Metrics Lie Behind PR and Marketing

Speaking to the PRSSA on Wednesday, Edward O'Meara promised that he wasn't going to do math.

What he did do was talk about his work experience and knowledge. A graduate from both UGA, where he got an undergraduate degree in political science, and the graduate school of journalism at Northwestern University, O'Meara is a co-founder of the MediaHound agency. His main purpose in speaking was to give advice to students facing prospects in PR and related fields.

O'Meara told the group: "The reason I came here is to help you avoid being a 'schlockmeister' who's out there peddling [your product]."

The metric side of the marketing business, where O'Meara works, involves measuring the return made on marketing projects and investments. At MediaHound he is involved in processing marketing data to help businesses better utilize their resources and promote themselves through the news media.

He spoke to the students about the tasks and challenges they would face at their future jobs, urging them to consider above all else the impact of marketing work on their clients. Projected onto the large screen behind him, in one of the MLC's biggest rooms, were three images of himself. In one, he used his hands to cover his eyes, in another, his ears, and in the last, his mouth. O'Meara stressed the importance of examining one's own work from many perspectives.

"What is the best metric in PR?" he asked the group. After a few hesitant answering calls from the students, he admitted, to laughter: "There really isn't an answer."

Impact was mentioned again and again. CEOs and managers would expect to see results, O'Meara cautioned, and the impact the students' future work would have for their companies. The problem lies in the metrics, the measuring of that impact.

CEOs do not understand marketing, O'Meara said. Those people working in marketing must continually justify their budgets and get "ink" in publications like newspapers and trade magazines, visual results that show word of their company or product spreading.

He said: "It gets sweaty really fast when you get asked 'Where's the story?'"

O'Meara advised students on the best way to garner coveted ink and publicity: using information wisely and contacting specific reporters rather than blanketing editors at every major publication with form e-mails. Just measuring coverage is not an adequate metric, he added, but in the electronic age the marketing industry is still working out the standards to measure returns and response to marketing efforts.

With so much uncertainty in both the market and the current economy, O'Meara advised students: "Don't just chase fashion." Start, he said, with methods that have been proven to work. "Everybody has to be a contributor to revenue."

Though he did not inundate the students with math, like he promised, his speech clearly carried the message that their future employers would be doing just that.