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7 ways to measure the success of a PR campaign

by | Nov 18, 2020 | Public Relations

The impact of a PR campaign can be hard to track. Mainly because unlike other forms of promoting your brands like online advertising, PR efforts have no specific analytic metric that can be used to measure their success. And PR isn’t cheap; it can cost a considerable amount of money. But like other marketing approaches, PR can help promote your brand or product, leading to more brand awareness and improved sales if done well.

But how will you know the success of a successful PR initiative? PR impact is not directly quantifiable, but there are different methods you can use to measure the impact of public relations. Of importance is a viable team task managing approach that helps your company measure these metrics.

1. Number of press articles

One of the most effective ways to measure a PR campaign’s impact is by looking at the number of press clippings about your brand or product. Getting massive coverage in well-known media publications will easily widen your brand’s reach to a broader audience. Publications with a massive reach will give your brand more awareness among its readers. However, it can be tempting to publish articles on every website that can’t resist publishing new content. It’s better to do that on websites whose users could have a high interest in your particular brand.

2. Social media reach and engagement

Social media use is growing by the day and can provide an easy way to measure a PR campaign’s impact. According to Statista, there were almost 4.57 billion internet users as of July 2020. You can measure a PR campaign’s success by considering the number of new followers and average monthly post reach on your social media channels. The number of likes, retweets, and shares can help measure engagement after the campaign on social media channels.

3. Media content analysis

The number of press clippings in addition to the type of content in those articles can help measure a PR campaign’s success. Actionable content will provide brand awareness and trigger the potential clients to either visit your site to learn more and definitely buy something. Actionable content has the potential to drive your sales figures up even though it might not happen instantly, but it will in the long-run. Positive content about your brand creates a better brand image in the mind of potential users.

4. Website traffic

Another way of measuring PR’s success is by measuring the website traffic before and after the campaign. Did the website traffic rise immensely after? This can also be a good measure of how effective the PR campaign was since getting users to click a link to an external website is not easy. For that, the content of press clippings needs to be actionable. Tracking website content is not challenging since these features are available on various CMS for free. Better team task managing strategies can help you ensure you take full advantage of website traffic spikes.

5. Brand mentions

Brand mentions are the number of times your company’s name, a custom hashtag, or your specific product has been mentioned on social media, forums, or other blogs within a certain period. An increase in brand mentions after the onset of a campaign directly leads to more awareness and means the PR team is doing good work. Mention stats are good, but you need to pay attention to the sentiments of each of them. Positive comments about your brand strengthen your brand’s reputation. Indeed, not all mentions will be positive. In the current digital era, most customers prefer to raise issues on social media. With effective team task managing procedures, you can take appropriate action to play down negativity.

6. Sales figures

Sales are an essential metric to consider for a business that sells products or services. Although you won’t certainly see them skyrocket overnight, you should be able to see some indicators of sales growth. A successful PR strategy can increase your company’s sales figures over time. When analyzing sales stats, scrutinize to see the source of the sale. This is an important metric that could help in planning for succeeding PR campaigns.

7. Website backlinks

A backlink is a URL that points back to your website. Backlinks matter in SEO and can be used to measure the effectiveness of a PR initiative. A rise in the number of backlinks to your website could potentially increase your website traffic from users of those websites. When targeted well, they can also help increase your brand’s sales figures.

Conclusion

Measuring the effectiveness of a PR campaign isn’t a straightforward approach. But with these tips, you can gauge if your PR initiatives are helping your brand.

Lewis Robinson
Lewis Robinson is a business consultant specializing in CRM and sales. He's begun multiple corporations and currently freelances as a writer and personal consultant.

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