Join David Rockland for his online training session, “Demonstrating the Value of the Work You Do — Part 3,” on March 20, 2012 3–4 p.m. EST.  This public relations measurement training sesssion is free to PRSA members.  

Jessica was back. This time she brought her boss Alana, a vice president.

“We have a problem,” Jessica began. “We’ve convinced more clients to stop using AVEs, but they keep asking what to replace them with.”

“And now we are planning for one of our largest global accounts,” added Alana. “The client wants goals with specific key performance indicators and a measurement plan. But the work we do for them covers everything from employee engagement to public affairs to CSR to brand marketing. How do we decide what the right success factors or KPIs are?”

Continue reading " After AVEs: Valid Public Relations Measures "

Join David Rockland for his online training session, “Demonstrating the Value of the Work You Do — Part 3,” on March 20, 2012 3–4 p.m. EST.  This public relations measurement training sesssion is free to PRSA members. 

Jessica was back with a big smile on her face. “Last month,  I almost got fired for a media analysis of the Bon Jovi party for the ‘Loved Ones Alarm Clock,’ showing a ‘return’ of $20 million in Advertising  Value Equivalents (AVEs).

“After we talked, I measured the quality of the clips and message delivery to the target audience: people who sleep alone.  And, we added questions to the client’s tracking survey to figure out increases in awareness and actual purchase. The client was so happy,  I got promoted to account executive!”

“Congratulations,” I told her.  “What’s up now?”

“This AVE thing won’t go away,” she replied.  “A different client is insisting we use them and multiply the results by 2.5, which she says is the ‘standard’ industry multiplier. I explained that AVEs are not the value of public relations. But the client doesn’t want to change what they’ve been doing for a long time.”

This has been a common conundrum following the PR community’s adoption of the Barcelona Principles in 2010 that called for an end to using AVEs. Here’s what clients and PR practitioners need to know:

Continue reading " Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE): What PR Practitioners Need to Know "

It is quite mystifying to think what life would be like if I hadn’t signed on that dotted line back in May of 2005.

I could have easily skipped my university’s first PRSSA meeting to do a number of things — intramurals with friends, hit the books to better understand the differences between minocyclines and tetracyclines or maybe update my profile on this new site called thefacebook.com.

Luckily for me, I went to that meeting and established my membership, which is now approaching seven years as a PRSA/PRSSA member.

PRSSA provided me with ample opportunities to establish my confidence as a leader within my Chapter and later, on a larger scale, as a National Committee member. It also provided me the opportunity to meet my eventual employer at the PRSSA National Conference in Philadelphia.

Once a graduate, I didn’t hesitate signing on that dotted line once more to establish my membership — this time as a PRSA member — and opportunities have continued to emerge. As a young professional in my PRSA Chapter, my membership has meant a few things to me.

Continue reading " PRSA Resolutions 2012 "

As the role of the public relations professional continues to evolve and the profession continues to grow, PRSA is dedicated to providing Chapters with the resources they need to flourish in 2012.

Updated initiatives and improved benefits for 2012 include:

♦ Free Online Training Webinars: Webinars are now free with PRSA membership. This represents nearly $2,000 in annual savings for members who participate in just one PRSA webinar per month. Upcoming webinars include:

• “Digital Media and Today’s Digital News Release: Making It Easy for Journalists to Pick Up Your Story” — 3–4 p.m. EST, Jan. 19, 2012. 
  
• “How to Grow Word-Of-Mouth Movements: People Are the Killer App” — 3–4 p.m. EST, Jan. 26, 2012.
• “Creating the Online Newsroom: Develop a Centralized Information Headquarters for Your Organization” — 3–4 p.m. EST, Jan. 31, 2012.
  

♦ Revamped Chapter support: PRSA National is working toward tailored plans to make recruitment easier for our Chapters. We are developing customized programming guides and easy-to-use social media templates to make administrative tasks less time-consuming and help you better engage with your members.

Continue reading " PRSA Chapters: Updated Initiatives and Improved Membership Benefits for 2012 "

A new key Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) membership benefit grants members free access to the 50 live and on-demand online public relations training webinars that are planned for this year, and now, there is a more user-friendly way for you to find them.

We have been working behind the scenes on the PRSA Calendar of Events to make virtual programming and in-person training easier and faster for you to locate. You can browse training sessions by date, or fine-tune your search by selecting a category to find a session by category.

Click Narrow By Category to see the categories available.

To access the free live and on-demand online training webinars or pay the member rate for in-person training seminars, first log in to your MyPRSA account and then complete the registration.

Expanded program categories, which are defined on each category page, now include:

• Accreditation Preparation & Maintenance
• Communication Strategy
• Crisis & Reputation
• Leadership & Management
• Measurement & ROI
• Media Relations
• Social Media
• Techniques & Tactics
• Writing

Continue reading " A New Look for the New Year: The PRSA Events Calendar "