A New Tool For Accountability

You've probably seen the photo of the harried public affairs staff person sitting next to a huge pile of newspaper clippings. A report is due on the impact of the organization's public affairs campaign, of which the news clips are a significant part.

The public affairs staff is faced with the prospect of manually sorting through the mountains of clips, and putting them in some sense of order. More importantly, the clips and the entire public information effort must demonstrate how they support overall organization objectives.

Given this scenario, where does one start...what factors need to be examined...how should the data he organized...what should the final report include?

Tasking the Clip Service

The first step begins with giving your clipping service the proper tracking instructions. An important partner in the overall evaluation, they should be instructed to search for specific key words in your publicity clips that correlate to your organization's important issues and themes.

Clips are then segmented by either broadsubject areas such as "smoking and health," or by specific story angles - "effects of passive smoke." Some clipping services will do this for clients at an additional cost, although it may not be customized enough for your needs.

Next, a computerized format is developed which will permit compilation of data in an orderly fashion. DBASE, a powerful relational database software that permits users to manipulate data in nearly any conceivable way, is well suited to the task.

Analysis of the clips follows, examining such factors as:

• Key issues addressed in each story
• Positive or negative slant
• Size of story in column inches or page segments
• Special positioning (front page or other key section such as health, business)
• Special insertations - Sundays, theme issues
• Importance of publication - big city or national dailies are ranked more important than smaller dailies or weeklies
• Quotes by key management of staff by subject matter

This qualitive data is then entered into the computer along with other quantitive factors for each publication carrying news stories such as:

• Name, date and circulation
• City, state and geographic region
• Frequency and type of publication, e.g. daily, weekly or magazine
• Reporter's name
• Breif content analysis of the story
• Equivalent advertising value

Once data is computerized, it can be sorted in any way a user chooses. For example, if you want to print out a list of all reporters who wrote stories on "fetal alcohol syndrome," as well as the name, and date of publication, the computer can sort the data of publication, the computer can sort the data and give you a print out in a matter of minutes.

More importantly, when this data is summarized, it provides tangible evidence that public information activities are making a contribution to the overall goals of the organization - something that has been difficult to illustrate in the past.

Computer analysis works equally well with print PSAs. However, instead of searching for key words in news stories, clip service readers will be retaining public service ads.

To help them narrow their search, sample copies of the ads from your current campaign should be sent to the clip service in advance of distribution.

When combined with radio and television, print PSAs offer several distinct advantages:

• They are a better direct response medium than broadcast due to the tangible nature of magazines and newspapers.
• They have a much longer shelf life than any other medium, often appearing several years after release.
• They extend the reach and frequency of broadcast exposure, and in the case of magazines, permit very targeted communicatons to specific audiences.

Additionally, print PSAs can be accurately evaluated, since an ad that actually ran is used as the measurement source, rather than estimated usage based on telephone or direct mail surveys.

Print PSA evalation procedures and reports are very similar to those used for publicity measurement. However, print ads are normally tracked by headline, or key copy points embedded in the ad, rather than by issue. Other factors such as the use of coupon in ads, an 800 number and special positioning can be noted in the evaluation synopsis.

Putting Data To Use

Data from PSA print evaluation can also play an important part in designing future campaign stratgey. By using the computer to analyze the size ads newspapers and magazine find most suitable, you can obtain factual data on which to base future production decisions. For example, data resulting from eight different size newspaper ads placed for the National Easter Seals Society showed that five and six column-inch ads were the most popular with the media. The chart on page 4 shows the comparative dollar values for these print ads.

The advent of personal computers makes compiling this kind of data possible, and perhaps even essential.

Rather than pointing to a pile of clips, public affairs staff can now prepare impressive looking reports to substantiate their work.

Production specialists and advertising agencies can also obtain useful information on which to base production decisions.

And perhaps most important, management can obtain an overall impression that public information is a vital function. that it is working to support organizational objectives. and that the public information budget has been well spent.

To maximize exposure for print PSAs however, the techniques below should he used when distributing them to the media.

Tips for HIgh Imapct Print PSAs

• Add "published as a public service by this [newspaper] [magazine]" at the bottom of ads.
• Produce 100 line screened ads for magazines and 65 line screen for newspaper.
• Include a mix of horizontal and vertical ads in the package, leaning towards smaller sizes (2x2.5", 1x5" and 2x3" are most popular).
• Do a survey of which newspapers use PSAs and send them to heavy users rather than "shotgunning" them to all outlets.
• Send an order form to large circulation magazines with exacting reproduction standards, permitting them to special order materials (see sample order form on page 3).
• Send package to Advertising Director or Publisher, not to editor.
• Send media list to clip service with sample print PSA package to help them identify your campaign.
• Protect contents of package with "chipboard" to insure ads don't get damaged in mail.
• Send a letter of appreciation to publisher or ad directors using your material.