Auditing Brand Media Performance: Public Relations agency or Media Intelligence specialist

The repetition of the same act and expecting different results is said to be a sign of insanity. Expecting a different outcome when the input is the same is ridiculous. Worse still, when we do the same thing over again and don’t know what the outcome will be, we can only hope for the best.

Public relations agencies have cross-channel expertise and their functions are constantly evolving, thus there are some tasks that should be completely outsourced. Media Monitoring and Intelligence is a prime example. This is because PR agencies have too much control over their client’s media engagement. 

They cross the line when they start measuring and evaluating the impact of the work they do for their clients. As the saying goes, “you cannot be the accused, the judge and the jury in your own case”. You can’t create the message, communicate it, and finally, they audit and evaluate. This is not in the best interest of the clients for so many reasons, being that such analysis would lack independence and objectivity, utilization of the most basic tools, no in-depth analysis of outtakes, no actionable and human-curated insights or learnings.

This confirms the inappropriateness of PR agencies auditing their own performance. For efficiency, independence, Fairness and objectivity. Companies collaborate with Media Intelligence and audit partners to measure the efficiency and competitive performance of their media engagements for reasons of impartiality, objectivity, independence, and credibility.

To understand the impact that a company or brand is making through its earned media profile, you really do need objectivity and impartiality. Media analysis is about giving the CEO meaningful intelligence and data-driven insights that he/she can act on, and this should not be undertaken by the very agency charged with generating this critical content.