The key to a successful PR measurement strategy is gathering data that proves the value of PR activities, shows ongoing improvement in performance and demonstrates ROI compared with true business metrics. There are a variety of methods for collecting such data, depending on the nature of the program being measured and the access or availability of the data in question.
Sandra Fathi, president of Affect Public Relations and featured speaker at PR News’ PR Measurement Conference in Chicago on Nov. 20, shares a few methodologies that PR communicators can employ to achieve their measurement objectives.
- Surveys - Ask relevant questions and tally results.
- Scores - Create indices or scoring mechanisms to identify valuable outcomes and results, recognizing quantity (volume of media hits) and quality (scoring for content feature, prominence and mention).
- Correlations - Identify correlations between outputs, outcomes and business results. Track public relations events with lead generation (online, email, phone, events) and track public relations events with web traffic.
- Check Boxes - Meeting specific, finite objectives, including, but not limited to, the number of positive articles and press releases within a specified time frame and the number of articles in a targeted industry or market.
- Direct Business Metrics – This includes the number of leads generated and the number of qualified leads generated.
To learn more about PR measurement strategies, join PR News for the PR Measurement Conference, taking place in Chicago on November 20.
Follow Sandra Fathi: @sandrafathi, @teamaffect
Follow Richard Brownell: @RickBrownell