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Choosing a media analysis vendor? 6 questions to ask first

by | Sep 27, 2017 | Measuring Impact

Monitoring your media coverage is one thing, but unless you’re measuring your mentions and analyzing the results, you’ll have a whale of a time a) learning which of your PR activities are working and which aren’t; b) proving the impact of your hard work, and; c) improving as a PR pro, which — let’s face it — is a pretty major part of this whole career thing.

Choosing a media analysis vendor is therefore of the utmost importance. The utmost!

Here are 6 questions you need to ask when choosing a media analysis vendor:

  1. First off, do you have the in-house resources to both compile your media data AND analyze it? If not, its worth it to explore media analysis options.
  2. Is the vendor willing to right-size their solutions to fit your needs, or do they stick hard and fast to pre-determined packages?
  3. Will you have your own dedicated client success consultant to manage your account, someone committed to ensuring your questions and concerns are taken care of ASAP?
  4. Is the coverage gathering automated or done by humans? The vendor you choose should be able to sift through your data and eliminate the “noise” associated with media monitoring. Irrelevant mentions can make your measurement meaningless.
  5. Is the reporting and article toning automated or done by a human who understands context, sarcasm, and can determine quality score metrics?
  6. Will the vendor work with you to create a unique media quality scoring system? Do they have the ability to implement it and rate your coverage according to the elements that matter to you?

And one more tip before you go! Make sure the coverage data your vendor gives you is as clean and accurate as possible. The whole point of analysis is to prove PR’s impact and get better as a communicator. But if the data you’re analyzing isn’t reliable, then you’re no further ahead.

 

Tips and tricks and checklists oh my! This ultimate PR strategy guide has it all - download.

Marcus Kaulback
Marcus is a content creator and marketer with a focus on branding and communications.

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