OFF-MUTE 🔈
🪄 PR isn’t magic.
💯 Although it can often feel (and look) like it!
📊 Behind every good story is a good strategy with measurement at its core.
💬 Our colleagues Megan Link and Tiffany Darmetko know this firsthand. Whether you just inherited a long-standing program or you’re starting from scratch, it’s time to show and tell your ROI. Not sure where to start? Here’s what they recommend:
💬 Define success. Team alignment starts with shared goals and KPIs. Megan said, “These numbers can inform your entire storytelling strategy and help you make adjustments for the future.”
📊 Understand the limitations of traditional PR metrics. Share of voice (SOV) and impressions aren’t always accurate, according to Tif. For example, a company that recently experienced a crisis might have a larger SOV than you, but in this case, it’s not a victory. And impressions must be taken with a grain of salt since only a portion of any given publication’s readers or viewers will actually see your media hit.
🆒 🆕 Merge the old with the new. Evaluate your reporting process using an integrated mindset. “Instead of taking individual PR metrics at face value, we’re merging success metrics from different channels (PR, web, social, email, etc.) to illustrate how these efforts work together to drive business impact,” said Tif.
👀 Narrow your focus. Refine metrics to make them more meaningful. Tif said, “For example, instead of looking at overall SOV compared to competitors, you could narrow down a few specific conversations that you most want to be a part of or go head-to-head with competitors on. Analyze your share of conversation (SOC), aiming to increase this over time.”
🖼️ Communicate the big picture. Use data to connect the dots between a PR initiative and how it supported a top business goal. Megan said, “The point of visualizing performance metrics is to show how the things you did moved the needle, not to summarize a list of activities or throw out a bunch of data points that don’t tell a story.”
