Nancy Schwartz has written a very good piece on this topic recently on her Getting Attention blog. While it is a short post and I am sure she would have a lot more to say in person, she gives a very nice overview of the basic information communications professionals should be tracking to get a handle on the success of their efforts.  She says:

Track these outputs: Articles placed, links added, online mentions of your organization, number of requests for public appearances, incoming press calls, etc. For example, two articles or one letter to the editor a month, three incoming press calls or 10% increase in daily unique visitors to your website generated by links on other sites. As always, look for trending (steady increases) rather than absolute numbers…I suggest you create a media log to record media relations activities and results. It will assist you in evaluating the contacts/relationships you have with specific media outlets and reporters, and help you identify concerns with particular outlets/reporters so that you can address them (e.g. always misquoted, description of organization incorrect, inappropriate language to explain issue, etc.)

Nancy has written extensively over the years on this topic and I hope she will join us at the next PPC meeting.

]]> http://www.ppcnyc.org/2010/02/starting-to-think-about-measuring-results/feed/ 0 http://www.ppcnyc.org/2009/12/the-utility-of-a-year-end-recap/ http://www.ppcnyc.org/2009/12/the-utility-of-a-year-end-recap/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:34:09 +0000 Michael Hamill Remaley http://www.ppcnyc.org/?p=54 In her latest blog posting, Nancy Schwartz of Getting Attention! does a recap of her blog’s five most popular articles over the course of 2009.  Smart move on Schwartz’s part, and it got me thinking about idea recycling.

First, one should never assume that just because you said something once that everyone (or anyone) heard it.  Especially these days when people are overwhelmed with information, much of it flies by without registering.  Doing a year-end repeat of key ideas can be a great way to get points across that may have  been lost.

Second, it’s a great way of repackaging ideas information and making it fresh.  Everyone loves a “Top 10″ list!

I am making a note to myself to do a recap of PPC-NYC’s top blog posts and top lunch topics at the end of next year.