Measuring Success: A Model for Evaluating 
the Success of Military Media Relations 



introduction 
statement of problem 
literature review 
rationale & 
research question 
method 
discussion 
references 
appendix 
authors 

home 


 
Appendix A 
TWELVE TENETS OF MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 
PUBLIC RELATIONS PROGRAMS

1.  Measurement approaches need to be brought in at the campaign planning stage. 

2.  The plan must include clear identification of the campaign elements – what messages each will convey, to whom, and with what desired effect.  This will help identify appropriate measurement techniques. 

3.  Those effects must be clearly tied to overarching organizational goals and objectives.  That will place resulting measurements within an organizational context, linking PR to organizational goals. 

4.  Conduct a preplanning search for related information that might predict success or failure of individual elements and the entire program.  Chances are, someone has tried your approach before.  Look for articles that provide insight into likely outcomes as well as appropriate measurement techniques. 

5.  Individual campaign elements should be pretested.  The focus group or field experiment approach might be appropriate for this. 

6. Measurement tools should be employed before, during, and following the campaign.  Proven tools might include surveys (awareness, attitude, opinion, etc.), in-depth interview, content analyses, inquiry feedback, impression counts. 

7.  Make certain you are not merely measuring outputs, but outcomes as well. 

8.  Use a mix of measurement tools for the highest likelihood of isolating cause and effect. 

9.  Include “bottom-line” measurement such as sales or legislation passed or blocked, but don’t limit measurements to short-term effects. 

10. Employ simple, daily procedures to track and document ongoing measurements such as requests for reprints of newsletter articles. 

11. Mix quantitative and qualitative assessments to provide complete texture and context of program effectiveness.  This is sometimes called “triangulating.” 

12. Don’t merely use results to demonstrate PR’s effectiveness; learn from the results.  Make appropriate adjustments to the program.  Organize the PR staff to reflect efforts based on highest return on investment. 
 

From:  Alan R. Freitag (1998).  How to Measure What We Do.  Public Relations Quarterly, 43 (2), 42-47 


Appendix B 

Proposed news clip input form for MRE Model 

 
 
 



 

Appendix C 

U.S. Air Force Academy video news clip input form 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 


Appendix D 
 

The survey conducted to verify the validity of the MRE should be consistent with the following: 

Indicate your degree of agreement or disagreement with each of the following statements about the MRE Model being an effective tool for measuring your media relations program  by circling your response. 
SA = Strongly Agree,  A = Agree, U = Undecided, D = Disagree,            SD = Strongly Disagree 

SA        A        U       D       SD 
1.  I see the need to effectively measure the value my media  relations program adds the overall unit or organization. 

SA        A        U       D       SD 
2.  Determining media relations output in addition to outcomes is           an effective way of measuring a media relations program. 

SA        A        U       D       SD 
3.  Determining advertising equivalency is an effective element of       measuring a media relations program. 

SA        A        U       D       SD 
4.  Determining the editorial slant of positive, negative and neutral are effective elements of measuring a media relations program. 

SA        A        U       D       SD 
5.  Determining the balance of a story is an effective element of     measuring a media relations program. 

SA        A        U       D       SD 
6.  Determining whether a story was generated due to a news release or response to query is an effective element of  measuring a media relations program. 

SA        A        U       D       SD 
7.  Determining the number of stories aired or printed by the media is an effective element of measuring a media relations program. 

SA        A        U       D       SD 
8.  Determining whether an organization’s key messages were relayed to the target audience is an effective element of measuring a media relations program. 

SA        A        U       D       SD 
9.  Tracking the number of media stories about my organization is an effective element of measuring my media relations program. 

SA        A        U       D       SD 
10. Using a mixture of any variety of the elements together mentioned above is an effective element of measuring a media relations program.