ROI

Three little letters that strike fear in the heart of public relations pros everywhere.  Why should we allow "return on investment" to become the 800 pound elephant in the middle of the room no one wants to discuss?  The fact is today, we have to discuss it.  Furthermore, we should be the ones demanding to talk about how our programs add to the overall value of an organization.

The shift began to occur when we decided it was more relevant to talk about outcomes of programs rather than just talk about outputs.  As a profession, we once allowed ourselves to get caught in the trap of counting stories instead of focusing on what those stories were saying.  But even that isn't enough today.  Some of us are now working to make the outcome of media relations not the single focus of a public relations program.  At the end of the day, what the media says about a program is only one piece of what is a much bigger puzzle.

We can now meet and talk with customers and consumers directly, without interference or filters.  We can take products and services on the road to where the people are living, working and playing.  Finding causes that people want to be involved with and partnering them with companies that want to make a difference makes for real conversations and engagements between people.  The Internet and the blogosphere provide new avenues for us to directly communicate.  Media relations today must be about developing the strategic relationships with reporters and editors that matter most.  This is the kind of 360 degree approach that is required for success in the marketplace today.

When we find multiple ways to truly create "engagers" instead of consumers, it becomes much easier to measure return on investment.  At some point, even those traditional companies focused solely on the bottom line will begin to see that a 360 degree communications effort is impacting their finances in a positive way.

ROI are three letters we need to embrace.