In those days K. D. Paine was the ruler of measurement.

And it came to pass, that a decree was issued: “Thou shall not measure public relations by counting the number of column inches you might have bought if you paid for advertising.”

A cry arose from the crowd and the PR practitioners were sore afraid.

Across the ocean in Spain, the The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication met in Barcelona last month to debate and approve 7 new principles for measuring results of public relations programs. The big news was that counting clips and measuring how much a public release placement would have cost in advertising, commonly known as counting Advertising Value Equivalents, was tossed out as an unreliable and faulty measurement of PR results.

I remember compiling clip books and touting how much work was being produced and feeling pretty good about it. Until a wise CEO demanded to know the impact of our effort, or more specifically he asked, “How have we changed their minds and hearts?” Clip counting quickly stopped being my number one morning activity.

Here are the 7 Principles adopted in Barcelona:

1. Goal setting and measurement are fundamental aspects of any PR program.
2. Media measurement requires quantity and quality – cuttings in themselves are not enough.
3. Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs) do not measure the value of PR and do not inform future activity.
4. Social media can and should be measured.
5. Measuring outcomes is preferred to measuring media results.
6. Business results can and should be measured where possible.
7. Transparency and Replicability are paramount to sound measurement.

Counting clips and reporting out the amount of earned media still looks good to many CEO’s who want to know the return on monetary investment. However, we all know that the true measure of any program is the outcome or the activities initiated after a “call to action.” Of course, measuring these things requires planning, effort and a certain amount of understanding by both the PR and the CEO.

Measurement is an activity that considers goals and then defines how to measure outcomes as results. Much of this still must be done by hand because many of the measurement solutions being advertised are still counting only clips and placements. Work is still needed to fully toss out AVE’s as a measurement standard.

As usual, K.D. Paine has done an excellent job of reporting out the results of the Barcelona Summit and I encourage you to visit her blog.