Ketchum’s data and research expert Erin Salisbury

I’m pleased to welcome PRmoment’s Young Communicator of the Year, and data and research guru at Ketchum, Erin Salisbury.I wanted to interview Erin because I think we all pretty much get the need to increase the extent to which PR firms use data but Erin is at the frontline of this and I wanted to get her real world insight - from the client perspective, a colleague perspective and from a data and insight tools perspective.Here are some of the things Erin and I discuss; As a research and analytics manager in a PR firm how are you using data? How Ketchum are using data all the way through the system; from influencer identification, understanding key audiences, how they think and behave, how they consume media, from brand strategy through to micro campaigns What sources of data do PR firms need to use The extent to which PR firms should use personalised and non personalised data How PR firms need to plug together the most useful blend of data touchpoints Why the data used will depend on the client objectives, what they have access to and what clients can afford The use of data can be broad from business critical challenges to more tactical activations Can PR firms do their jobs effectively if clients don't give them access to their customer data trends? How has the increased amount of data available to PR and marketing professionals impacted on planning and evaluation? The impact of GDPR on the use of data for PR firms Where is the spectrum of personalised and non personalised data, from a practical and ethical perspective? How the digital marketing sector is trying to link the customers digital journey, and why ethical and legal developments like GDPR may well slow that journey How digital has decreased PRs measurement problem Whether PR as a sector is no worse at measurement that advertising peers, they are just more paranoid about it Why the breadth of PR tactics available means that PR is a more complicated measurement proposition than any other marketing channel On the basis that virtually all campaigns are integrated, what are the implications of this from a measurement perspective? How do you integrate data across paid, earned, shared and owned channels? Is a channel specific attribution approach falsely simplified? What approach to tool integration does Ketchum take? Do you choose specialist ones or do you try and use one tool that does lots of things? What's the future of data on PR? Are we moving towards econometrics? Does PR have anything to fear when it comes to identifying its contribution?