Monstrous file sizes, misguided statistics, focusing on tactics instead of outcomes and insights… the ways in which we can deplete the quality of our work when reporting PR and marketing results are vast. And for busy C-suite executives, reviewing a 20-page report versus flipping through three top-line slides is often the difference between whether or not they’ll make it home in time for dinner. And no one wants to be the employee who kept their CMO from their family dinner.
Let’s look at some ways to button up PR and marketing reporting practices so that how we deliver results is as effective as the work itself. When reporting results to your CMO, VP, or any other high-level leader with little time and a lot of top-down pressure, make sure to do the following:
Make Sure You're Reporting The Right Thing
Say you join a team that’s been pumping out the same type of templated PR or marketing report for five or even 10-plus years. Maybe a C-suite executive gets “used to” this reporting style, so the PR or marketing team keeps it up, thinking it’s better to stick with a pre-approved process than to reinvent the wheel. Unfortunately, sticking with old-world reporting can stall the evolution of your measurement practices as well.
For example, instead of reporting the number of sales leads generated by a month-long content marketing campaign, a team shares the impressively high number of
Additionally, reporting what didn’t work is just as -- if not more -- important than showcasing what did. PR pros have a bad habit of never wanting to be the bearer of “bad” news, but oftentimes the biggest opportunities for learning or creative optimization lie in conducting post-mortem assessments. Senior leaders will likely feel more confident in their investments in marketing and PR if they know you’re doing your due diligence learning and iterating.
Agree On What Metrics Matter
Before considering how to report results, or partaking in any campaign activities at all for that matter, come to an agreement on what wins look like and the metrics you’ll use to gauge success. If how success is determined isn’t clear from the outset of a campaign, no amount of reporting is going to matter. There has to be a universal agreement from the get-go so no one’s scrambling for data that might make them look good, but doesn’t actually provide utility to the company.
Vice president and CMO of
One of the main reasons why we need to report in the first place is so that successful strategies can inform future work. Branch adds, “One of our best practices is reporting in a way that shows a clear return on investment for 3M activations, which ensures that the results tie back to the business objective and communications strategy.”
Demonstrate Connectivity
C-suite leaders want you to demonstrate the connectivity of your efforts to other areas of the business so they can clearly see how your work fits into the bigger picture. Mark Stouse, founder and CEO of analytics and marketing software PROOF, whom I also interviewed, says, “The typical marketing or PR report is meaningless to business leaders because its contents are not connected to anything the business cares about — revenue, margin, cash flow, market share, and other key metrics. There’s no sense of larger context, no calculation of cause and effect relative to business objectives.”
Stouse adds, “If you are a marketing or PR pro, being able to compute and communicate the business effects of what you do is the only path to that ‘seat at the table.’”
Remember That Less Is More
Imagine your CMO breezing through your report at 7:00 a.m. on the subway while on their way to work. Your job is to make sure that report is so digestible they can get through it in under 10 minutes. It doesn’t mean you have to cut slides about tactics, just keep them separate and for your own records, in case your CMO asks for them or wants you to present your strategy to a group.
Have you already worked on a lengthy report? Try whittling it (or any piece of communication with an executive) to 30% of its original form to deliver the ideas more efficiently; I like to call this the "70% noise reduction rule." It’s difficult to do at first, but it really forces you to be direct.
Adhere To Style Guidelines
Not every organization is big enough that it needs to create and enforce internal communications style guidelines, but a broad framework of preferred fonts, deck templates, and the like can help to streamline information consumption so your teammates’ brains can focus on the content, not the flair.
I spoke with Amy Newton, 3M's brand communications manager, who comments, “Specifying a font may sound nitpicky, but it’s the kind of thing that, when consistent, can make a big impact. Consistency in presentation also helps to establish your credibility.” Part of Newton’s role is to ensure that any report shown to her CMO, Branch, is easy to consume quickly.
Consider The Order Of Information You're Presenting
In addition to sharing top-line results prominently, consider how you order the information you’re reporting. Just like with business emails, list the most important information at the beginning instead of writing the content in a chronological way.
Newton says, “We...state the most important information first as opposed to what is often the case: burying data and content in long, bulleted lists. Instead, we use design to call out key statistics or insights and let them speak for themselves, providing minimal context when needed.”
So, how does your reporting system stack up? Take a peek at your last report, think about what you could have done differently, and remember to put yourself in your CMO’s shoes. Consider the effort you put into optimizing your reporting practices to be time well spent for efficiency's sake.
