How Public Relations Firms Monitor the News Media with Prime Research CEO Mark Weiner

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A discussion with Mark Weiner, CEO of PRIME Research (acquired by Cision) about why the Public Relations Society of America formed a Measurement Working Group, media monitoring, and the never-ending controversy over advertising value equivalency (AVEs).  

Weiner will present a session at the Public Relations Society of America International Conference entitled “Proving the Value of Public Relations,” and was a member of the Public Relations Society of America Measurement Working Group with David Rockland, Pauline Draper-Watts of the Institute of Public Relations Measurement Commission Chair, Katie Paine of KD Paine & Partners and Don Wright of Boston University.   

Prior to PRIME, Mark Weiner was the Global Director and Senior Vice President of PR firm Ketchum Research, where he led an international team of news media analysts.  

Before joining the Ketchum PR agency, Weiner was the CEO and president of Delahaye, a corporate communications and public relations consulting firm founded by Katie Paine, who has also appeared on this podcast, and who provided research support for this episode.  

This was recorded under the auspices of the official podcast of the Public Relations Society of America International Conference.

Public Relations Firm Measurement Insights

1:01 – Mark Weiner’s background, a brief introduction to the Public Relations Society of America Measurement Working Group, and an overview of what Mark will cover in this podcast.  

4:35 – How Mark Weiner helps PR firms overcome the challenge of communicating the value of public relations at the 2009 Public Relations Society of America International Conference.  

5:50 – Mark Weiner on his participation in the Public Relations Society of America Measurement Working Group, which brought together thought leaders to explore how public relations impacts business and which published a “Business Outcomes” deck to help practitioners communicate the value of public relations to clients and managers.  

7:05 – Why PRSA created a Measurement Working Group and a clarification for anyone who heard about this effort first on episode 484 of “For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report.”  

9:12 – The Public Relations Society of America’s intention of providing a solutions-agnostic approach and the Measurement Working Group’s pooling of measurement intelligence.  

11:14 – Based on his experiences traveling the globe consulting on public relations measurement, Weiner explains the common misconceptions about public relations measurement outside the US.  

12:32 – The purpose of public relations search and evaluation in business and translating public relations performance through data.  

13:33 — Whether or not communicating through numbers is more objective than communicating through language, as per 2009 Public Relations Society of America International Conference keynote speaker Todd Buchholz’s appearance on this podcast.  

14:29 – Minimizing misinformation through transparency.   

15:23 – The percentage of Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Award applications that are eliminated each year because of they lack measurement data and use purposely vague language.  

18:06 – The pros and cons of using advertising value equivalency to communicate the value of public relations to managers and clients.  

19:37 – The most meaningful measures of public relations value.  

21:20 – Advertising value not as a dollar value but as a measure of relative value.  

22:12 – 2009 Public Relations Society of America International Conference Keynoter Bob Garfield’s dire prediction on the future of ad-support media and building the business case for social media engagement.  

24:20 – The importance of measurement standards and how measurement standards for social media engagement will evolve.  

26:57 – Overcoming the challenges associated with interpreting the sentiment of an avalanche of user-generated content in real-time.  

30:59 — End.

Photo by William Warby on Unsplash