PR Opinions points to NY Times story on marketing and PR, which explains why so many people outside the PR/marketing space go "huh??" about their efforts:

For instance, 61.5 percent of the survey respondents said it was important to them to define, measure and take concrete steps in the area of advertising accountability. But only 19 percent said they were satisfied with their ability to take those steps.

And 73 percent of respondents were not confident that they understood the effects that an advertising or marketing campaign could have on sales. When asked if they agreed with the statement, "I would be able to forecast the impact on sales" of a 10 percent cut in marketing spending, 63 percent said no.

It's one thing to not be able to quantify well; it's another thing to not be able to quantify at all. That's the problem facing the marketing/PR space. In general, I don't see that community dealing with the explosion in consumer communications at all well. How many marketing/PR folks are tracking conversations about their products in the blogosphere? Not many, based on what I'm seeing.