, Marks & Spencer, JP Morgan, Unilever and Royal Mail.

“We will campaign for businesses,” said Boyd-Wallis. “We will help them build stronger relationships and tell more compelling stories – using more creative and more human communications to help solve business problems.  We will also work with politicians and think tanks to make the case for business more widely.”

Corbet added: “Clients are looking for a flexible service from the best people.  Agencies need to be able to deliver a wide range of joined-up services without passing on high overheads, pushing needless additional services or leaving the work to inexperienced consultants.

“We will develop our own core team and draw on expert consultants we are used to working with across the range of marketing communications. This will give clients the reliability of a core team and the specific expertise to meet their individual needs.”

  • Pictured: (left to right) Cameron O’Brien, James Boyd-Wallis, Guy Corbet and Warren Davey
Turkish Airlines appoints M&C Saatchi

Turkish Airlines partners with M&C Saatchi PR

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Turkish Airlines has appointed M&C Saatchi PR as its retained communications partner in the UK, following a competitive pitch.

M&C Saatchi PR will handle the airline’s consumer and corporate communications, with a focus on showcasing its continued growth and success. It will support the brand’s major sponsorship properties, new route launches, products and service innovations.

“We continue our journey with the same excitement that started 84 years ago and we wanted an agency that has the same passion about our brand,” said Seda Kalyoncu, senior vice president of corporate communications at Turkish Airlines. “We wanted an agency that could showcase creativity and excitement when talking about our brand.”

Chris Hides, managing director and co-founder at M&C Saatchi PR, added: “Turkish Airlines has quietly established itself as one of the world’s best airlines. The job is to encourage more leisure and business travellers to choose them.

“It has a fantastic product, one of the newest fleets in the sector and flies to more countries than any other airline, so we have plenty to work with. Our work will focus on telling the brand story through social and traditional channels.”

Buchanan appoints Alex Brown as partner

Alex Brown joins Buchanan as partner

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Buchanan has appointed Alex Brown as partner to build on its financial services offering.

Brown joins from Weber Shandwick, where he was previously a director, and has 20 years’ experience in advising financial services companies on strategic comms. His previous clients have included HSBC, Lloyd’s of London, Nasdaq, Barclays Wealth and The European Banking Authority.

Bobby Morse, senior partner at Buchanan, said: “The strengthening of our corporate communications offering through the appointment of Alex is a significant step for Buchanan in building upon our broad offering in the financial services sector.”

He added: “With the appointment of Alex, Buchanan is consolidating its role as a leading consultancy in the financial services sector with investor and analyst relations, a market-leading B2C offering through Quill, and a fast developing B2B service.”

Morse concluded: “His knowledge of the sector, and the contacts he has built during his prolific career, provide Buchanan with an excellent springboard to growing our presence in this highly sophisticated and fast growing industry. We are delighted to welcome him to the Buchanan and WPP team.”

Driving growth with PR measurement

Why measurement is the key to rapid earned media growth

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For earned media to grow as rapidly as the paid and owned media industries have expanded, communicators need to embrace measurement.

Yet, many in PR still don’t see why measurement is so important. For them it’s about adding up how many people your coverage reached. Or else, they think it’s about guessing what an equivalent amount of ad space might have cost.

But neither of these interpretations comes close to explaining what makes measurement an essential part of every modern PR campaign.

Measurement is the key to understanding which messages change the way people think about your brand. It lets you see exactly which publications drive the most traffic to your website. It even reveals what types of coverage tend to generate the most leads and drive sales.

Imagine what that information could do for your next campaign.

Well, thanks to the latest analysis techniques, that level of insight is within your grasp – and it’s already helping some of the world’s biggest brands maximise the impact of their earned media initiatives:

These case studies are just a taste of what’s possible with the latest PR measurement techniques.

In fact, thanks to recent technological advances, you’ll soon be able to measure the impact of your earned media programmes just as effectively as your marketing and advertising colleagues.

Cision’s latest white paper reveals how to apply the latest measurement techniques to demonstrate the impact of your own comms programmes. What’s more, it provides an exclusive look at the technology set to revolutionise the industry in 2018.

Gartner’s latest CMO spend survey revealed that paid and owned media budgets were forecast to rise 300% in 2017. Now, new technology is opening the door for the same kind of rapid expansion in PR and comms.

So download Driving growth with PR measurement today using the form below – and discover the analysis breakthroughs set to bring earned media to the top of the marketing mix.

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Hoover Candy brand and communications director Antony Peart

Hoover Candy appoints new director of brand and comms

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Appliance manufacturer Hoover Candy Group has appointed Antony Peart to the newly created position of director of brand and communications.

He will work alongside the company’s UK marketing teams and Gianpiero Morbello, its Italian-based head of brand strategy and identity, to implement corporate and brand comms strategies.

Peart will oversee comms and advertising campaigns across the group’s product sectors, including built-in and freestanding major domestic appliances and small domestic appliances.

The position covers marketing for the Hoover, Candy and Baumatic brands in the UK and Republic of Ireland, with the aim of supporting growth within the group.

Peart has more than 20 years’ marketing experience and joins the group from Brother International Group, where he worked for 18 years.

“Hoover is one of the most iconic brands of the 21st century,” said Peart. “The fact it’s still a well-known, household name speaks volumes considering it was established more than a century ago.

“I’m really looking forward to working with the team to help deliver the best possible experience for our customers.”

David Meyerowitz, Hoover Candy Group’s UK CEO, added: “Antony’s considerable experience is a huge part of why we were so pleased that he decided to join us.

He continued: “We’re certain he’ll help drive our innovation messaging and assist in building our brand vision for Hoover Candy.”

Francesco Guerrera, Financial News, Dow Jones

Last chance to claim your place at Cision’s Financial News media briefing

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Time is running out to claim your place at Cision’s exclusive breakfast media briefing with Francesco Guerrera, Dow Jones’ head of Europe, and Chris Newlands, editor of Financial News.

Financial News media briefing

Meet Francesco Guerrera and Chris Newlands at Wednesday’s exclusive briefing

Places are filling up fast – and with just two days to go, this could be your last chance to register for Wednesday’s event (25th October) where the audience will discover the best ways for communicators to partner with the media giant.

Launched in 1996, Dow Jones’ Financial News is a weekly title covering European securities, investment banking and the fund management industries.

With an educated readership of UK and European finance professionals, it’s the ideal destination for a wide range of financial and corporate PR stories.

The event starts at 8am and Guerrera (pictured) and Newlands will reveal how they like to work with PRs, the best ways to pitch them ideas and what stories their readers love to hear about.

Audience members will get a free issue of this week’s Financial News, as well as the opportunity to ask your burning questions and even introduce yourself to the journalists at the end of the event.

So, claim your place today using the form below to join a select group of other communicators in meeting Guerrera and Newlands at London’s iconic The News Building – home of The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun.

“Francesco and Chris are both experts in their field,” said Philip Smith, Cision’s head of content marketing and comms. “We’ll have the chance on Wednesday to pick their brains on the state of the market while finding out how communicators can enjoy a great relationship with Dow Jones titles like Financial News.”

He added: “These morning briefings are a great to find out what journalists really think about their relationships with the PR and comms community and are a way of understanding the dos and don’ts of pitching.

“The connections the media briefings have facilitated have no doubt helped secure countless pieces of coverage over the years. So, I can strongly recommend securing one of the last few places today, if you haven’t already.”

Claim your place now to attend this exclusive event

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Please note, our events are exclusive to clients of Cision, Gorkana and PR Newswire. If you have any questions, email [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.