One of the most interesting ways to measure media relations is to correlate media coverage with customer satisfaction. That’s just what Xcel Energy does, and the insights from the analysis have been especially helpful in guiding strategy, according to Steve Roalstad, director of media relations and one of the fellow speakers at last week’s Minnesota International Association of Business Communicators conference.
Steve measures media favorability against the company’s Voice of The Customer key drivers, assessing media relations results and ongoing monthly customer satisfaction surveys. He doesn’t rely on expensive, special media analysis software, but instead uses off-the-shelf Microsoft Excel and Access software.
One interesting finding, which has helped focus business and media relations strategy: customer satisfaction increases with positive media coverage about issues associated with environmental concerns or alternative energy resources, whereas a few years ago stories about service reliability had the most influence on customer satisfaction.
So media relations measurement approaches produce stats that have no relation to business measures. Steve seems to have figured out a straightforward way to measure his organization’s work in a way that gleans insights for future strategy and makes good business sense.