Most communications teams see the value of data, but it can be difficult to know where to start. The experts at a recent PR360 panel explain how data is helping them to better understand the terrain they’re operating within, and how it’s improving their creative ideas.
1. Set the right objectives. This is usually best achieved by making sure they link back to the business’ wider objectives. As Derya Filiz, head of external communications at Anchor, says, everything the communications team does should relate back to the company, which helps demonstrate the team’s value to leadership. Finding the right metrics that chime with them is critical. “How can we report in a way that’s easy to understand for the C-suite? The CEO and board prioritise different things – our CEO is a numbers person – so how can we communicate in a way that works for them?”
2. Use data to build confidence in your decisions. Paul Quigley, chief executive and co-founder at NewsWhip, advises using data to better understand the terrain your campaign or business is operating within, which helps lead to better outcomes. He points to the example of the team at Ford. They spotted some organic conversation resonating about people using their hybrid trucks as generators during the 2021 Texas snow storm. Using NewsWhip, they were able to predict its impact and step in to help amplify the message — thereby helping the community and reinforcing their brand. Organisations can also track which media picked up a story, and eventually start to understand how long a news cycle will last.
3. Keep things simple. As Filiz says, this makes it easier for your audience to digest. “Our biggest learning is to keep it simple. You can get really swamped by figures, graphs, pie charts... Data is one thing, but our role is to translate that into something that’s understandable, but which also lands with the person you’re trying to communicate with.”
From left: Joanna Oosthuizen, CEO PR & Influence EMEA at Ogilvy; Derya Filiz, head of external communications, Anchor; David Child, brand and PR director, Europe, Thomas Cook; Paul Quigley, chief executive and co-founder, Newswhip; Danny Rogers, editor-in-chief, PRWeek.
“You can start building a map of the terrain, and once you understand the terrain you can execute with more confidence. We’ve been using AI to predict engagement with content for years, and it can be quite reliable as it’s trained on billions of stories.” He gives the example of a negative story being published, but with data saying it’s in the bottom 10% of stories that day in terms of engagement – meaning the best thing to do is potentially wait for it to drop out of the news cycle. “Rich and up-to-date data gives confidence,” Quigley says.
4. Use data to fuel creative ideas. Data is no longer just useful for tracking results – it’s also becoming an increasingly important part of the creative process. Joanna Oosthuizen, CEO PR & Influence EMEA at Ogilvy, says Ogilvy has a centralised team that deals with data and measurement, but she adds: “What’s shifted is that we used to use these tools for analysis and tracking, and now they’re important to use for cracking creative ideas.”
The tools are useful for understanding the industry or consumer group the campaign needs to target, with even B2B brands using them to understand what leaders and key stakeholders in their target companies are talking about and interested in. “It's important to understand the landscape in which clients are operating and that’s what data gives us. If you don’t have the right insight you can’t crack the creative idea.” Used correctly, data is enabling campaigns to be more successful in the first place by improving the ideas driving them, and also enabling teams to demonstrate and illustrate their success.
Quigley adds that data can also be used to track and predict if campaigns need to be adapted according to region or demographic. “Data gives the ability to see that.”
5. Invest in the right skills. As Quigley says, there is a growing willingness to employ more left-brained people – traditionally those interested in maths and computer programming – in comms teams. “Sometimes, it’s just people being interested in what the numbers say.”
He adds comms teams are evolving. “There can be impatience with the handed down ways of doing things, and a willingness to have your assumptions challenged and to look at things in a new way.” For Filiz, this means building data skills into the team’s day-to-day activities.
“We all have data evaluation as part of our personal development plans. It’s built into business and personal objectives so it becomes holistic instead of an add on at the end.”