Analyzing Competitive Ad vs PR Spending

1. Analyzing Competitive Ad vs PR Spending Executive SummaryAnalyzing Competitive Ad vs. PR SpendingMeasuring the effectiveness of your PR process is not a simple task, especially if youdont have the budget for PR-coverage subscriptions. It is just as challenging todemonstrate that your organization is better than the competition with leveraging PRto save on ad spending. Following is real-world method to handle these chores. UseDemand Metrics Competitive Ad vs. PR Analysis Tool to start tracking your mediacoverage and benchmark your ad/PR-spending ratio against your competitors.Benefits of Analyzing Competitive Ad vs. PR Spending:Competitive Insight - tracking ad placements and PR coverage provides aframework for discovering ad spending benchmarks within your competitiveenvironment, and allows you to examine how PR is being leveraged. You maydiscover that one competitor is heavily pushing a certain message, or that another isdeploying a pull strategy based on product-feature benefits.Save Money - organizations that effectively use public relations can save volumes ofmoney that would otherwise be spent on advertisements.Better Leverage Public Relations - by determining how your competitors areleveraging public relations in their media mix, you can learn how to become moreproficient in this area of demand generation.Measure Ad/PR Effectiveness - the first step in measuring a marketing programis to document the activities that are involved. Proactively monitoring your mostimportant industry publications will provide a basis for tracking leads and sales thatresults from advertisements and press releases.Action Plan:Assess Value - consider the value that a focused advertising/PR tracking initiativewould provide your organization. If you are being asked to conduct competitiveanalysis, this is one section not to be missed.Assign a Task Leader - it will become someones job to flip through each tradepublication upon delivery to identify which competitors are placing ads or generatingsolid PR. Try to leverage an inexpensive resource for this task.Customize a Reporting Tool - use our downloadable Competitive Ad vs. PRAnalysis Tool to kick-start this process internally. © 2009 Demand Metric Research Corporation

2. Executive SummarySelect Relevant Publications - narrow the scope on your measurement process toonly those publications considered core to your industry. Add your list of publicationsto the Instructions tab of the analysis tool.Determine Starting Point - you may wish to backdate your analysis to previousissues, especially if you are trying to assess competitive ad spending benchmarks.Use the same start date for each Competitor tab to ensure you are comparingapples to apples.Document, Document, Document - list the publication, page reference, ad orarticle size (pages), article/ad topic area, journalist, Ad or PR, and estimated value ofthe piece. Use standard pricing for PR mentions, and discounted pricing for ads, ifand only if, you identify a repeated pattern.Analyze the Data - visit this analysis tool on a quarterly basis and total up theestimated value (or spending) that is being done industry-wide, and determine theratio of ad spending to PR for you and your competitors.Discuss with Senior Management - share your insights in a management meetingand discuss strategies that you can use to improve your ad/PR spend ratio. Focus onad/PR content to get a gut-feel for competitive strategies.Bottom-Line:Not all organizations are effectively using PR to save money on advertising costs.Start tracking your ad/PR spending in relation to your competitors to demonstratethe effectiveness of your PR capabilities. If you arent using PR at all, stronglyconsider reading our report Building Successful PR Campaigns to get started. © 2009 Demand Metric Research Corporation Executive SummarySelect Relevant Publications - narrow the scope on your measurement process toonly those publications considered core to your industry. Add your list of publicationsto the Instructions tab of the analysis tool.Determine Starting Point - you may wish to backdate your analysis to previousissues, especially if you are trying to assess competitive ad spending benchmarks.Use the same start date for each Competitor tab to ensure you are comparingapples to apples.Document, Document, Document - list the publication, page reference, ad orarticle size (pages), article/ad topic area, journalist, Ad or PR, and estimated value ofthe piece. Use standard pricing for PR mentions, and discounted pricing for ads, ifand only if, you identify a repeated pattern.Analyze the Data - visit this analysis tool on a quarterly basis and total up theestimated value (or spending) that is being done industry-wide, and determine theratio of ad spending to PR for you and your competitors.Discuss with Senior Management - share your insights in a management meetingand discuss strategies that you can use to improve your ad/PR spend ratio. Focus onad/PR content to get a gut-feel for competitive strategies.Bottom-Line:Not all organizations are effectively using PR to save money on advertising costs.Start tracking your ad/PR spending in relation to your competitors to demonstratethe effectiveness of your PR capabilities. If you arent using PR at all, stronglyconsider reading our report Building Successful PR Campaigns to get started. © 2009 Demand Metric Research Corporation