0:00

Imagine this, you are just about

0:00

to finish rolling out a big piece

0:03

of comms work, maybe a campaign

0:03

or a big change project piece.

0:08

And at the same time you have about

0:08

three other projects or campaigns in the

0:12

pipeline or already underway, along with

0:12

other random requests and the unexpected

0:17

fires that need to be put out every day.

0:20

So as you hit publish on that last piece

0:20

of campaign comms, your attention is

0:25

immediately drawn to something else.

0:27

And any thoughts of measuring

0:27

your success are out the window.

0:32

Then, about two months later, the

0:32

CEO announces a restructure, and

0:36

that because of budget constraints,

0:36

there will be mass redundancies.

0:39

First head on the chopping block?

0:42

Communications. And you find yourself thinking, why

0:44

don't they see the value of what we

0:48

do, especially in times like these? That, my friend, is one of the big risks

0:50

we take when we don't take the time to

0:55

measure and report on our communication.

0:59

So, how do you even start with measuring

0:59

and then showcasing that measurement?

1:04

That's what today's episode is all about.

1:09

Hi friend, and welcome to this week's

1:09

episode of Less Chatter, More Matter.

1:14

I'm your host, Mel Loy, and I'm

1:14

recording this on the lands of the

1:17

Yuggera and Turrbal people here in

1:17

Meanjin, also known as Brisbane.

1:22

If the intro to today's episode

1:22

resonated with you in any way, you are

1:26

in the right place at the right time.

1:29

As comms and change professionals, or

1:29

even project managers and team leaders,

1:33

we know that measurement is important. So why aren't we doing it?

1:38

Well, when you are a busy comms

1:38

team or a solo operator, it's often

1:42

hard to find the time to measure

1:42

and report on your communication.

1:46

We go from one thing to the next, to the

1:46

next, and so on, with little time to stop

1:51

and take a breath, let alone measure.

1:54

And yet, it's often to our detriment. I think another reason we don't measure

1:57

and report as much as we should is

2:01

simply because we don't know how.

2:04

It can be really challenging to figure

2:04

out what and how to measure and then

2:08

how to present it in a compelling

2:08

way back to other stakeholders.

2:12

So in today's episode, I'm

2:12

going to make it easier for you.

2:16

We're going to start with

2:16

understanding why we measure

2:19

and report in the first place. And then I'm going to share a

2:20

process with you to help you do that.

2:24

So let's get into it. Let's start with the why.

2:28

If you are wondering why you should

2:28

spend the time measuring reporting, or

2:32

you're trying to convince others why

2:32

they should, there's two big reasons.

2:36

Number one, you need to demonstrate your

2:36

value to your business stakeholders.

2:41

If you want to be seen as more than

2:41

a copywriting monkey or someone

2:45

who just produces pretty PowerPoint

2:45

packs, then you need to show that you

2:49

contribute to achieving business goals.

2:53

That you're helping your

2:53

stakeholders achieve the things

2:55

that are important to them. And you can't do that if you can't

2:56

demonstrate where you've made

3:00

a difference and the value that

3:00

your work adds to the business.

3:05

The second reason why is because

3:05

if you want to be effective as a

3:09

professional communicator, then we

3:09

need to stay on top of our game.

3:13

Measurement helps us identify

3:13

trends, things that are working

3:16

well that we should keep doing more

3:16

of, or things that aren't working

3:20

well that we should stop or change. It's all about continuous improvement.

3:24

Externally, identifying trends

3:24

helps us stay relevant and

3:28

ahead of our competitors. And internally, we're able to respond to

3:29

the needs of employees really quickly,

3:33

making sure we're delivering what they

3:33

need and contributing to engagement.

3:38

The best performing comms teams

3:38

are the teams who measure.

3:42

Which brings us to the how.

3:45

So these reasons why are all very

3:45

compelling, but where do you start?

3:49

So I'm going to take you

3:49

through five steps to get this

3:53

thing going in your business. And the first step is to start with

3:55

the goals of the business, which

3:59

hopefully you would have done in

3:59

your annual planning anyway, but if

4:02

not now is a great time to start.

4:05

So in this step, you look at your

4:05

business's strategic objectives or their

4:08

goals, whatever they call it for the

4:08

year, and then you develop communication

4:12

goals that align to those business goals.

4:15

So for example, if one of the business's

4:15

goals is to grow and develop our

4:19

workforce, your communication goals

4:19

could be that you will contribute

4:23

to building employee engagement

4:23

and you will also promote your

4:26

company as a great place to work. I mean, those are pretty vague, but you

4:29

get the drift, and hopefully you'd be

4:31

able to be much more specific than that. The point is, we don't make comms goals

4:34

for the sake of it, and we don't do it

4:38

in isolation of the rest of the business.

4:41

If you want to show how you and your

4:41

team add value to your organisation,

4:46

then you need to show how you

4:46

contribute to achieving its goals.

4:50

In short, you need to be able to show

4:50

that they cannot do it without you.

4:54

That's what's important. Okay, so once you've developed your

4:56

business aligned goals, the next step

4:59

is to develop metrics that show whether

4:59

or not you are achieving those goals.

5:04

A big thing to note here with any

5:04

measurement, whether that's just one

5:08

campaign or project or for the entire

5:08

team or the strategy is that you need

5:12

to focus on impacts, not outputs.

5:16

Now, what I mean by that is an output. is a thing that you do.

5:20

It's your tasks. It's the tactics. So for example, you might produce

5:22

monthly customer emails and

5:26

you got a 25 percent open rate. You gained 50 followers on Instagram.

5:30

You held five town halls. You had 200 people on

5:32

average attend each one.

5:35

That data isn't unimportant, but

5:35

it doesn't demonstrate impact.

5:39

So for example, Maybe 200 people on

5:39

average attended those town halls,

5:44

but did they leave feeling like they

5:44

knew more than when they went in?

5:49

Did they get inspired or

5:49

motivated by being there?

5:52

The attendance is only a

5:52

very small part of the story.

5:57

Or maybe you've achieved a great

5:57

open rate on your emails, but did

6:01

that convert to sales and therefore

6:01

contribute to business profits?

6:04

I've also seen KPIs for things like,

6:04

you know, people have to produce one

6:08

media release a week or a month or

6:08

whatever, but so what the real measure

6:13

should be on the impact of that work. So for example, did it shift

6:15

public sentiment and help boost

6:18

your company's reputation? Are you being recognised

6:20

as thought leaders? And if so, are you becoming more

6:22

appealing then to potential employees?

6:26

So you can see where I'm going with this. Metrics have to be more

6:27

than just a number. numbers and data.

6:31

That stuff can be useful in

6:31

understanding what's working well.

6:34

So for example, a post with a picture

6:34

of dogs in it got five times the amount

6:38

of engagement than a post with people. So the insight might be you

6:40

need to do more posts with dogs.

6:43

But again, think of the

6:43

impact of that work.

6:47

So metrics might be, instead of just

6:47

data points, it could be things like

6:51

XX percent improvement in perception.

6:54

of effectiveness of group communication.

6:57

It could be a percentage of lead

6:57

conversions through social media,

7:01

paid advertising, uh, a percentage

7:01

of requests for interviews with

7:05

your nominated thought leaders. Um, more percentage of, Shareholders

7:07

and investors who agree or strongly

7:12

agree that they have confidence

7:12

in the leadership of your company.

7:15

All of those sorts of metrics are

7:15

very clearly aligned to business goals

7:19

and they can help show your impact. You might also be able to

7:21

show financial contributions.

7:24

So for example, have you saved the

7:24

company money by spending less on

7:28

paid media and focusing more on

7:28

public relations and media activity?

7:32

Has that activity contributed

7:32

any dollars to the bottom line,

7:36

like more inquiries to sales? And the great part about

7:38

financial metrics is that they're

7:41

important to your stakeholders. They are a common language among

7:43

senior executives, whereas things

7:46

like media sentiment might not be.

7:50

Okay. So it's one thing to have those

7:51

metrics, but you also need to have

7:56

reliable, accurate, and a sustainable

7:56

way to gather that data and feedback.

8:00

So this is step three. It's deciding how to measure.

8:04

Now, in some cases, you will already

8:04

have established channels like regular

8:08

internal and external surveys of staff

8:08

and focus groups and whatnot, and you

8:12

can absolutely leverage that information.

8:15

But in other cases, you might need

8:15

to use tools that measure sentiment.

8:19

So it could be in the media, in

8:19

social networks, for example.

8:23

There's quite a few services out

8:23

there that do that work, and a lot

8:26

of it can be automated as well. Your measurement could also just be

8:28

keeping old school records, like the

8:31

number of requests for interviews

8:31

you've had on a particular issue

8:34

that your company is highlighting. And there's also insights you can

8:37

draw from feedback on events like

8:40

conferences, town halls, live

8:40

streams, et cetera, et cetera.

8:44

And again, harping back to my

8:44

earlier point, just make sure you're

8:47

asking questions that give you

8:47

answers that demonstrate impact.

8:52

So for example, an overall

8:52

rating of how was this event

8:56

doesn't tell you much on impact. But if you ask a question like, now that

8:58

you've attended this event, how well

9:02

informed do you feel about our strategy? Then you will get a response

9:05

that's much more compelling.

9:08

The qualifiable data where people

9:08

leave comments is also a goldmine for

9:12

measurement, especially if you ask a

9:12

question like, What were the three key

9:16

messages you took away from today's event?

9:19

The responses to a question like that

9:19

will help you understand what kind of

9:22

impact you made or if you missed the mark.

9:25

So you've got your goals and you've

9:25

got your metrics aligned to those

9:28

goals and you know how you're

9:28

actually going to gather that data.

9:32

The next step, step four, is to get

9:32

yourself into the rhythm of reporting

9:36

regularly to your internal stakeholders.

9:39

Top tip, do not wait for them to ask

9:39

you for it because they probably won't.

9:43

You need to be proactive in this space

9:43

and let them know you will be sending

9:47

them a snapshot every fortnight or

9:47

every month, whatever it might be.

9:51

But creating this rhythm with our

9:51

stakeholders is important because

9:54

we often need a commitment to

9:54

someone else in order for us to get

9:57

into the habit of doing something. So think about who you

9:59

will be reporting to.

10:02

And there might be a regular

10:02

internal report with your own team.

10:06

Uh, there could be an external report with

10:06

your key senior stakeholders, for example,

10:10

because who the audience is will obviously

10:10

influence when and how you report, but

10:16

also what you include in those reports.

10:19

Now, the good part about regular

10:19

reporting is that you're able

10:23

to build a story over time.

10:25

So for example, we do quarterly reporting

10:25

for one of our clients and we look at the

10:29

data from their two main social channels,

10:29

along with website data and their

10:35

email direct marketing to the database. And because we've been doing that for

10:37

a while now, we've been able to really

10:40

demonstrate good progress over time,

10:40

like growth in online followers and

10:44

more importantly, growth and engagement

10:44

on their social posts and reshares.

10:48

And that kind of story

10:48

continuously reinforces your value.

10:54

Okay, the final step is to make

10:54

sure you're reporting on all of

10:57

this stuff effectively, and that

10:57

means communicating effectively.

11:01

As always, it starts with who the audience

11:01

is and what you want them to know, feel,

11:06

and do as a result of your reporting.

11:09

So for example, if your audience

11:09

is the executive leadership

11:12

team, you know they're busy, so

11:12

they won't read a long report.

11:15

And also, you know, they're likely

11:15

to be mostly interested in the

11:19

metrics that impact their world

11:19

or are about them individually.

11:24

So your reporting needs to be short

11:24

and effective and geared towards the

11:27

things that are important to them. So for example, at my last corporate

11:30

job, I looked after the internal comms

11:33

for the CEO and each month I would send

11:33

him a one page report, but it would

11:37

focus on his channel specifically.

11:40

So for example, he had a weekly

11:40

email videos on the intranet, town

11:43

hall feedback, et cetera, et cetera. He didn't need to know general stats

11:45

about the intranet, for example.

11:49

And quite honestly, he didn't care and nor should he. I would however, include a snapshot of

11:52

topics that were trending internally and

11:56

externally, so he could stay across that. And when you do bring in that

11:59

sector or industry insight into

12:02

your reporting, you're able to also

12:02

demonstrate your business acumen.

12:06

That is so powerful as a communicator,

12:06

because it helps to show that not only

12:11

do you understand the world your business

12:11

operates in, but also that you're well

12:15

positioned to be a strategic advisor.

12:19

Now, if you're reporting to a bigger

12:19

group than just one C suite executive,

12:23

you could be a little more general, but

12:23

I would still list the business goals and

12:28

your measurement aligned to each of those

12:28

to really make the point that you are

12:32

contributing to this business's success.

12:35

Other things to consider including are

12:35

things like, as I said, business and

12:38

industry insights, uh, trends you're

12:38

noticing in your data, what's coming up

12:43

that they need to be aware of and any

12:43

recommendations or actions required.

12:48

I would also have, and this, you know,

12:48

either at the top of the report or

12:51

in the cover email or paper, the top

12:51

three key takeaways from your report.

12:57

And that way, if they're super

12:57

busy or they just can't be bothered

13:00

reading your report, they will

13:00

at least get the key messages.

13:04

But again, make sure they

13:04

focus on that business impact.

13:07

And when it comes to actually designing

13:07

the report, the more visual, the

13:11

better, because A, it helps people

13:11

get a quick and easy understanding

13:15

of the outcomes you've achieved. But also, B, when it's a one

13:17

page visual, execs lap that up.

13:21

They carry it around with

13:21

them to show other people.

13:23

They put it on the wall. But it keeps you top of mind

13:24

for all the right reasons.

13:28

Okay, so that's measurement

13:28

and reporting 101.

13:31

It is time for your episode recap. So if you tuned out, now is an

13:32

excellent time to rejoin us over here.

13:37

So today's episode was all about

13:37

how to measure and report on your

13:41

communications and why that's

13:41

important, even if you are super busy.

13:45

The first reason why is that

13:45

you want to demonstrate your

13:48

value back to the business. And that way you become known more

13:49

as a strategic, valuable advisor, not

13:54

just a copywriter or PowerPoint guru.

13:57

And that's a good thing because then

13:57

you will be asked to do more strategic

14:01

work and should the unthinkable

14:01

happen and your team is at risk of

14:04

being cut from the business, there

14:04

will be more advocates for you.

14:08

The second reason why is for continuous

14:08

improvement because regular measurement

14:13

and reporting helps us identify

14:13

trends, opportunities to improve,

14:17

to stop, to change or continue. In short, it helps us

14:19

become better at our craft.

14:23

We then talked through five steps

14:23

to measurement and reporting.

14:26

The first step is to develop comms goals

14:26

that are aligned to business goals.

14:30

So make sure you're focused

14:30

on the things that matter.

14:33

The second step is to develop

14:33

metrics aligned to those goals.

14:36

And remember, we want to be measuring

14:36

impact, not just our output.

14:42

Step three was to decide the

14:42

best way to gather that data.

14:44

So it's accurate, and it's

14:44

timely, and it gives you insights

14:47

that are actually helpful. Number four is to create a

14:49

regular reporting rhythm with your

14:53

stakeholders, and that could be within

14:53

your team or externally as well.

14:57

And that means you're committed

14:57

to reporting even when it's

15:00

busy, but also so you can tell

15:00

a really good story over time.

15:04

And the fifth step was to communicate

15:04

that measurement effectively.

15:07

So think about your audience. What do you know about them?

15:10

What's of interest to them? What do you want them to know, feel

15:12

and do when you share that report?

15:17

Okay. That's all for today, folks. I hope you've gotten something

15:19

out of this week's episode.

15:21

And by the way, there is a

15:21

sneaky template I've put together

15:25

that may help you with this. And I'm not above a bit of bribery.

15:29

So if you'd like that template,

15:29

all I'm asking for is a rating

15:32

and review of the podcast. And you can do that in your app of choice.

15:36

Send me a screenshot. I'll send you a template.

15:38

Simple. And I will also be including a

15:40

bunch of new templates in another

15:43

template pack we've been working on

15:43

behind the scenes so make sure you

15:46

head over to the website to the shop

15:46

there and keep an eye out for that.

15:50

As always you can stay tuned by following

15:50

Hey Mel and myself on LinkedIn and

15:55

sign up to our fortnightly email. All those links are in the show notes.

15:59

In the meantime keep doing

15:59

amazing things and bye for now.