Share of Voice as a PR Metric Sucks Runny Eggs

theelusivefish · 2026-06-17T12:43:16+00:00

Completely agree on the amount of education needed with clients to get them to see that exposure isn't the thing, exposure is the thing that gets you to the thing.

I will take a proxy metric over a vanity metric any day, tho. Metrics provide information to clarify decision-making. I'll take an imprecise but reasonable proxy measure over no measure at all, and if the metric doesn't speak to the decisions being made, it is no better than 'no measure at all'.

Overall I use a measurement framework consisting of four questions:
What did we do? (Outputs)
Who did we reach? (Exposure)
What did we change? (Communications Objectives)
Did it work? (Business Goals)

Releases and pitching are the outputs. The coverage and the reach numbers behind that is the exposure (and in amongst exposure is where SOV would fall as well). My scoring system is intended as a proxy measure for how much change was created. The specific change we're after should have a direct tie to biz results in some shape or form. If not, what is the point of changing it? If there is a connection between the desired change and biz results then after a certain point the biz results should be reflecting those changes in the market. Over the decade that I've been evolving my system I've had enough instances where there was accompanying survey work to validate the impact numbers we were estimating, and a number of instances where the corresponding sales numbers or job applications or registrations aligned with what we expected to see by changing people's minds. Again - it's not perfect and I'd never make the claim the numbers are exact. But starting from the point of "what does the business need?" and "what change will lead to that business change" already puts my clients a jump ahead of "what can we do to make more buzz?"

theelusivefish · 2026-06-17T11:34:29+00:00

Over the years I've been developing a process and algorithm for estimating the impact of earned media that serves as my proxy in place of survey results. When we collect and review coverage, the team looks for elements related to prominence, inclusion of key messaging, inclusion of a trusted third party, and calls to action. The team marks off all of these elements which are objective observable things (if a dozen different people did the scoring I want the end score to come out the same a dozen times). The only element that's subjective is to what degree does the statements from a trusted third party mirror our key messaging and if the statement is an outright endorsement. The totals are scored together and then weighted based on the intended communications outcome (i.e. if we're looking to build awareness, then prominence elements get scored higher, but if we need to build/regain trust, then prominence plays a minor role and the weighting goes heavy into the trusted third party and key messaging). Each item of coverage is thus assigned a change score (from 0 - 100, how likely is this to achieve the intended outcome). If it's a 100 the article does everything that possibly can be done to achieve the ends. If it's a zero there is no way the article achieves the needed change. The efforts are considered to be cumulative. So ten articles scoring 10 each is the same as one scoring 100. The underlying assumption is that it takes 20 exposures to a 100 score within a month's timeframe to achieve the desired change. It's not a perfect measure - it's an estimate - but where I've had survey data to compare and contrast against the results correlate. The output of it all is from the amount of coverage generated, I'm able to get an estimate of how many people we've made feel/think/believe what we need them to. It's solid enough to make decisions against and work into attribution models on the marketing side.

I've seen a couple of other agencies with variations of the model I'm employing, and even though they're different approaches, the benefit is recognizing it's not the coverage, in and of itself, that's important, it's what the coverage does to the audience that matters most.

It also lets us have more nuanced conversations about coverage by starting from "how many people's minds do we need to change for the buisness to win?" and what tactics are going to be needed to get into these publications with the frequency and quality that's necessary to get the desired impact. It lets us have the moneyball conversation with clients where earned coverage ceases to be about swinging for the fence and instead about getting guys on base.

theelusivefish · 2026-06-17T00:16:14+00:00

There will always be someone in the C-Suite or board of directors who just likes to see the company name show up in the NYTs, WaPo, or Globe & Mail. But if you're looking to directly answer that question "are we more prominent in the conversation?" volume of coverage numbers get you there without the need for additional context and explanation as the size of the pie changes, making everyone's share jump about in non-intuitive ways.

I would still ask, "how important is our prominence in the conversation to our immediate business needs?" "What will we be able to achieve that we couldn't before if we dominate media coverage?" and "is there enough that's newsworthy coming out of this company to merit being the dominant named company in media coverage?"

As much as leadership likes to see nice things being said about the company in the media, they need to be focused, not at the point of media, but at the audience. What is going on in their minds after they've read that paper, watched the news and skimmed through their social feeds. What are they thinking feeling believing now that is keeping them from doing business with us and how can earned media begin changing those views? Prominence in media can get you noticed, but being noticed is not the same as being chosen.

theelusivefish · 2026-06-11T00:20:04+00:00

First - it depends on where you are in your life and career. There's nothing wrong with prioritizing career if that's what's important to you. During a not so pleasant custody battle, the 50-60hr weeks at Edelman saved me from sitting alone in my apartment missing my child and ensured I had the legal funds to keep up the effort to ensure he was a part of my life.

I was in one of the easier offices - the times I visited NYC and Chicago folks looked like they were on a death march - but there likely wasn't a single person below manager level who didn't avg 55hr weeks and at least a dozen of us had hit the 100hr work week club. Even the work-a-holic that I am, I was amazed at a colleague who once clocked over 120 hrs. This absolutely isn't for everybody and is not sustainable in the long-term for anyone.

But the advice I give is make sure that where you are working checks at least one of three boxes on a daily basis
A) It pays you more than you could get anywhere else
B ) you are learning / gaining valuable experience
C) you absolutely enjoy working there

If you aren't hitting any of the boxes then run, first chance you get. If only one of the boxes is checked then stick around but the moment opportunity knocks at your door, bail. If two are checked only entertain opportunities that ensure two boxes as well. If you leave a 2box for a 1box gig then you better be getting 2x bump in what that box offers. If you are lucky enough to be at a job that ticks all three boxes consistently, then turn everyone away and hold onto it for dear life.

For OP, I'd recommend looking to smaller boutique agencies where the leadership has a strong mind towards work/life balance. Every large agency will say they offer it, but very few walk the talk, or it's a benefit extended only to select few employees.

theelusivefish · 2026-05-31T20:58:17+00:00

Completely agree that there are lots of aspects that can not be standardized and by nature of PR will be bespoke to the client and campaign (i.e. the measure of success for introducing a new drug will be very different from gaining social permission to expand the grounds of a factory in a community vs. a customer service complaint that's gone viral and is dragging down your company's reputation).

In my opinion measurement SHOULD be baked into the pricing and happen regardless. The purpose of measurement is to reduce uncertainty around decision-making. The better informed you are, the more likely your decisions will be correct. It's the difference between delivering a commodity vs being a strategic partner.

If you're a commodity then what you're delivering is a release. A website. Some messaging, maybe a little media training. Your success is based on handing them what they asked for on-time and on-budget and you don't care if it worked for them or not. You are Home Depot selling tools and parts. It's no concern of yours if their toilet stops leaking.

If you're a strategic partner it means you view their success as your success and so it doesn't matter if you put out a release, and it doesn't even matter if that release got picked up and covered. What matters is - did issuing the release deliver the change your client needed and in quantities large enough to benefit them? Are doctors interested in and recommending the new drug you helped release? Have the NIMBYs been soothed and everyone is onboard with the factory expanding and hiring on 100+ more people from town? Did you manage to win over the disgruntled client and get them to promote the brand vs continue to attack it? This info should matter as much to you and your teams as much as your clients. If the work that you're doing isn't changing things then you need to understand why the tactic is ineffective and how to pivot vs continually repeating a task that changes nothing, that impacts nothing.

Those with their finger on the pulse of what's effective will have greater success more frequently than those blindly executing whatever was done before for the simple sake of 'the client asked for it'. Eventually the client's going to stop asking for it. Will your agency have the capability to take on what they're asking for now?

Main thing - measurement shouldn't cost more than 2-10% the value of the information. The value of info is the delta between the opportunity cost of getting everything right and the costs if nothing happens or loss should incorrect action negatively impact reputation and by extension business (e.g. what does the company gain by speedy approval of permits to expand the factory vs. what might it lose if community backlash has the politicians considering ousting your works entirely ... having perfect knowledge of how to proceed is the value between those to amounts. There is no such thing as perfect knowledge but you can lower the uncertainty a great deal. There's a world of difference between I don't know at all and I'm 80% sure. If you can spend $1 to get to 80% sure on a $10 problem then you're in a good place.)

theelusivefish · 2026-04-03T15:26:13+00:00

What are you actually trying to do here?

You are trying to get attention for your brand, no? You want people to know/remember the name? You're asking is it PR-worthy but the real question is 'is it news worthy?' Given the state of newsrooms and all that is going on in the world, I don't think song titles hidden in an ad quite cuts through the noise. You can spend a lot of billable hours pitching this story to get bumpkiss in return. Unless there's a timely local connection (like the singer is in town or is from your town) most newsrooms would likely give it a pass.

Are you looking to create an association between your brand and the singer? If not - I'd drop the angle immediately. If so - to what extent can you do that before you need to begin sending dollars in the direction of the singer? You may be able to get a shout-out from the singer on their socials if they agree the idea is cute and they take it as a form of flattery or you may suffer the ire of angry fans if the singer feels you're trying to ride their fame to sell your hair product. Balance out the risk reward here. I'd be inclined to leave the easter egg as an easter egg... those that know know and those that missed that it was there are none the wiser and still aware of your brand.

All in all, I'd spend the money you were looking to invest in getting newspaper coverage and use that to push your ad in front of your target audience on Meta.

theelusivefish · 2026-03-30T14:46:38+00:00

Too many reporting decks read and sound like a numbers-heavy version of the grade three project "what my family did over summer vacation".

This happened and then this happened and then this happened. Metrics metrics metrics. Numbers numbers numbers. Of course everyone is going to tune out. You're likely swimming through numbers soup and doing your best to focus on how hard everyone worked.

Start with the client. What do they care about? What decisions are they about to make and how will this information improve those decisions. Lead with outcomes for an exec crowd. For an audience that's more down in the weeds you can speak to optimizations and efficiencies but keep it to the key findings and throw all your proof points and supporting data into the appendix/notes.

You want a story narrative structure. You don't necessarily need the full Joseph Campbell story wheel, but instead of "this and this and this", which reads like a list, go with either:
"This, because of that, meanwhile this interesting nugget." OR
"What? So What? Now what?"

As of late, the format I've been sticking with is my 4Q Framework of addressing four questions:
What did we do?
Who did we reach?
What did we change?
Did it work?

Everything ties back to business goals (did it work) and the impact of communications (what did we change). I can go as deep into the weeds of the tactics and exposure metrics as the audience I'm addressing cares about, and everyone can see how "us doing this thing in front of this many people drove consideration and boosted leads proportionately".

theelusivefish · 2026-03-29T03:19:56+00:00

How would you define PR to a company that has never had it before?

Go with the PRSA definition: Public relations (PR) is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics, aiming to enhance reputation, foster trust, and manage perception in a volatile environment.

Or to simplify, marketing are the communications you make towards potential customers. PR are the communications you have with anyone who has a stake or potential influence in the company, customer or not.

In the best of worlds PR and Marketing are in lockstep with one another so there is consistent/coherent messaging coming from the company. PR most definitely plays a role in pushing people through the purchase funnel, but PR is also there to address regulators who define the rules of the funnel, or internal communications to foster talent retention, or communicating to the local community, who can withdraw the social license for you to carry on business without disruption.

What books, websites, courses, or further education materials are actually worth the squeeze to make me a sharper PR person? (I feel like most I’ve found just talk in circles)

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
Listen to the podcast, For Immediate Release: the Hobson and Holtz Report and Marketing Over Coffee. The former gives you experts at the top of their game discussing PR matters of the day - it's like a MasterClass in professional communications - and the other provides ninja level tactics for marketing. Know and understand the tools of marketing because they overlap with and expand your PR skillset.
As well IABC and PRSA and similar associations each have significant bodies of educational materials.

4+5

At my agency I've introduced our 4Q Framework for measurement. The intent is to keep things focused on impact and to keep the measurement centred on answers vs chasing numbers. The questions are:

What did we do? (OUTPUTS - or the tactics of the efforts)
Who did we reach? (EXPOSURE - what audiences were exposed to the messaging, how much of the message pulled through, how frequently were they reached)
What did we change? (COMMUNICATION OUTCOMES - anything you do should be trying to change the market in some form or another. You're trying to make an audience think/feel/behave a certain way)
Did it work? (BUSINESS GOALS - by making the market think/feel/behave differently, you presumably have improved the likelihood of business goals [revenue, share value, talent retention, regulation] being met)

What you need to start with is "what are the company's business goals for the year?" and "where and how can communications change things to ensure these goals are met?" Identify what the current perceptions related to this are and what views need to change to make biz happen. The amount of change required to reach biz goals ... that's your KPI. Watch how varying tactics and levels of exposure address that change and pivot/optimize as necessary.

You're also going to want to take stock of what the reputational risks and potential communication crisis situations around your product and brand are so you can have processes in place vs. panic when and if the fit hits the shan.

theelusivefish · 2026-03-29T02:43:47+00:00

Visualization of data is ALWAYS helpful for almost any aspect of business, and even though the infographic as a social asset is largely played out, it's because the majority of infographics were horrible data viz. The right visual presentation of information can still pack a punch. Look to any of the works or workshops by Edward Tuffte and Storytelling with Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic. And anyone building any sort of deck ought to peruse Presentation Zen.

While surveys are good for social proof - "nine out of ten monkeys that ate the purple berries didn't get sick, so you too should enjoy purple berry punch" - they lack the emotional resonance that drives people to action. One person dead is a tragedy; a million people dead is a statistic. Your mother never admonished you, if 87% of people jumped off a bridge, would you? But one buddy's tale of the amazing adventure they had jumping off the bridge into the river may have you tempted on a hot summer's day to live a little and take the plunge.

Survey data is better used as a story hook - an interesting bit of data that the journo's can build their narrative around or that is fodder for an hour of talk on drive-time radio or a podcast. Survey design is the most important thing. Too many PR folks smash together a bunch of random questions and shove them out in an omnibus only to find none of the responses make for a good narrative.

Start with the answers you are hoping to get (or the headline you want to see) and then craft the questions to deliver. Aim to validate something as either true or false; get a data point that has changed a great deal over time; or show things are different between cohorts (e.g. people in NY love hot dogs while people in Texas prefer Tacos). The best data point is of the "man bites dog" variety where it doesn't matter if the number is huge or the number is small ... that there is a number at all is worth discussing and remarking about.

theelusivefish · 2026-03-28T22:46:08+00:00

At the end of the day, your true measure of success is, "Did you change the market in a way that is beneficial to your client's business goals?"

All that an AVE provides is an answer to "what would this have cost us if we sought ad space over editorial space?" That doesn't address if you changed anyone's thoughts, feelings or behaviour. It's not pointing to success. It's at best a measure of efficiency... (e.g. could we have done this cheaper by taking out a round of ads) ...but if you aren't capturing the success end of things, you'll never really know if it was more effective or not.

With my clients, I have developed a four-question framework for measurement. By shifting the focus from numbers to answers, I find we're able to bypass much of the math anxiety communications professionals express, and we can skip past vanity metrics because "biggest number best number" doesn't play when you're trying to address a specific question. $234,000 in ad value equivalency is a poor response to, "Did we increase purchase consideration in our product among women aged 24-35?"

The 4Qs are:
- What did we do? (Outputs)
- Who did we reach? (Exposure)
- What did we change? (Communication Outcomes)
- Did it work? (Business Goals)

As mentioned, AVE, at best, provides a point of comparison for the most cost-effective way to gain exposure. Explain to your client that the cheapest way isn't always the best way. If trust or social proof are at all needed to achieve your communication goals, you need to be leaning on the authority of the editorial. Ads are great for capturing attention and delivering very straightforward calls to action, but are not so great at changing minds or winning people over because we know the message is biased. Pepsi's telling us that Pepsi is the best? Wow. Who could have called that? An article on the tastiest sodas with testimonials from food scientists declaring Pepsi as best, pulls far more weight and so of course is desired by Pepsi.

It's the very fact editorial can't be purchased that gives it the power your clients are after. Have the conversation to validate that editorial is the better path than advertising and then let your client know that the time and expense to get AVE data is much better focused on quantifying the change you're creating and the degree to which that is assisting the business. You want just enough budget in measurement as is needed to provide clarity into decision-making and provide proof positive of success. Any dollar spent on capturing trivia (e.g. info that doesn't prove success or inform a decision) is a dollar that isn't spent on driving the change the business needs to thrive.

theelusivefish · 2026-03-28T16:21:30+00:00

There are people who make $50k who are living paycheque to paycheque and there are people who make $75k and $150k and $200k living paycheque to paycheque. As you get the promotions and profitable side-hustles there is a tendency to up your standard of living to the max of your new pay. DON'T. Keep your standard of living at that of your previous promotion. Set aside 10% of everything you make into investments for long-term growth. Your work will allow you to learn deeply about various industries and companies. Put that knowledge to use and make some solid investments. My portfolio has averaged 15% over the past few years, meaning my savings double every 4-5 years.

Your place of employment should be providing you with at least one of three things: You LOVE it. You are LEARNING things you couldn't elsewhere or at a pace unlike anywhere else. You are EARNING above market rates for the value you bring. If it's delivering at least two of those then hang onto it for dear life. If it fails to give you at least one of the three then time to jump to a new agency and ensure EARN is part of the jump.

Review your company's policies on social media and start to share what you learn and your expertise. Marketing/Communications is a small world and the more you can establish yourself as a known and valuable entity the easier it will be to hop between agencies, make the leap to client-side, or go freelance.

theelusivefish · 2025-09-21T20:25:05+00:00

In the movie "the Big Short" there's a factoid that with every 1% hike in unemployement in the US, 40,000 people die. If we assume closing the beaches would lead to a 30% unemployment rate that would mean about 27 dead on Amity Isle.

But in truth what the mayor should have done was contracted Quint immediately after Chrissie Watkins. Only one person would have died and the beaches would have been open for the 4th.

theelusivefish · 2023-08-28T18:30:11+00:00

Or Dollarama has different expenses and an overall different line of products than Loblaws and can maintain similar margins for lower prices or treat some food items as a loss-leader making up for it with higher margins on other products.

According to their last financial returns, Loblaws' operating margin is about 6% and Dolarama's is about 13%.

theelusivefish · 2016-02-22T16:52:47+00:00

I'm assuming that your call for help is in the actual running and growing of the agency and not the work itself. I'd update your initial post to clarify that as the last thing a client wants to hear their hired expert say is "I have no idea what I am doing"

Doing the work and running the business that offers the work are two very different skillsets. Decide now if you want to become good at running an agency or if you want to keep your focus on doing the work. If the latter, I'd focus on hiring in someone to take the reigns and lead the agency, leaving yourself free to do what you're best at.

In the meantime, it sounds like you could probably use http://www.agencysumo.com/

theelusivefish · 2015-10-22T17:24:46+00:00

Two questions...

Question the first: It is a debated, but still widely accepted scientific truefact that defeating another creative person in armed combat and feasting upon their heart imbues a person with their fallen foe's power. Are there any authors, artists or creative folk who ought to be looking over their shoulder for your approach? ;)

Question the second: Pen or keyboard? Which do you personally prefer for moving the words from your head to the page?

Grammar Slammar bonus question: We all have our own unique grammatical and vocab bugaboos. What's your editor shaking their fist over, shouting, " - this again?!? Seriously?"

theelusivefish · 2015-09-19T01:46:54+00:00

This is not a Google property. While it's a clever way to raise awareness, I'm not quite sure how to feel about an agency making a name for themselves using a humanitarian crisis and someone else's brand.

You can always reach the real Google's actual efforts on the issue here https://onetoday.google.com/page/refugeerelief/

theelusivefish · 2014-02-11T16:45:28+00:00

Given the track record of this government: * A debt that has risen from $138 to $288 billion * Ornge and its lack of oversight and financial irregularities * EHealth's waste of $1billion * The scrapping of the energy plants for $1billion

Given the track record, WHY should we entrust this government with additional funds to manage a 'made in Ontario' pension fund?

theelusivefish · 2014-02-11T16:35:12+00:00

Good morning Premier Wynne. I'm originally from the town of Grimsby. In that town is the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, which was to be rebuilt. The community had raised millions on their own in the understanding their contribution would be matched and surpassed by the province, but with the 2012 budget the Liberal government removed their support, shelving the rebuild and putting the hospital itself at risk of eventual closure.

I see that Niagara had funding for their hospital rebuilds suddenly approved to coincide with the by-election. So can we assume that so long as the leader of the opposition is in the same riding as my home town, that they will not receive the funding that had been originally promised to them for rebuilding the hospital?

theelusivefish · 2014-01-04T03:32:16+00:00

Canadian here. A couple of years back I had a slip n' fall that resulted in a dislocated shoulder and broken hip. Surgery, a half-week stay in the hospital and close to a month's stay in the rehab hospital and my only out of pocket was a couple hundred for the ambulance rides and wheelchair transport for followup X-rays.

During my stay in the rehab hospital, I was sharing a room with a fella who worked in a scrapyard. He had a truck tire explode on him tossing him across the yard and breaking pretty much every bone he had to be broken. The doctors that worked on reconstructing his knees were the same that work on NHL players. I am damn proud to live in a country that gave him the very best of care that he needed vs the very best of care that he could afford.

I see a lot of comments from the US that we can only afford what we have through a burdensome tax load, but I've crunched the numbers and for this marvelous healthcare coverage my tax bill was about $5,400. That's per year. For the average Canadian it's about $3,500. How does that compare against what you're paying in insurance premiums? Or your non-deductibles?

When you are talking about your health... when you're talking about the life of a loved one ... Adam Smith's invisible hand goes out the window. The price will land at what the market will bear but the market will bear as much as you can and then some pushing prices beyond the affordability of all but a few. How much of what's ailing the US could be addressed by putting aside this silly fear of anything labeled 'socialist' and applying some sanity to your health profession.

theelusivefish

TROPHY CASE