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Does PR work?

It’s true that the benefits of PR can be more difficult to track than the benefits of other marketing tactics like advertising, but here are the metrics we use:

1. Press Clippings. One way to gauge success is to track the amount of press clippings that mention a client’s people, products and services. The caveat is that articles and mentions appear in publications viewed by prospects. Receiving many mentions in target media outlets indicates your PR program is successfully raising awareness for businesses.

2. Media Impressions. Another method of assessing PR efforts is to calculate the number of media impressions for a given period. Multiply the number of press clippings by the total circulation of the publication in which it appeared. For example, when the newspaper mentioned wrote about a client’s service and it has a total circulation of 250,000, we’ve achieved 250,000 media impressions.

3. Content Analysis. In addition to the quantity of articles and impressions, we need to evaluate the impact of programs should monitor the content of the articles that are published. Quality matters – did the reporter mention the brand’s key messages? Is the client being portrayed in a positive light? To answer the question “does PR work?” we assess whether press coverage is resulting in valuable content.

4. Website Traffic. Another way to determine the effectiveness is to measure the amount of traffic website receives. Sales leads often come from calls-to-actions listed on website, so analyzing spikes in site traffic can answer whether your PR efforts are working.

5. Social Media Mentions. Yet another metric for measuring the impact of a PR campaign is social media mentions. Social media measurements should also focus on conversations about your brand, as well as social communities in your industry.

6. Comparative Ad Costs. A :30 second TV commercial on the morning network newscasts costs $500, so a comparative ad value for a 3.5-minute live TV interview or taped segment is $1,750.

Yes. PR works.

In fact, editorial coverage is valued as 7 times more credible than advertising in the same medium.