Performance Evaluation Introduction

An essential aspect of communications planning is accountability - both for purposes of measurement and learning. Not only do we need to know how well we've accomplished our objectives, we need to continually assess our performance to understand how to do it even better next time.

There is a three part Thompson Way approach to evaluating TOTAL BRANDING Communications.

![](https://web.archive.org/web/20150323182708im_/http://jura.com.br/jwt/PEOVER.BMP)

In order of priority, there are three different types of objectives for Brand communications:

![](https://web.archive.org/web/20150323182708im_/http://jura.com.br/jwt/NEWIMAGE/blueball.gif)[Action](https://web.archive.org/web/20150323182708fw_/http://jura.com.br/jwt/A110TOO1.HTM). What to do we expect our target audience do in response to our communications? Creating some action in the marketplace is the ultimate objective of virtually every communications program. Therefore, it has the highest priority.

![](https://web.archive.org/web/20150323182708im_/http://jura.com.br/jwt/NEWIMAGE/blueball.gif)[Involvement](https://web.archive.org/web/20150323182708fw_/http://jura.com.br/jwt/A120TOO1.HTM). How do we expect our communications to affect how the target audience feels about the Brand? Creating strong relationships or connections between the Brand and the consumer is usually critical to achieving the desired action. It's an important objective.

![](https://web.archive.org/web/20150323182708im_/http://jura.com.br/jwt/NEWIMAGE/blueball.gif)[Communication](https://web.archive.org/web/20150323182708fw_/http://jura.com.br/jwt/A130TOO1.HTM). Does the target audience notice and understand our message? While simply transmitting messages is not our ultimate goal, we need to know whether our communications are impactful and clear.

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It is important to understand from the outset how we expect to evaluate performance against these objectives, to set priorities and to put specific measurements in place.

There are two tools to help set out Performance Evaluation.

- [Performance Evaluation Introduction and Checklist](./performance-introduction)

This sets out the type of measurements for each of the communication objectives and suggests appropriate research tools.

- [Performance Evaluation Workplan](./performance-workplan)