April 25, 2005

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Print Distribution

It’s dangerous to assume you know how effectively your print publication is distributed based on anecdotes or casual feedback. You need hard evidence to fully understand the employee experience and adjust your distribution approach to reach changing demographics. The only way to accomplish this is to conduct a formal evaluation.

Is your company’s print distribution process working?
That’s a question Davis & Company recently asked communicators from 25 major companies in the first-of-its-kind benchmarking study: Reaching Employees: Best Practices in Distribution and Access. Here’s what we learned about how companies distribute their print publications:

• Most communicators know that their company-wide print publication is shipped out
  
  
• About half of the communicators we spoke with said they include a question or two in an annual survey related to employees’ perceptions of print distribution
  
  
• None of the companies represented in our study have a systematic metrics approach for evaluating the effectiveness of their print distribution process

Why you need to evaluate print distribution
Are you overlooking the importance of evaluating how effectively your print publication is distributed? While you can create a compelling, award-winning publication, it’s meaningless if no one picks it up and reads it. Without evaluating print distribution, you:

• Don’t know if your work is effective
  
  
• Can’t develop meaningful plans
  
  
• Are unable to demonstrate the impact of your work to senior management

How to evaluate your print distribution process
There are various methods for evaluating print distribution. As with all forms of research, the deeper you dig, the richer your findings will be. Here are a couple of techniques to consider:

• Conduct a survey. At the very least, you should conduct an annual survey to measure vehicle effectiveness. Part of your survey should include questions about employees’ perceptions of print distribution. Sample questions include:
  
  

  –	Do you have access to the company-wide print publication?
  –	How do you receive it?
  –	How effective is the distribution process?

  
  Keep in mind that surveys are limited in that they generally provide high-level insights as opposed to in-depth understanding.
  
  
• Observe how print distribution is working. One observation method that market researchers commonly use to examine consumer behavior is called “The Mystery Shopper.” The way it works is an individual enters a store disguised as an ordinary shopper to observe the customer experience. Is the store clean? Are the shelves fully stocked? Are the employees helpful and friendly? After the evaluation is completed, the individual reports his or her findings to the research team.
  
  Here’s how you can leverage this technique to evaluate your company’s print distribution process:
  
  

  –	Recruit a group of employees to report on how print distribution works at their location.
  –	Ask them to observe what happens when a new edition of the print publication arrives at their facility. Does every employee receive a copy? How long does the distribution process take? Do employees generally read the publication right away or file it away for a later time? Do employees bring the publication home with them or recycle it at the facility?
  –	Hold a debriefing session to discuss employees’ observations and adjust your distribution process accordingly.