Moneyball and PR metrics: What do they have in common?

Quite a bit, as this public relations professional explains. And you know what? Reading this story could help you expense the cost of the movie ticket this weekend. Just sayin’.

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(If you haven’t yet read “Moneyball,” I highly recommend it.)

In the movie, a baseball coach uses the power of statistics to build a record-breaking team after losing his three all-star players. The movie glosses over much of the nitty-gritty math, but you walk away with the same overall message: Numbers are powerful.

That’s is true in all industries, not just baseball or sports, though it’s not necessarily the big and sexy numbers that matter. It’s fun to say that your latest campaign was seen by probably 100 million people, but does it make your team more efficient? Does it make your message more powerful or drive more sales?

Most often when folks talk about baseball players, they focus on stats like home runs, RBIs, and batting average. But are these really the most important numbers for the man who’s building the team?

Your views on baseball aside, this is a clear example of measuring based on objectives. What’s the objective of any baseball team? To win? To score runs? Nope, those are too broad and too vague; they’re goals, not objectives. It’s like saying the objective of your campaign is to be awesome.

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