Measuring Relationships With Your Community

In terms of measurement in Public Relations, it is important to measure the effectiveness of your company as a whole, but it is especially important to measure relationships within your local community.  Chapter 9 if "Measure What Matters" talks about measuring relationships with your community.  This chapter includes six steps to measuring your relationships with your communities and neighbors:

Step 1: Agree upon Solid Measurable Goals That Are Tied to the Bottom Line

• Identify the problem you're trying to solve and what the organization will look like when you succeed

Step 2: Define Your Publics

• include all the various stakeholders that play a role in your success- there is no way to isolate your actions or your relationships.
• Who are you trying to influence?
• key stakeholders are anyone who can do your company harm or good.
• Good relationships help your organization but bad relationships threaten your reputation

Step 3: Who or What Are Your Benchmarks?

• Compare the strength of your community relations to other communities and peer organizations of similar size and reputation within the same community.

Step 4: Set Your Audience Priorities: Who and What Is Most Important to Measure?

• Prioritize your audiences or stakeholder groups, which may be types of influencers, other organizations, or even e-mail lists

Step 5: Choose Your Measurement Tools

• Relationship Surveys
• establish the existing level of trust and satisfaction with your stakeholders
• Local Media Analysis Is Critical
• listen to local conversations- scan them on a regular basis to see if your organization is becoming the topic of rumor or speculation

Step 6: Analyze the Data

• Determine whether or not your community messages are being communicated