Having researched the topic extensively for a masters thesis; having been in the biz for a couple of years; having sat across the table talking about measurement with senior practitioners; having attended numerous conferences (speaking at several); having observed superiors mentors and industry gurus--this measurement proponent and promulgator has noticed a series of fairly common challenges, concerns, myths, misconceptions and perceived barriers that practitioners most frequently cite as impediments to the mass adoption of communications measurement.  In my travels, I’ve heard phrases like “measuring PR is a bit like catching water with a fork” or “measuring a bucket full of eels.”   

So here now, from the home office in Toronto, are the 15 most commonly-cited (but not insurmountable) measurement myths and misconceptions and barriers: 

1.        Senior management misunderstanding of and/or resistance to measurement

2.        PR practitioners’ worry that measurement will show the bad as well as the good

3.        Measurement intertia: accommodating, disentangling, reversing legacy measurement methods (good or bad)and momentum

4.        Territoriality:  research is typically the exclusive domain of marketing

5.        Immeasurable and unrealistic objectives:  the good, the bad and the buzzy

6.        Too simplistic a view of communications theory and what is realistically achievable

7.        Lack of holistic, macro view of the communications function

8.        Sourcing data: appropriate format, volume and duration of, frequency of and what to do with it

9.        Establishing and maintaining an ongoing database

10.      Standardization across organization(s), among external agencies (and a disturbing call for it across the industry)

11.      Competition for budget with other disciplines

12.      Misconceptions to do with cost

13.      Time and expertise: PR practitioners' research orientations and skill sets (they shouldn’t necessarily be expected to do their own dental work)

14.      Benefits of measurement are generally long term, demand for data and results often short term

15.      Perception of the challenge in separating out marketing impact 

Few would disagree, I suspect, that the profession has been allowed to stand on the ‘we are about words (and art) not numbers (a management science) for too long.  PR is best considered as the right combination of both.  Public Relations is a comparatively young, vastly under (but increasingly) theorized profession that pines for professional legitimacy (at least optically as we already know we deserve it) and either securing or maintaining our seat at the C-suite table.  Certainly research and measurement is not the only means to achieving this end, but it can and will continue to play a critical role.