Less Chatter, More Matter: The Communications Podcast

#94 Reporting on your communications: how to do it and why!

• Mel Loy • Season 1 • Episode 94

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In this episode of Less Chatter, More Matter, we tackle a challenge that’s all too familiar to communication professionals: measuring and reporting on your work.

You’ve been there—you’ve just finished rolling out a major campaign or change initiative, and before you can breathe, you’re knee-deep in the next project. Measurement? Reporting? Out the window. And then, months later, when leadership questions your value, you’re left wishing you’d made the time.

Sound familiar? Then this episode is for you.

We dive into the why behind measurement (spoiler: it’s about proving your strategic value and staying at the top of your game) and the how, with a practical five-step process. So, with actionable advice and tips on everything from crafting business-aligned metrics to making your reports visually engaging, this episode will help you showcase your value—and maybe even save your job in tough times.

Ready to prove your worth as a strategic communicator? Tune in and learn how to turn measurement into your superpower.

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Imagine this, you are just about to finish rolling out a big piece of comms work, maybe a campaign or a big change project piece. And at the same time you have about three other projects or campaigns in the pipeline or already underway, along with other random requests and the unexpected fires that need to be put out every day. So as you hit publish on that last piece of campaign comms, your attention is immediately drawn to something else. And any thoughts of measuring your success are out the window. Then, about two months later, the CEO announces a restructure, and that because of budget constraints, there will be mass redundancies. First head on the chopping block? Communications. And you find yourself thinking, why don't they see the value of what we do, especially in times like these? That, my friend, is one of the big risks we take when we don't take the time to measure and report on our communication. So, how do you even start with measuring and then showcasing that measurement? That's what today's episode is all about. Hi friend, and welcome to this week's episode of Less Chatter, More Matter. I'm your host, Mel Loy, and I'm recording this on the lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal people here in Meanjin, also known as Brisbane. If the intro to today's episode resonated with you in any way, you are in the right place at the right time. As comms and change professionals, or even project managers and team leaders, we know that measurement is important. So why aren't we doing it? Well, when you are a busy comms team or a solo operator, it's often hard to find the time to measure and report on your communication. We go from one thing to the next, to the next, and so on, with little time to stop and take a breath, let alone measure. And yet, it's often to our detriment. I think another reason we don't measure and report as much as we should is simply because we don't know how. It can be really challenging to figure out what and how to measure and then how to present it in a compelling way back to other stakeholders. So in today's episode, I'm going to make it easier for you. We're going to start with understanding why we measure and report in the first place. And then I'm going to share a process with you to help you do that. So let's get into it. Let's start with the why. If you are wondering why you should spend the time measuring reporting, or you're trying to convince others why they should, there's two big reasons. Number one, you need to demonstrate your value to your business stakeholders. If you want to be seen as more than a copywriting monkey or someone who just produces pretty PowerPoint packs, then you need to show that you contribute to achieving business goals. That you're helping your stakeholders achieve the things that are important to them. And you can't do that if you can't demonstrate where you've made a difference and the value that your work adds to the business. The second reason why is because if you want to be effective as a professional communicator, then we need to stay on top of our game. Measurement helps us identify trends, things that are working well that we should keep doing more of, or things that aren't working well that we should stop or change. It's all about continuous improvement. Externally, identifying trends helps us stay relevant and ahead of our competitors. And internally, we're able to respond to the needs of employees really quickly, making sure we're delivering what they need and contributing to engagement. The best performing comms teams are the teams who measure. Which brings us to the how. So these reasons why are all very compelling, but where do you start? So I'm going to take you through five steps to get this thing going in your business. And the first step is to start with the goals of the business, which hopefully you would have done in your annual planning anyway, but if not now is a great time to start. So in this step, you look at your business's strategic objectives or their goals, whatever they call it for the year, and then you develop communication goals that align to those business goals. So for example, if one of the business's goals is to grow and develop our workforce, your communication goals could be that you will contribute to building employee engagement and you will also promote your company as a great place to work. I mean, those are pretty vague, but you get the drift, and hopefully you'd be able to be much more specific than that. The point is, we don't make comms goals for the sake of it, and we don't do it in isolation of the rest of the business. If you want to show how you and your team add value to your organisation, then you need to show how you contribute to achieving its goals. In short, you need to be able to show that they cannot do it without you. That's what's important. Okay, so once you've developed your business aligned goals, the next step is to develop metrics that show whether or not you are achieving those goals. A big thing to note here with any measurement, whether that's just one campaign or project or for the entire team or the strategy is that you need to focus on impacts, not outputs. Now, what I mean by that is an output. is a thing that you do. It's your tasks. It's the tactics. So for example, you might produce monthly customer emails and you got a 25 percent open rate. You gained 50 followers on Instagram. You held five town halls. You had 200 people on average attend each one. That data isn't unimportant, but it doesn't demonstrate impact. So for example, Maybe 200 people on average attended those town halls, but did they leave feeling like they knew more than when they went in? Did they get inspired or motivated by being there? The attendance is only a very small part of the story. Or maybe you've achieved a great open rate on your emails, but did that convert to sales and therefore contribute to business profits? I've also seen KPIs for things like, you know, people have to produce one media release a week or a month or whatever, but so what the real measure should be on the impact of that work. So for example, did it shift public sentiment and help boost your company's reputation? Are you being recognised as thought leaders? And if so, are you becoming more appealing then to potential employees? So you can see where I'm going with this. Metrics have to be more than just a number. numbers and data. That stuff can be useful in understanding what's working well. So for example, a post with a picture of dogs in it got five times the amount of engagement than a post with people. So the insight might be you need to do more posts with dogs. But again, think of the impact of that work. So metrics might be, instead of just data points, it could be things like XX percent improvement in perception. of effectiveness of group communication. It could be a percentage of lead conversions through social media, paid advertising, uh, a percentage of requests for interviews with your nominated thought leaders. Um, more percentage of, Shareholders and investors who agree or strongly agree that they have confidence in the leadership of your company. All of those sorts of metrics are very clearly aligned to business goals and they can help show your impact. You might also be able to show financial contributions. So for example, have you saved the company money by spending less on paid media and focusing more on public relations and media activity? Has that activity contributed any dollars to the bottom line, like more inquiries to sales? And the great part about financial metrics is that they're important to your stakeholders. They are a common language among senior executives, whereas things like media sentiment might not be. Okay. So it's one thing to have those metrics, but you also need to have reliable, accurate, and a sustainable way to gather that data and feedback. So this is step three. It's deciding how to measure. Now, in some cases, you will already have established channels like regular internal and external surveys of staff and focus groups and whatnot, and you can absolutely leverage that information. But in other cases, you might need to use tools that measure sentiment. So it could be in the media, in social networks, for example. There's quite a few services out there that do that work, and a lot of it can be automated as well. Your measurement could also just be keeping old school records, like the number of requests for interviews you've had on a particular issue that your company is highlighting. And there's also insights you can draw from feedback on events like conferences, town halls, live streams, et cetera, et cetera. And again, harping back to my earlier point, just make sure you're asking questions that give you answers that demonstrate impact. So for example, an overall rating of how was this event doesn't tell you much on impact. But if you ask a question like, now that you've attended this event, how well informed do you feel about our strategy? Then you will get a response that's much more compelling. The qualifiable data where people leave comments is also a goldmine for measurement, especially if you ask a question like, What were the three key messages you took away from today's event? The responses to a question like that will help you understand what kind of impact you made or if you missed the mark. So you've got your goals and you've got your metrics aligned to those goals and you know how you're actually going to gather that data. The next step, step four, is to get yourself into the rhythm of reporting regularly to your internal stakeholders. Top tip, do not wait for them to ask you for it because they probably won't. You need to be proactive in this space and let them know you will be sending them a snapshot every fortnight or every month, whatever it might be. But creating this rhythm with our stakeholders is important because we often need a commitment to someone else in order for us to get into the habit of doing something. So think about who you will be reporting to. And there might be a regular internal report with your own team. Uh, there could be an external report with your key senior stakeholders, for example, because who the audience is will obviously influence when and how you report, but also what you include in those reports. Now, the good part about regular reporting is that you're able to build a story over time. So for example, we do quarterly reporting for one of our clients and we look at the data from their two main social channels, along with website data and their email direct marketing to the database. And because we've been doing that for a while now, we've been able to really demonstrate good progress over time, like growth in online followers and more importantly, growth and engagement on their social posts and reshares. And that kind of story continuously reinforces your value. Okay, the final step is to make sure you're reporting on all of this stuff effectively, and that means communicating effectively. As always, it starts with who the audience is and what you want them to know, feel, and do as a result of your reporting. So for example, if your audience is the executive leadership team, you know they're busy, so they won't read a long report. And also, you know, they're likely to be mostly interested in the metrics that impact their world or are about them individually. So your reporting needs to be short and effective and geared towards the things that are important to them. So for example, at my last corporate job, I looked after the internal comms for the CEO and each month I would send him a one page report, but it would focus on his channel specifically. So for example, he had a weekly email videos on the intranet, town hall feedback, et cetera, et cetera. He didn't need to know general stats about the intranet, for example. And quite honestly, he didn't care and nor should he. I would however, include a snapshot of topics that were trending internally and externally, so he could stay across that. And when you do bring in that sector or industry insight into your reporting, you're able to also demonstrate your business acumen. That is so powerful as a communicator, because it helps to show that not only do you understand the world your business operates in, but also that you're well positioned to be a strategic advisor. Now, if you're reporting to a bigger group than just one C suite executive, you could be a little more general, but I would still list the business goals and your measurement aligned to each of those to really make the point that you are contributing to this business's success. Other things to consider including are things like, as I said, business and industry insights, uh, trends you're noticing in your data, what's coming up that they need to be aware of and any recommendations or actions required. I would also have, and this, you know, either at the top of the report or in the cover email or paper, the top three key takeaways from your report. And that way, if they're super busy or they just can't be bothered reading your report, they will at least get the key messages. But again, make sure they focus on that business impact. And when it comes to actually designing the report, the more visual, the better, because A, it helps people get a quick and easy understanding of the outcomes you've achieved. But also, B, when it's a one page visual, execs lap that up. They carry it around with them to show other people. They put it on the wall. But it keeps you top of mind for all the right reasons. Okay, so that's measurement and reporting 101. It is time for your episode recap. So if you tuned out, now is an excellent time to rejoin us over here. So today's episode was all about how to measure and report on your communications and why that's important, even if you are super busy. The first reason why is that you want to demonstrate your value back to the business. And that way you become known more as a strategic, valuable advisor, not just a copywriter or PowerPoint guru. And that's a good thing because then you will be asked to do more strategic work and should the unthinkable happen and your team is at risk of being cut from the business, there will be more advocates for you. The second reason why is for continuous improvement because regular measurement and reporting helps us identify trends, opportunities to improve, to stop, to change or continue. In short, it helps us become better at our craft. We then talked through five steps to measurement and reporting. The first step is to develop comms goals that are aligned to business goals. So make sure you're focused on the things that matter. The second step is to develop metrics aligned to those goals. And remember, we want to be measuring impact, not just our output. Step three was to decide the best way to gather that data. So it's accurate, and it's timely, and it gives you insights that are actually helpful. Number four is to create a regular reporting rhythm with your stakeholders, and that could be within your team or externally as well. And that means you're committed to reporting even when it's busy, but also so you can tell a really good story over time. And the fifth step was to communicate that measurement effectively. So think about your audience. What do you know about them? What's of interest to them? What do you want them to know, feel and do when you share that report? Okay. That's all for today, folks. I hope you've gotten something out of this week's episode. And by the way, there is a sneaky template I've put together that may help you with this. And I'm not above a bit of bribery. So if you'd like that template, all I'm asking for is a rating and review of the podcast. And you can do that in your app of choice. Send me a screenshot. I'll send you a template. Simple. And I will also be including a bunch of new templates in another template pack we've been working on behind the scenes so make sure you head over to the website to the shop there and keep an eye out for that. As always you can stay tuned by following Hey Mel and myself on LinkedIn and sign up to our fortnightly email. All those links are in the show notes. In the meantime keep doing amazing things and bye for now.