What is the PR metric? How to showcase your PR success

It's time to rethink the measurement of public relations.

B2B technology and SaaS communicators have been around for a while and honestly haven't made much headway. Although there is a wealth of data to track, it rarely stands alone and sometimes is even unimportant.

Consider the main promise of public relations: awareness. Raising awareness is good but very vague. Smart marketers recognize that awareness for awareness's sake is never enough and never will be, especially in competitive and high-growth markets.

Instead, think bigger. Be bold with your PR strategy. Expand your measurement parameters. Your public relations program can help you achieve more meaningful goals. To establish the right roadmap, think about sales, competitive preferences, talent, acquisitions, financing, etc.

What is the PR metric?

Public relations measurement is the process of measuring the impact of one or more public relations (PR) activities. Public relations indicators measure the performance of public relations and help to evaluate the performance of a given marketing campaign.

Why measuring public relations is important

Measuring the value of public relations and linking your strategy to your business goals is essential but not easy.

Why measure PR impact? Simply put, you need to make sure your investment, both internal and external, is justified. When your public relations program is a driver of business and revenue rather than a cost center, you can continually grow, experiment, and invest for greater impact.

Source: Corporate Ink

At a deeper level, markets are incredibly competitive and noisy. Doing public relations is not enough. Generating coverage, winning a few awards, and issuing press releases aren't enough either. Public relations should drive something bigger and be measured against your competitive landscape and market opportunities.

For example, the most mature programs measure their results against their competitors. To win business and create preference in the marketplace, you need to go beyond brand awareness to differentiate yourself and create exposure at a higher rate than your competitors. If PR is contributing 10% annual growth, but the market is growing at 40%, something is clearly wrong. And your PR program may be part of the problem (but probably not the only one).

Measurement is also key to advancing your career. The science behind public relations can be difficult to grasp for those who don't experience it every day. Hard data makes it easier to see the value of what you do and why you deserve more opportunities.

Of course, PR can't always stand on its own. And that's good too. Many PR people struggle with attribution, which is understandable. How you talk about PR and think about measurement makes all the difference.

For example, showing how public relations helps your business grow as part of a larger, integrated strategy is more useful than measuring the specific impact of a single public relations effort. Develop your measurement framework and set your expectations accordingly.

Can't stand old fashioned vanity measures and reports

Before we go any further, let's take a minute to state the (hopefully) obvious: traditional, old-school PR metrics like reach, ad value, and number of cuts. press and press releases are dead. If your agency still uses similar metrics, it's time to re-evaluate your partners and your PR strategy. If your boss always asks you for these metrics, you need to educate him...