PR: how can it be measured?

For an industry that’s purpose is to impact brand reputation and public opinion it can be really difficult to accurately measure the effectiveness and impact of your PR activity.

Coverage

One of the best ways to review the success of your PR activity is to look at the coverage you have gained. Receiving a large number of mentions shows your PR program is successfully raising awareness for your business.

Within the amount of coverage gained you can also review the readership of each publication you are featured in to estimate the impact of each piece.

Content

In addition to the quantity of articles, it is also important to review the quality of the publications and story. Were your key messages included in the article? Was the company name mentioned in the title? Does the feature send a positive message about the brand? It is as equally important to ensure the messaging within your coverage is having a positive impact.

Was the coverage paid for or earnt? As publications are under increasing financial pressure from the digitalisation of media, earnt coverage becomes even more valuable to brands.

Placement is the also important. If you have gained a piece of coverage that reflects the company in a good light that is great, but is the article being featured in your target media? Accessing your target media to the most relevant publications is much more effective than gaining coverage in lots of publications that don’t reach your desired customers.

Digital Analytics

One major benefit of digital PR and Marketing is analytics. The impact of each social media post can be tracked right down to the number of impressions it has received. Analytics such as social media followers, mentions, engagement and website traffic received before and after launching your campaign are all effective ways of reviewing its impact.

Leads

How did your new customers hear about your company? By reviewing the number of leads that a company has gained through the implementation of a PR campaign helps to reflect the monetary value of investing in communication strategies. Word of mouth is a hard thing to measure but it is beneficial to ask your customers how they heard about your company and regularly keep on top of reviews and customer opinions.

Competition

It is always important to be aware of competitor activity and the same rules apply in PR. By reviewing the above measurements for your competitors as well, you can compare the effectiveness of each business's communications activity and identify any areas your competitors are excelling.

Measuring the return on investment of PR activity is tricky yet possible and can highlight areas that need to be improved.

You Do Better is a PR and Communications Agency delivering Pay as you go PR. No retainer. Is your Marketing Manager going on leave? Do you have a new product or service to deliver? A project or campaign that needs managing? Call 07891 777464 for a chat.