Why measurement is meaningless without a careful data strategy

“It is relatively easier to teach communications to a data person than teach data to a communications person,” quipped my communications colleague as we introduced each other my second day on the job a few years ago. I had just joined the Global Communications team in IBM after 20+ years of working on all things data for IBM’s sales, marketing, finance, and enterprise transformation.

I was excited about the opportunity and the journey of data-powered transformation for PR/Communications business processes.

Having come from the business side of data, I am keenly aware of the people, process and technology dimensions that go into any business transformation initiative. Here, I am sharing a perspective of data-driven PR/communications from a business and strategy viewpoint.

Through the first few months of learning the PR/Communications organizational landscape, it was insightful to know that culturally the term “data-driven” was almost always used as a synonym for “measurement” or vice-versa—and not just in the company but in the industry. To me, this trend almost instinctively explained to a large extent the confusion and the somewhat tactical nature of data programs, where the means (measurement) was deemed as the ends.

Measurement is not a bad thing. The question is, where is it taking you?