Communication Literacy is not just for Measurement Month

November was Measurement Month, a global initiative by the Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) that brought together professionals to share and celebrate advancements in communication measurement and evaluation. Across the month, organizations and industry leaders published thought pieces and held events focusing on best practices and emerging trends in the field.

As many contributions demonstrated, the Barcelona Principles continue to guide practice as a foundational framework for effective communication planning, measurement, and evaluation, shifting focus from outputs to outcomes and impact, emphasizing the necessity of setting measurable goals aligned with organizational objectives and encouraging practitioners to demonstrate communication’s value beyond traditional metrics.

Driven by technological developments as well as social and cultural shifts, however, discussions increasingly incorporate new and additional angles such as:

• a focus on data-driven emotional storytelling (to ensure messages resonate with recipients);
• the risks and opportunities of generative AI in communication;
• data privacy and ethical communication; or
• the growing impact of ESG communication on the trustworthiness and reputation of organizations.

Professional communicators are encouraged to be data-savvy to turn opportunities into sustained organizational success. Sometimes, however, among the focus on the latest technological advancements and/or maximising the business impact of communication, we lose sight of the basic principles of communication.

In a Measurement Month blog post for the Institute for PR Measurement Commission, I have briefly outlined the importance of communication literacy for communicators. It comes down to three simple rules:

• be clear about the problem you are trying to address
• get the basics right: audience, channel, message
• use technology to support and enhance, not to replace.

Across PR Academy’s course portfolio – not just in the AMEC International Certificate course that I am leading – these are guiding principles for the continuous improvement of effective communicators.

Audience, channel, message: the basics of communication literacy

This is a summary of Thomas Stoeckle‘s article for the US-based Institute for Public Relations (summary produced by a human, not by AI).

It’s important to separate out the fundamentals from the fads in measurement and evaluation.

AMEC evaluation tools are based on the fundamentals, as articulated in the Barcelona Principles. The three basic ingredients in planning and executing communication activities are:

• Clarity about audience and stakeholders;
• Clarity about channels of communication; and
• Clarity about messages.

This means working with the best available data and using suitable tools to collect and analyze in ever shorter time spans.

Yet the application of communication planning tools for successful, highly effective communication rests only partly on sophisticated tools and ever-growing amounts of data – and partly on the practical, fundamental understanding of communication.

Communication literacy requires less LLM (large language model – the concept underlying generative artificial intelligence) and more Lasswell model – the 76 year old communication formula of “Who Says What to Whom Through Which Channel With What Effect”?

Effective communication is about humans relating to each other. This requires human literacy – taking the time to understand which audiences to connect with, which channels to communicate through, and which messages to choose.

The successful application of the AMEC principles and tools, and the use of the latest technology will benefit from adherence to three simple rules:

— Be clear about the problem you are trying to address

— Get the basics right: audience, channel, message

— Use technology to support and enhance, not to replace.