Measure What Matters

Foreword

Now here is a book that is far more than its predecessor. In Measure What Matters to Your Business, author Katie Delahaye Paine and editor William T. Paarlberg revitalize rather than merely revise the curriculum of the University of Measurement as originally presented in Measuring Public Relationships. Much of that original work is here: both the theory and the nitty-gritty of measurement, especially the measurement of relationships. What is new is an emphasis on social media in a business context.

Readers will still appreciate the appendix of resources that include books on research and questionnaire items measuring qualities and types of relationships. We still benefit from Katie’s rich experience—brilliantly written anecdotes, all. Her sidebars of case studies, such as the campaign for SeaWorld that illustrates the role of social media in reaching key influencers, help bring home the solid principles on which this book is based. The figures, too, help confirm the assertions in the text.

The writing here, as previously, is cogent and transparent. Katie makes the arcane world of measurement both understandable and interesting. In other words, readers not only will “get it,” they’ll want to get into it, into the myriad decisions that must be made even before a project is evaluated. The intriguing subheads contribute to the excitement of what has been, for many people, a dull subject. Who wouldn’t want to read more when confronted with “If You Have No Budget at All,” “You’re ...