This principle has been a part of the Barcelona Principles from the beginning, and even though the wording of the principle has changed a bit in the new release the main point has remained the same.
When measuring your communication, you need to focus on specific quantitative and qualitative measures but you can also include specific audience-based research or cross-channel research. The combination of the two give a full understanding of your communications work and how to evaluate your findings.
The chosen measures need to be specific for your work and to be aligned with your communications strategy. your organization. The right combination of qualitative and quantitative measures will give you a better understanding of the results of your work and there for a better way to report those measures back to your organization.
Measuring and evaluating both qualitative and quantitative will give you a full understanding of your work
It is also important to measure and evaluate your communication consistently over time to spot trends in the quantitative and qualitative performance. By doing this you will be able to identify which of your communication initiatives creates the wanted results or results you can act on.
- The Barcelona Principles
The Barcelona Principles were first agreed upon by PR practitioners from 33 countries who met in Barcelona, Spain in 2010 for a summit convened by the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC). The principles have since then been updated twice, in 2015 to the version 2.0 and in 2020 to the latest version of Barcelona Principles 3.0. Regular updates respond to the rapidly advancing change in the communications industry.