Public relations play a very important role in business. It is not surprising therefore that Six Sigma efforts will be tried on this field.
Initial Six Sigma efforts on public relations were started at GE. While GE’s Work-Out strategy was applied to all GE processes, it was not consistently applied to communication functions within the organization. GE Appliances corporate communication team however was convinced that its processes will improve with Six Sigma.
GEA then worked closely with its research partner, Delahaye. Together they worked on linking the Delahaye’s Weighted Impact and Net Effect method. Toward the latter part of 2000 until mid-2001, GEA and Delahaye began its initial Six Sigma projects with the aim of developing a real-time strategy for consistently improving and controlling overall PR productivity costs, ROI, and effectively satisfying customer needs.
The results: GEA’s corporate communication team has developed a PR Effectiveness Control Plan, which can be used throughout its PR efforts, including media relations strategy, product exposure strategy, and overall resource allocation. Research findings prove a significant impact on business:
* a substantial improvement in overall PR productivity costs
* a 16% increase in “cost per positive media impression” produced
* an 8-basis-point increase in the number of positive media impression produced
* a 20-basis-point decrease in the number of negative media impression produced
Six Sigma process in public relations begins with understanding its two kinds of customers: the internal (those who fund PR activities) and external customers (may be a journalist, an analyst, employee, or a PR practitioner). Then it proceeds to understanding the needs of the customers. The common tools used to identify customer needs are survey, focus groups, content analysis of news coverage.
Following are some of Six Sigma Project Ideas for Public Relations :
1. Reduce time for press release approval.
2. Improve media targeting (identify media that have proven reach among your target audience.)
3. Assess journalist’s preferences and satisfaction with current PR initiatives.
4. Assess “internal client” preferences and satisfaction with current PR initiatives.
5. Improve the ratio of releases sent versus releases used.
6. Improve the ratio of placements featuring critical messages.
7. Improve the ratio of featuring a company spokesperson.
8. Improve the ratio of stories featuring visuals or graphics.
9. Improve the ratio that are either exclusives or feature-length.
10. Improve the ratio of ROI of events and event sponsorships.
11. For agencies, improve percentage of billable hours.
Six Sigma for Improved Public Relations
