PR Measurement: Guide to Measuring the Success of PR

Public Relations
PR Measurement: Guide to Measuring the Success of PR
Article by Jelena Relić
Last Updated: June 27, 2024

PR measurement is the process of tracking all your PR efforts to assess their effectiveness. The goal is to determine whether your PR gets the job done or needs some changes to improve the results.

So how do you measure your PR efforts? What PR metrics do you use? In this article, our experts talk about PR measurement, its benefits, key metrics, how to create an effective PR measurement framework, and the best tools to ease the process.

What Is PR Measurement?

PR measurement is the process of using analytics and data to evaluate and estimate the impact, effectiveness, reach, and overall performance of a public relations campaign. By assessing the impact of different PR activities, you can identify which public relations strategies are most effective in reaching your target audience and achieving desired results. 

It typically includes key metrics such as media coverage, brand awareness, website traffic, or social media engagement to measure the success of a PR effort. There are different types of PR programs and for each of them, you might need to track separate metrics.

By quantifying the activities, campaigns, and outcomes relative to business goals, PR professionals can pinpoint opportunities to improve and fine-tune PR initiatives for maximum results.

Aside from coming up with effective strategies, the top public relations firms are often in charge of measuring success as well. If this feels like the right move for you, don’t forget to prepare a public relations RFP to ensure the company you hire understands your needs. 

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How To Measure PR Campaign Effectiveness?

The best way to measure PR performance is to look at both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data provides insights into the reaction of your target audience by assessing customer feedback and engagement with your brand or campaign, while quantitative data looks at metrics like media mentions, impressions, website traffic, or media reach.

By combining the two types of measurement, you can get an accurate understanding of how well your PR efforts are doing and where it needs improvement.

But before you analyze data, you must set clear goals. It’s also a good idea to compare your media coverage to that of competitors. Calculate the "share of voice" in your industry to assess how well your brand is represented in the media compared to others.

Key Metrics in PR Measurement 

Which PR metrics you should track depends on your goals and objectives. For instance, if you’re dealing with a PR crisis, you’ll be better off tracking brand loyalty than website traffic. Of course, you can hire one of the top crisis management firms to mitigate the situation and save your image. 

Many businesses nowadays choose the following metrics: 

  1. Media Coverage
  2. Reach
  3. Impressions
  4. Social Media Engagement
  5. Website Traffic
  6. Share of Voice (SOV)
  7. Earned Media Value (EMV)
  8. Lead Generation
  9. Brand Awareness
  10. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

1. Media Coverage 

Tracking the number of articles or mentions in traditional or online media outlets is a key metric for evaluating PR efforts. Organizations that employ media monitoring tools for their social monitoring can also use them to track their coverage and measure the reach and impact of their PR campaigns on other media outlets.

By keeping track of the number of articles or mentions, organizations can gauge the level of interest in their brand, products, or services and identify media outlets most likely to cover their stories. 

Additionally, companies can track the quality of the coverage — such as the tone, context, and placement within the publication — to understand how the coverage is positioning its brand or message.

2. Reach

Reach is the total number of people who have seen or been exposed to PR coverage. This metric can be measured by adding up the audience of the media outlets where the coverage appeared, as well as the people who see the coverage via shares, retweets, or other forms of social amplification.

It can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of PR campaigns and identify opportunities to expand the reach of coverage. 

Keeping track of reach also allows you to track the audience's demographics, such as age, gender, and location, to better understand your target audience and tailor your PR efforts accordingly.

3. Impressions

Impressions refer to the number of times a message is seen or heard by an audience. This can include views of a news article, a social media post, or attendance at an event. 

Impressions are not based on concrete numbers, but rather on potential. For instance, if you placed an ad in the local newspaper that has 1,000 readers, the assumed impressions count would be 1,000. 

4. Social Media Engagement

Tracking social media engagement is a key metric for evaluating PR efforts on social media platforms. This can include likes, shares, comments, or other forms of engagement related to PR efforts.

Measuring social media engagement can be a good addition to your social media marketing plan. With it, organizations can gauge the level of interest in their brand, products, or services and identify opportunities to improve their social media strategies. 

5. Website Traffic

Consider this: On average, a website gets 300,000 visitors per month. So, by monitoring the number of visitors and the source of their referrals, businesses get a chance to identify which PR campaigns are most effective at driving traffic and conversions. 

It’s always useful to keep an eye on the website’s visitors’ behavior. This way, you’ll understand which pages they visit and the actions they take, helping you provide them with a better user experience which can result in driving conversions and revenue.

6. Share of Voice (SOV)

Share of voice refers to the percentage of total media coverage or social media conversations that an organization or its competitors are receiving in a specific industry or topic. It’s an important PR metric that helps measure the presence and reputation of a brand in comparison to its competitors. 

SOV enables brands to assess their own visibility, track progress over time, and evaluate how far ahead or behind they are against their competitors, helping them stay competitive in the industry. It shows how much coverage, mentions, and overall attention a brand is receiving about others in its category. 

By monitoring SOV, brands can understand the positive and negative sentiments around their brand, as well as see where improvements can be made so that they remain top-of-mind for customers.

7. Earned Media Value (EMV)

Earned media value (EMV) is the estimated dollar value of PR coverage based on advertising rates for similar placements. This metric can be used to evaluate the financial impact of PR efforts and compare the value of different types of media coverage.

It combines quantitative and qualitative measurements, such as circulation figures, reach, readership, duration, and target audience to calculate the total value derived from earned media mentions or placements. 

EMV provides public relations professionals with an opportunity to prove their effectiveness to clients and stakeholders by showing how earned media exposures add real economic value to their communications efforts. 

With EMV, PR practitioners can accurately quantify how much revenue is generated from each earned media mention and report it back to senior leaders for approval.

8. Lead Generation

Lead generation is the number of leads generated as a direct result of PR efforts. It indicates how well the team generates interest and drives engagement with target audiences. 

Lead generation metrics can be tracked in various ways, such as measuring inquiries through email or website visits, capturing leads from webinars and events, tracking changes in search engine traffic, and evaluating media coverage conversions.

This metric can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of PR campaigns in driving conversions and revenue. Organizations can also use unique tracking links or codes to attribute leads generated from specific PR campaigns. This will enable organizations to understand which PR campaigns are most effective in driving leads and conversions.

9. Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is the level of recognition or understanding of an organization's brand among its target audience and how effective the messages conveyed through the PR activities are at resonating with them.  Measuring brand awareness can be done in various ways, such as:

  • Brand recall - whether people recognize a certain brand name
  • Brand preference - if they prefer that product over similar brands
  • Purchase intent - how likely people would be to buy it 

To create successful PR campaigns, it's vital to generate positive attention on the right platforms and ensure visibility across multiple channels. This will help make your brand more recognizable, thus making it easier for potential customers to find you.

10. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure of how likely an organization's customers, stakeholders, or the public are to recommend its products, services, or the organization to others. 

Using the NPS, marketers can track customer service and loyalty by asking customers to rate how likely they are to recommend a company's product or service on an 11-point scale. The higher the score received, the more satisfied customers are with the product or service. 

This metric also helps gauge customer satisfaction with existing products and services as well as potential products and services before they reach the market. NPS offers businesses insight into how engaged their audience is with their brand and can be used to help shape decisions around marketing campaigns, customer service initiatives, and even product design choices. 

PR Measurement Benefits: Why Is It Important?

Measuring public relations (PR) is essential for organizations of all sizes. Why? Here are several benefits of tracking PR KPIs:

  • Allows them to assess the success of their PR campaigns and determine if they’re reaching their desired goals.
  • Helps organizations understand what works and what doesn’t work, offering them invaluable insights on how to improve in the future.
  • Lets you see how people feel about your brand, product, or organization. Based on this knowledge, businesses can make informed decisions that increase brand awareness and build trust with customers.
  • Validates the allocation of resources but also offers a comprehensive understanding of audience engagement, sentiment analysis, and media reach.
  • Bridges the gap between subjective perceptions and objective outcomes, empowering PR experts to demonstrate their contributions to organizational goals, fine-tune messaging, and build enduring relationships with stakeholders.
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How To Create an Effective PR Measurement Framework

Creating an effective PR measurement framework can be done in 5 simple steps:

  1. Define Your Goals
  2. Select the PR Metrics and KPIs
  3. Set Ways To Gather Data
  4. Set Baselines for Each Metric
  5. Present the Data

1. Define Your Goals

Just like with any other framework or plan, you must begin by establishing your goals. Ask yourself what you want to achieve by conducting a PR measurement. Do you want to see how many people know about your brand or do you want to learn more about your website traffic?

Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, improving reputation, driving website traffic, or boosting sales, having clear objectives makes measurement more meaningful.

2. Select the PR Metrics and KPIs

Once you know your goals, you know where to steer the process; hence, you’ll know what metrics and PR KPIs you should include. For example, if you want to learn more about how your website PR is performing, include impressions and website traffic as part of your PR metrics.

Alternatively, if you want to see how your PR efforts are doing specifically on your social media accounts, using impressions and social media engagement as a PR KPI is a must.

3. Set Ways To Gather Data

The third step is to come up with ways and strategies to gather all the data. This includes:

  • Collecting the sources from where you’ll pull your data. Examples include surveys, reviews, media monitoring tools, etc.
  • Choosing the tools you’ll use to gather and sift through the data
  • Determining how often you’ll gather data
  • Delegating responsibilities for smooth data collection

4. Set Baselines for Each Metric

When you know how you’ll gather the data, set the minimum you require from each PR metric. This will allow you to see whether your PR efforts have paid off and set the foundation for increasing or decreasing the same baseline for the following year.

For example, if your PR KPI is social media engagement and you have the baseline at 2%, reaching it in the first year will let you know that your PR strategies are doing well. But it’s not just that — it also shows you can increase that particular PR metric next year, setting the baseline at 3% or more.

5. Present the Data

Finally, present the gathered data from your PR measurement process. This lets you know exactly where your PR skills stand and whether you need to work on them more or keep the strategies as they are. Of course, for this step, consider how you’ll present the data — consider adding graphics, PPT, dashboards, etc.

3 Best Tools for PR Measurement

If you don’t know how to conduct the PR measurement process, many tools can help. Here are the top three recommended by our experts:

  1. Google Analytics
  2. Mention
  3. Prowly

1. Google Analytics

Image of Google Analytics home page to present it as a helpful tool for PR measurement
Source: Google Analytics

Google Analytics allows users to analyze different types of data to establish their online presence. This also includes using PR metrics to ensure the quality and effectiveness of a business’s PR strategy.

Businesses can track audience behavior, particularly the demographics that flock to their site and platforms, as well as the different ways visitors interact with their site and marketing channels. Google Analytics also includes reach, acquisition, and retention metrics, as well as cross-device and cross-channel tracking, allowing PR marketers to devise different types of PR strategies to improve customer experience.

  • Pricing: Free
  • Pros:
    • Track engagement, user behavior, and website traffic
    • Allows insights into what devices users use and where they come from
    • Free to use
  • Cons:
    • Has a learning curve to reap all PR benefits

2. Mention

Image of Mention’s home page to present it as a helpful tool for PR measurement
Source: Mention

Mention can be a great addition to a company’s PR arsenal in measuring its marketing success. This tool primarily focuses on social media and tracks KPIs that help point out whether your social media marketing strategies are on the right path.

Usually, PR professionals use Mention to analyze what customers say about them online, so they know whether their efforts have paid off. Aside from being a social media listening tool, it can also be useful for scheduling posts. You can choose one of the offered plans or try out the tool for 14 days, free of charge.

  • Pricing: Solo ($49/month), Pro ($99/month), ProPlus ($179/month), Company Plan (personalized offer)
  • Pros:
    • Excellent social media listening tool
    • Provides social media post-scheduling
    • Allows insights into the competition
  • Cons:
    • Loading speed needs to be improved

3. Prowly

Image of Prowly's home page to present it as a helpful tool for PR measurement
Source: Prowly

As an all-in-one PR tool, Prowly allows you to do every step of the PR process from one place. You can create press releases, track mentions over social media, build reports based on collected data, and more.

It has a separate PR CRM feature that allows businesses to not just find contacts but organize them so they’re always on top of their interactions. Other features that can particularly help your PR measurement process are PR Reports and Media Monitoring.

  • Pricing: Basic ($369/month), Pro ($589/month), Pro Annual ($416/month, billed annually)
  • Pros:
    • All-in-one PR tool
    • Allows social media tracking
    • Gives comprehensive reports
  • Cons:
    • All press release is published on their server

PR Measurements: Key Takeaways 

Monitoring your indicators and capitalizing on them is crucial if you’re to ensure the success of your PR strategies. Through careful analysis of the key metrics, you can adjust your efforts and reach your target audience almost effortlessly.

When handled properly, PR measurements can be an effective tool to increase visibility, generate leads, and create loyalty.  

PR Measurements FAQs

1. What does PR value mean?

PR value, often referred to as PR impact value, is a metric used to estimate the monetary worth of media coverage and other PR activities. PR value is commonly calculated by comparing the cost of obtaining similar coverage through advertising to the cost of PR efforts that generated the coverage.

That said, it's a somewhat controversial metric because it simplifies complex factors such as audience engagement, sentiment, and credibility into a monetary figure, which might not fully capture the qualitative benefits of PR.

2. What are the differences between traditional PR and digital PR?

The main difference between the two is that traditional PR is done offline — think billboards, pamphlets, posters, etc. Digital PR is almost exclusively online PR. This includes social media posting, PPC campaigns, influencer marketing, video marketing, etc.

3. How do I know if my PR campaigns are reaching the right people?

Conduct a PR measurement analysis and set reach as your primary PR value. By going through each step of the PR process, you’ll gather the data needed to know whether your PR campaigns are successful or not. You can also use tools like Google Analytics to focus on this PR metric and simplify the procedure.

4. How do I get the most out of my PR content?

Perseverance and planning are the two key factors that will ensure you get the most out of your PR content. However, they are not the only ones. Here are several other tips to ensure your PR content reaches your aims:

  • Follow up on every press coverage
  • Use keywords in every type of content to reach your target audience
  • Repurpose old content with new information
  • Share your PR content through different social media platforms and traditional mediums
  • Merge different PR content types to give more value such as including podcasts in your press mentions

However, don’t forget to analyze the effectiveness of the PR content distribution. Conduct a PR measurement process at least once a year to see how your content is doing and if you need to switch things up to improve your strategy and reach your PR goals.

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