RESULTS FOCUSSED DOESN’T MEAN RESULTS GUARANTEED.

How we use data to evaluate the impact of our work on clients’ businesses.

As an agency we talk about results a lot. It is, after all, the reason for doing what we do. Our agency mantra is all about IMPACT, but this is just agency speak for results. 

There are so many misconceptions about what results driven means so I thought I would share what the term stands for for us and how we feel talking about impact can benefit the agency and the client.

What results focussed doesn’t mean is results guaranteed.

KPIs are key performance indicators, they are metrics for measuring the success of a campaign, but they aren’t and never can be set in stone. We come up against so many agencies in pitches now that guarantee results and it baffles me. How with earned media can anyone be guaranteeing a result?  

PR and social media are never guaranteed - unless you are paying for them, but that in my mind isn’t earned media, and even if the coverage is guaranteed it won't guarantee the final outcome such as sales. 

Even results from paid ads aren’t guaranteed. If we could guarantee that a survey would be placed in a certain paper and the link from that paper would drive £3k sales in half an hour we would be millionaires.  We absolutely can predict what may happen and give our work the best chance of getting that impact of course but that really is the best we can promise. Anyone offering a silver bullet is just setting themselves and their clients up for a fall. Unless they’ve got Derren Brown on the books perhaps!

So what does results focussed mean? 

Results should be directly related to what the client wants to achieve - the biggies often being brand awareness, reaching a new audience or driving good old fashioned sales.

When we talk about being results focussed it means that we build our campaigns to have the best opportunity of driving the results that will create the impact the client wants to see - I’m pretty sure everyone does this though. Or I hope they do. 

But it also means we set ourselves up from day one to be able to measure this impact.  

In order to evaluate what the client wants to achieve we need to be able to benchmark with where they are now.

How do we do this? We identify the key metrics that we need to measure in order to see if our work - coverage, increased social media engagement or event attendance - has improved the client’s business for the better.

Listen up clients - this is where you come in. You have to give us this information, otherwise we are swimming through treacle.  By sharing sales data, google analytics, search data and information about other campaigns  or research we can build a clear picture of where a brand stands in a moment in time and compare it to the position after a campaign.  Without this information we are left with the metrics around a campaign in isolation and whilst they can look terrible or brilliant, they mean nothing alone.

With all the right data and measures in place, complete with a great strategy and brilliant creativity, PR and social media can make a massive impact on a business.  

What do you want to change about your business today? Talk to us and we can show you how to evaluate where you are now and come up with a plan to take you to where you want to be using real business data.