Are your PR efforts effective? Here are three ways to make sure they are.

Written by ls2group

Public relations professionals understand how crucial their work is and how effective it can be. But sometimes the return on investment (ROI) of public relations and earned media needs to be further proven to industry stakeholders, business leaders, and clients to show the value of the efforts. PR professionals can use key performance indicators (KPI) and other measurements to reflect the value of their work and to make adjustments to tactics in order to reach goals.

Below are three key methods PR professionals can use to measure their success.

• Reporting clips

Pitching stories to the media is a staple tactic for PR professionals. An important first step in measuring success of media pitching is tracking how many publications cover the pitched story. It’s not only important to consider the number of clips, but the quality of the clips as well. Research the viewership/readership and frequency of the publication, because publications that have a higher frequency and viewership/readership are better quality clips. You can also take this one step further and report if the story received any shares, likes, or comments on social channels.

• Media analytics

Impressions are the broadest possible metric used to measure media performance. They are essentially defined as the number of times your content was displayed, whether it was viewed by anyone or not. Sometimes, media impressions are not identified as a useful measurement tactic, usually because there is much more that needs to happen after the initial impression for the PR efforts to be effective. After impressions occur, the reach (number of people who see your content), and engagement (number of people who interacted with your content) should be identified. Media impressions do matter, however, because they offer context for the rest of the analytics. When all of these analytics are reviewed, it allows a better understanding of how your content is performing.

• Share of voice and comparing coverage

Sometimes businesses and clients want to understand how they are stacking up against their competitors. PR professionals can learn this information by analyzing the share of voice in the media. Share of voice quantifies the percentage of all online content and conversations about your business or organization compared to those of your competitors. This information allows you to know how your business, organization, or client is performing compared to competitors.

Measuring your PR efforts is just as important as the PR work itself. If you’re unsure of where to start, reach out! Let us know how LS2group can assist your PR goals. Learn more at https://www.ls2group.com/what-we-do/public-relations/