Better Questions Lead to Better Answers
Rob Clark
At Proof Strategies, we believe asking BETTER questions is at the core of effective communication. Peter Drucker wrote, “The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The true dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.” That insight guides our approach to measurement –for communications, marketing, or PR, we believe the focus shouldn’t be on numbers alone, but on understanding the answer those numbers reveal.
Often, there’s a tendency to gravitate to large, impressive numbers – impressions, likes, reach – as if they automatically signal success. But these numbers are a step or two away from the actual indicators of success. Imagine a sports reporter focusing on the fact that there were 23,000 people in attendance at a hockey game, but leaving out the final score. True success requires asking, “What did those numbers accomplish? How do they relate to business goals?”
Some people in marketing and communications distance themselves from the numbers. It’s not that they can’t manage them—they do it daily when budgeting or managing expense reports. But when it comes to the work, they often treat numbers as arcane abstractions separate from the story they’re telling. Something to be quickly skipped past or tossed to the last slide of the deck. Or to be viewed as equally important treating every metric as a KPI. When the numbers become abstractions, it opens the door to a bias towards the larger ones. Yet, the right numbers, clearly put into context, are what helps tell the most compelling and successful stories.
At Proof Strategies, our approach focuses on the right outcomes, moving the emphasis from numbers to answers. If we ask the right questions, we can’t just respond with the largest number. Only the correct answer makes sense in this context. We need to think of numbers not as units and digits, but as information about our clients’ performance. Ten million impressions don’t tell us if we successfully educated the public about the benefits of a vaccination. Fifty-four media placements won’t tell us if people are aware of the all-new model vehicle and why it’s a superior choice. On the other hand, 74% of stakeholders supporting an initiative vs 34% when a campaign started tells us we delivered the change our client needed. When you force the reporting of success to measure the intent of the work, you get the best of communication measurement, and a clear way forward.
The Proof Strategies 4Q Framework asks four essential questions that should be answered by the end of any campaign or project:
1) What did we do?
Outputs. These are the actions we took and what was generated. In the past, this was often the big book of press clippings that marked the start and end of PR measurement. Today, this is where we determine if these outputs help or hinder the answers to the next questions.
2) Who did we reach?
Exposure. This is where we identify how many of our target audience we reached and how often. Impressions and many other metrics with large numbers fit into here, but they should not be treated as success metrics because it’s not enough to simply be seen. (The reason we want to be seen is where the final measures of success lie). These metrics instead demonstrate how effectively and efficiently we are reaching that success.
3) What did we change?
Communication Outcomes. Every campaign should strive to create change that advances a business’s goals. Maybe it’s increasing product awareness. Maybe it’s correcting misinformation or easing fears over a coming change. This is what people need to think, feel, or know in order to generate behaviour that will benefit the business. Once we know what it is that we need to change and why, we can establish procedures to observe and track the change.
4) Did it work?
Organizational Goal. Ultimately, we’re creating change because we believe it will lead to a better business outcome for our clients. Whether that’s higher revenue, better acquisition/retention of talent, improved social license to operate, or expanded access to markets and investments, it’s inextricably linked to the change we sought to create. And when we have quantified and verified how much ‘change’ delivers against ‘work’ we can establish return on investment.
By following our 4Q Framework, we avoid vanity metrics from being positioned as success or failure. We ensure every tactic, every number, and every action is directly aligned with our clients’ broader strategies. And it keeps us accountable—not just in meeting the terms of a contract but in driving real, measurable outcomes that advance our business objectives. Measurement is not about collecting the biggest numbers—it’s about finding the answers that lead to lasting results. By asking better questions, we can achieve better answers, and ultimately, better outcomes.
Image credit attributed to Abdul Rahman.