For those who have little public relations experience, Bikomi Kato interviews active public relations staff and introduces tips useful for public
relations.
One of the concerns of public relations is measuring
effectiveness. Whether the measurement method is simply the number of releases created or the number of articles posted on the media, or the traditional advertising conversion, this is a question many people feel. Therefore, in the 4th installment of this series, we will dig deeper into measuring effects and scoring. I also asked about how to work and how to acquire skills because it is a beginner's present.
Sansan Co., Ltd., which develops a cloud
business card management service that is familiar with the TV commercial “That's right, say it soon!”, Has evolved its recognition as a company that provides SaaS services from a business card management company. Mr. Ryosuke Koike, PR manager who is conducting PR activities toward such a new stage, specifically explains what the point of measurement is effective for beginners to learn. I asked.
The main findings from this interview are as follows. Each item is introduced in detail in an interview later in the article. Photo: Hiromi Nagatomo
Summary of this interview by interviewer Kato and
How useful is a repetitive job of writing many press releases and searching for articles?
Don't neglect to master the basics of so-called repetition, such as writing repeated press releases and tabulating and analyzing published articles. If the basic part is not made, it cannot be applied. It is important to thoroughly do the basics for a certain period. It is important not to ask professional writers and PR companies to write from the beginning, but to grasp the tips and the tendency of articles by yourself. If you can't write a press release or clip an article, you can't manage it and even get people to do it. A good public relations manager has the ability to do on-site work.
If you have an interesting idea, can you do it freely?
The so-called demolition is important. First of all, follow what you have learned and do it faithfully. At the end, you will move away from teaching and find your own way. Without knowing the basics, you cannot do anything unconventional.
How should we measure the effectiveness of public relations activities? Is advertising
conversion good?
Even if no action is taken, it may appear on a famous TV program on the shelf or be published in a famous newspaper, and even if only the posted articles are counted, it is difficult to see the real publicity effect. Quantify each article (score) for articles that have been worked on by themselves, articles that have become inquiries, articles on the target medium, articles on media that are not related to products or services, and negative / positive analysis of the contents. Ring), it becomes an index to measure the effect of public relations. Indicators have limitations and are not all-purpose but can be used to measure approximate effects. In terms of advertising amount conversion, it is not possible to measure whether the company has been published in the medium that it wants to appear on or how it was.
Which is more effective for studying public relations, "learn with books" or "meet reporters"?
Seminars where you can meet reporters are attracting attention. It is also meaningful to meet reporters and explain products and services as a place of practice, but so-called classroom lectures are also important. When was the first press release in the world, what was the definition of public relations? What is the element that should be included in the press release, and that balance between knowledge and practice is important. Such knowledge can be obtained by studying the PR planner exam. It is good to balance both wheels. You can also take a look at the best-selling PR books in the country (according to data from major bookstores).
The experience of “repeat a lot of basic work” is important!
Kato: Can you tell us about your background?
Mr. Ryosuke Koike (hereinafter referred to as Koike): I first started working for PR when I was in my second year of graduate school. A senior high school student happened to be an employee of a foreign-affiliated PR company, Hoffman Japan, and joined as an internship to learn about the fun of PR.
Mr. Ryosuke Koike, Sansan Corporation
Kato: What kind of work did you do at Hoffman?
Koike: Hoffman was a foreign-affiliated PR company specializing in IT and technology customers, so we supported PR activities focusing on overseas clients in Japan. There were many BtoB clients such as semiconductors, solar panels, 3D CAD, etc., but PR projects of what are said to be gadgets for BtoC were brought in and handled mobile batteries. In particular, it was PR of a drone, who was still unnamed at that time, who had various experiences.
Kato: What are some of the skills you gained in Hoffman's PR work that you thought were good?
Koike: You were able to repeat the basics of public relations. When considering the growth of a PR person, it is best to improve PR skills efficiently while doing a lot of quality training, but in reality there is no such training. I think there may be a phase in which the public relations work is infused into the body by taking quantity rather than quality. Hoffman has toB and toC as projects, and there are a wide range of work from daily release creation to press conferences and media tours, and we were able to carry out such various cases with high density. If you tell beginner public relations, I think that “experience doing a lot of basic work at the beginning of your career is important”.
If you are only looking at the success stories of public relations published on SNS and media, you may be impatient if you have to learn something unusual and methods other than joseki. However, the basics and basics are necessary for such an approach. For example, even in a press release, you need to master a lot of know-how that can be used in daily work, such as learning how to write and stocking your own ideas. I don't think so.
A PR company appeared on TV to explain the drone !?
Kato: The drone's work was fun, but Mr. Koike once appeared on TV and explained the drone. surprised. In general, companies that provide drones become spokespersons, and I think that we are talking about `` Our drone is such a great place '', but a PR company comes out and drones I thought it was new to talk about the good things.
Become Atsuko Kato (Interviewer)
After working as a reporter / editor for an IT magazine and online media, worked as a PR / Marketing Manager at a BtoB IT company. Bee communication started as a private business in 2006. Incorporated as a beecom corporation since 2007. In addition to providing PR / marketing support for multiple companies, he also writes for various media and lectures for companies and organizations. PRSJ certified PR planner. Director of Japan Marketing Association, visiting lecturer at Cyber University (communication theory).
Koike: I have two backgrounds. One is that I didn't place much emphasis on what a PR company should be. The goal was to fully convey the appeal of the product to the world, so I thought I should take whatever action would contribute to it. I wanted to study drones so much that I could talk about them, and analyzed the charm that the world didn't know. I met people in the drone industry and managed the amount. I intended to have obtained a lot of information, so I thought that I should speak and came out naturally. The other reason was that the client company was a French company and there was no public relations in Japan, so it had to be physically present.
Kato: There is a perception that public relations should be behind the scenes, but not only that. To that end, you are studying including the industry so that you can talk about your products.
Koike: If you are a public relations company, you must be able to talk about your products and surrounding trends. Although it is difficult for an agency that has multiple clients at the same time, it is necessary to catch up so that you can talk about the products you are responsible for, industry trends, and information that the media does not know. Because it is an internet era where information is easy to catch immediately, I want you to collect information by reading books, meeting people in the industry and listening to recent trends, and catching them in various places is not it.
Measuring and scoring the effectiveness of public relations activities
Kato: You changed to Sansan in April 2017. Was it moved from the agency to the operating company?
Koike: I was confused at first. We must make our own PR measures, and it is important to think from a management perspective. As an unprecedented point of view, I thought about “What is PR that contributes to the business?” Despite this gap, the number of PR teams has now increased to six. I've created an organization that can give more depth to public relations, but I'm still looking for it.
A hammock in the Sansan office. Various ideas may be born in a relaxing space with lots of greenery. Left: Mr. Kato Right: Mr. Koike
Kato: How do you measure effectiveness and scoring?
Koike: We are not doing anything in the context of measuring the effectiveness of “single-shot” public relations measures. Speaking without a body or lid, I think that the effect of public relations cannot be measured simply. In the first place, PR and public relations are “targets, purposeful”. It would be PR activities to fill in the gap between the goal of what each product or company wants to do and how it wants to be felt and to implement various measures while involving the world. Therefore, first of all, we set such “desired goals” and “current situation”. I think that the gap between the target and the current situation will be clarified, and the gap will be filled by measures such as press releases and interviews, which will reach the target value.
However, it is difficult to see the effect of a single public relations measure once, and there is a PR of a venture that is easy to shake from the target. Therefore, it is important to have a bird's-eye view of how far they are progressing with what they are doing. I think that the “tool to look down on”, so-called compass, should be stocked for effect measurement, scoring or article posting. Don't be afraid only by looking at the list of articles and the results of effect measurements. Instead of thinking independently, you should always think in conjunction with PR actions.
Kato: It's easy to get into the story of a lot of articles appearing on TV, but it's not that simple.
Koike: That's right. In addition to setting goals, we will briefly introduce what we are doing in our PR group, including scoring articles.
The vertical axis shows the items you want to publicize, such as services and companies, the horizontal axis shows the month, what you want to release in what month, and how you want to close the gap with the target schedule every month Create a table and share it with the team. With this, for example, “Corporate services will not have enough news in XX month, so we need to collect information now”, so we can immediately correct the trajectory.
2) Making a plan
When I do something PR, almost every time I make an internal plan based on a template. For example, “What is the theme you want to convey in the interview, which media would be pleased, what would be the headline if it came out, what the story would be like, and how it would contribute to the goal?” It is a template to check the gap with the present. With such a plan, you will be able to understand the “dissociation / blurring” between the news gathering project or plan in front of you and the goals you have set, and it will also be easier to review the measures themselves.
3) Scoring management
In order to improve the quality through “visualization of their actions” and reflection, the extent to which they are acting, whether they are in shape, or not As a result, I put in Excel how much it meets the goal and purpose and score it.
Koike: But, as I have said, it is different from the viewpoint of measuring the effect of a single article. If you say that there is no misunderstanding, we do not evaluate the publication of the article uniformly by giving superiority to the media. In order to visualize and reflect on their activities to the last, a score is given to clear how well the plan was made and there are no improvements.
For example, in order to look back on whether information is being communicated to the media that should be properly communicated, “From the media point of view, is the news the best media?” To look back on the amount of information provided, Or “Is Sansan as the subject or just as a reference?” To look back on the news value of other companies. Furthermore, what is important is whether this side was able to publish articles with a strategic approach. Articles that have received inquiries from the media and have been published are considered separately from the articles that came out in the project that we brought in. Of course, both are important for article publication, but the latter is important in order to gain the strength to deliver a good quality project to the media in a timely manner. As training to improve the quality of PR.
These are put into a simple Excel formula, and the total score is automatically calculated, and the target value is set for each PR topic in the quarter. Everyone is managing how to exceed the target numerical value, like gamification.
Scoring table
Scoring table example
Don't end with a shelf! What is important is reproducibility!
Kato: I think that it is difficult for beginners and singles to make things so far, but where do you think you should start?
Koike: I think the most important thing is whether or not the posting is reproducible. In other words, whether it was earned on the shelf or whether it was strategically brought in a plan. Even in the same publication, I think the latter is more about the company's intentions, and the know-how that can be obtained when looking back is different. In order to improve reproducibility, it is better to make a plan, look back, and collect information.
Kato: Reproducibility is important.
Koike: Yes. For example, suppose you were interviewed as a company with an interesting in-house system. However, if you are satisfied and stop walking, the articles will be published in a single shot. In order to give reproducibility, the public relations of a venture company that is currently active seems to have devised things such as interviewing reporters and incorporating the essence that leads to the next in the accidental exposure. The
Make a plan after thinking about the connection with the business issues, you will be able to start your own. Try to get the media to pick you up at the intended time. I think that it will be reproducible by doing such a reflection.
Kato: So you're going to create a mechanism to take the next step in order not to end with a shelf.
Koike: That's right. Instead of being satisfied with a single shot, I think it's better to look back and communicate with the media in order to have reproducibility there.
What you want to give advice to beginners
Kato: Finally, what advice do you have for those who have just become public relations?
Koike: I'm still like a beginner, but yes, I'd like to tell you that it's more fun if you have the basics of public relations as knowledge. You should study the exam text of PR planner of PRSJ (Japan Public Relations Association).
"PR planner assistant" may be used, so buy a text and take the test for the time being. Also, read through all the PR books that are selling. These classes are a good way to go one step further from beginners. PR people grow with both experience and knowledge, but experience depends on the environment and is case by case. However, knowledge can be taken stably if you study, so first tap into your head for the time being and then do the amount. I think it is better to repeat the theory and practice.
And again, it means that “there is a time when quantity is important”. Since I was doing kendo, the word “Shuhari” comes to mind, but I think it ’s okay to just get into the shape and do some swinging. "Write a press release once a day", "Register the target media in the curation app and look through the title alone when commuting", "Consider article planning once a day" But if you continue, I think it will help.
If a company is not able to do the basics, it will not be trusted in the company and will not stand up as a public relations. For example, the beginners of public relations are prejudice in such a sense that they can return as soon as they are asked "Who is the reader of this media?" I think that it is important to do.
Also, in measuring effectiveness, I'd like you to think about what you're doing publicity for, rather than being satisfied with scoring articles. I think there is a point for each company, whether it is sales increase as a business or branding. I think that you should know the limit value of the effect measurement and scoring sheet as an overview of their publicity activities.