How can we measure the success of PR?

In marketing, everything from web hits to click-throughs to leads flowing into the sales funnel can be measured, but a common myth about public relations is that most of its value cannot be calculated.

This opinion is more myth than reality.

It is true that paid and owned media evolved with standardized metrics based on business value, while paid media catered more to vanity value. However, measuring the success of public relations and earned media can be done if you know your business goals and understand what success looks like.

Here are some ways you can show your clients the impact of public relations in a measurable sense:

·????????Track communications leads. Any press release or public appearance has an impact on website traffic. By tracking direct referrals from links in your blogs or social media posts through your SEO analytics tool, you can tell what information is best boosting your brand.

·????????Track media performance. Along with referrals from social media, you can show PR value by watching online traffic to your website after a press release is issued or when you appear on a TV or radio show. People who are engaging in your content will often search for your company to learn more about them.

·????????Track the leads from earned media. While earned media supports business objectives like branding or thought leadership that are difficult to measure through digital metrics, by working closely with your sales team we can develop a method for tracking when earned media has resulted in leads to your sales funnel.

·????????Track long-term organic referrals. Once we have worked with your sales team to set up parameters that track earned media, we can then set tracking for long-term results. The advantage of public relations is that it builds relationships and strengthens brand awareness. Being able to see how your web traffic and sales leads grow from month to month and year to year provides real, measurable results of our efforts.

Reporting a set of metrics is not just a summary of what happened when that press release was issued or that blog post was shared on social media. Defining goals and measuring them also allows us to analyze the results so we can see what is working and what isn’t and adjust.

Earned media isn’t a silo. It also should be used in conjunction with other more measurable marketing techniques to build a robust marketing and public relations plan. According to Forbes , the best method is to create engaging, customer-focused and problem-solving content and strategically place it where it can be best spotted by your target audience. This engagement will be a combination of earned, owned and paid-for media.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to measure the value of public relations but by working closely with your sales and/or marketing teams to establish a tracking process that fits your industry as a whole and your individual goals as a company, we can produce a set of metrics that even the toughest marketing SEO analyst will appreciate.