The Public Relations Blog

Use our step-by-step guide for measuring public relations the right way.

Before you can meaningfully explore PR measurement, you have to account for research, planning, and implementation. Research and planning will help you identify the end results, and then you can work backward from the desired results.

Too often, executives and public relations pros want to measure PR without establishing a research baseline.

Under research, planning, and implementation, you have objectives, inputs, and activities. And under measurement, you have outputs, outtakes, outcomes, and impacts. Although most public relations professionals at PR firms and in-house PR staff tend to focus on measuring activities and outputs, efficient and effective measurement goes well beyond measuring activities and outputs.

Let’s start at the beginning. A good framework for measuring public relations and corporate communications begins with objectives. 

Measuring your PR and communication campaigns the right way proves its value

The Barcelona Principles provide best-practice guidelines to measure how well public relations and corporate communication efforts are working. PR isn't sales, yet measuring it correctly helps connect PR to real business results like sales pipeline activity, social media conversions, market share of voice, site traffic, and site rankings. 

No marketing plan is complete without PR. An Entrepreneur article claimed “marketing without PR is like a dream without a goal.” And no marketing and PR plan will be able to prove value if not measured.

No company is safe from crisis as we’ve seen with the coronavirus pandemic. Although your communications strategy and tactics must shift to crisis communications during a time of emergency, it’s still of utmost importance to monitor and evaluate your company’s coverage as it weathers the storm.

You should continue to measure your company communications during a crisis, and you should include these four values in your criteria.

Let’s get SMARTER about PR

By now, you’ve probably heard about S.M.A.R.T. objectives (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely) and using them for PR. We blogged about SMART objectives and how to be a SMART communications pro frequently.

There’s a movement to add ER to SMART objectives and push for SMARTER objectives, and we love it! 

The definition of vanity metrics, and why they don’t really matter.

What we usually think of as vanity metrics are numbers like impressions, advertising value “equivalents” (AVEs), mentions, likes, shares, re-tweets, clicks, page views, downloads, etc. Although some vanity metrics may be important for historical benchmarking or baseline purposes, they shouldn’t be relied on for real intelligence. 

Vanity metrics are good for feeling “warm and fuzzy” and bad for action. In other words, vanity metrics are numbers that feel important yet are fundamentally superficial, or worse, deceptive. They are numbers for numbers’ sake.

This is a story about determining ROI for public relations efforts. There is also a story about learning the fundamentals of measuring PR ROI as well.

When most people think about public relations, they tend to think PR is earned media coverage. (Even though PR is more than earned media coverage.)

And what is earned media anyway?

Traditionally, measuring a PR campaign and its outcomes were challenging. You may have even been told that public relations can't be measured. When it was measured, it was often assigned "publicity value," "advertising value equivalency," or some other arbitrary number. It doesn't have to be.

The industry is evolving quickly, making PR increasingly measurable through attribution technology.

How to measure your strategy performance

Most companies focus their energy and resources on designing and implementing their marketing campaigns and underestimate the importance of measuring the results. It’s very important to understand that measuring your results will help you improve your future outreach campaigns.

Axia Public Relation’s campaigns tie directly to what’s important to business leaders

Public relations campaigns work to impact your organization’s reputation, revenue, and recruiting. At Axia Public Relations, all our efforts drive one or more of these important factors. We start by tying our communication metrics to your company’s financials and key metrics. We’re able to articulate the value of PR in terms that your company leaders care about, such as their ROI.

Understanding the process of earned media and measuring the value of your coverage

How do you know if your earned media coverage is successful at telling your message? Our process for measuring earned media efforts can prove its value to organizations. Go beyond media impressions and measure numbers that really matter.

Beyond impressions, use these success factors to calculate the value of earned media coverage

Earned media coverage is a way to reach audiences and share your company’s message. A common way to make an announcement is to distribute a news release on a newswire. What does this actually do to reach audiences?