Evaluation: Outputs, Outtakes & Outcomes for 5 Bridges

Anna Swafford
Apr 7, 2022
2 min read

Featured photo: Patrick Perkins on Unsplash

#outputs #outtakes #outcomes #strategiccommunication #5bridges

One of the most universally difficult pieces of a PR campaign is being able to produce something substantial or tangible for your clients to see as a result of the success of your campaign. Public relations results can be difficult to measure, especially because many times they are not as "precise" as many other professional areas (like advertising or finances) (Smith, 2021, p. 618). Many professionals still do not practice evaluative research on a regular basis, so working on evaluative research could enhance the prestige and role of the public relations department (Smith, 2021, p. 619).

Measuring outputs, outtakes and outcomes are a good basic start to evaluating the success of a campaign. Examine them in the frame of how well they accomplish your strategic goals and objectives.

Outputs

Output measurement focuses on the "communicator, the message and the media," mainly the actual work produced (Bissland, 1990, p. 28). It does not include how the audience reacts to the messaging. According to Bissland (1990), there are five main sub-groups to sort these measures:

Messages Produced
Contacts Made By Media
Media Coverage
Inferred Target Audiences
Financial Measurements (p. 28)

Outtakes

Outtake measurements are what "audiences have understood" or taken away from the PR messages' call to action (Paine et al., 2008, p. 5). This includes recall and retention as well as if the audience responded to the call for information/action (Paine et al., 2008, p. 5). According to Paine (2008), this can be measured by survey responses which indicate:

the percent of the audience who agrees with the positioning
the percent of the audience who are accepting/consider/prefer your brand
the percent of the audience who believe engagement messages (p. 5)

Outcomes

Outcome measurements focus on the level of if target audience groups actually received the message, paid attention to the message, understood the message and retained that message in any way (Hon & Grunig, 1999,p.2). In addition, it examines the, if any, opinion, attitude or behavior changes that resulted from the targeted messaging (Hon & Grunig, 1999, p. 2). According to Hon & Grunig (1999), there are six main elements to measure the effects of the outcome on consumer/brand relationships:

Control Mutuality
Trust
Satisfaction
Committment
Exchange Relationship
Communal Relationship (p.2)

For 5 Bridges

For the 5 Bridges campaign, it is important to be thinking ahead while planning, especially when defining the goals and objectives. Keeping in mind the end and future evaluation should play a significant role in strategizing. Using and understanding outputs, outtakes, and outcomes during the campaign will help aim our decisions in what tactics would be best for reaching out target audiences.