How to measure public relations

You must have some way to measure if your public relations campaign has been a success or not.

One of the top questions in public relations is, “How do I measure PR?” You can easily measure PR when you have a strong plan in place before your campaign begins. Researching what you want to accomplish and crafting a PR plan allows you to see if you’ve met your PR goals.

The content of your PR plan will vary depending on your organization's goals. We’ve outlined exactly what kind of objectives you can work toward using the power of PR.

Types of objectives

Outputs

(Reach, content)

Outcomes

(Knowledge, opinions, attitudes)

Business Results

(Added value)

Media coverage
Circulation total
Social media impressions
Visits
Prominence
Mentions
Tonality
Message impact
Share of voice
Journalist inquiries
Ad value

Awareness

Comprehension

Recollection

Attitude

Recognition

Credibility

Image changes

Recommendations

Purchasing intentions

Trust

Revenue/turnover

Contracts closed

Sales

Reputation value

Brand value

PE ration

Market share

Stock price

Employee retention

Purchasing intention

How we do it

When we bring on a new client, we ask specific questions to find out what the company already measures as well as what management wants to measure.

We ask management the following to discover what’s important to their company:

What do you measure for baseline data?
What do you get from your baseline data?
What’s the need behind your need for PR?
What’s the driver in your business?
What does successful look like to you?

We do research and take baseline numbers as a starting point before the PR campaign begins, and then we create a PR plan that company executives approve. We measure and track our monthly activity reports that include quantitative information directly correlating with our client’s PR plan. Each quarter we meet with our client to go over results and to see what’s working and what’s not working. Once we’ve fulfilled our PR plan, we send the annual report and prepare for next year!

How Axia PR communicates with the world.

Every day we measure every output, outcome and result as it’s written in the PR plan. We know clients want to see data to prove their PR investment is working. With a mutual understanding, we perform to get the results our client desires – and everyone is happy! If your current public relations agency isn’t measuring and reporting its efforts, it’s time to fire your public relations firm and connect with Axia Public Relations, so we can measure your success.

Katie Boyles regularly creates PR and online content that is engaging for target audiences. She improves clients’ online presence and search engine optimization through premium content like e-books and webinars as well as social media posts, blog posts, online articles and more. Katie has been with Axia since September 2015. Learn more about Katie Boyles. Connect with Axia on Twitter @axiapr or tell us what you think in the comments below.