The Golden Rule of Measuring PR

The measurement is the impact.

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

Measuring PR is a crit­ic­al task in communications.

Today, the wide­spread focus on out­put and res­ults often makes us for­get about our stra­tegic choices in what to measure. 

The golden rule of meas­ur­ing PR is that the choice of met­rics has a more sig­ni­fic­ant impact than whatever actions are taken on the measurement’s output. 

This golden rule sug­gests that by choos­ing the right met­rics, PR pro­fes­sion­als can align their goals and object­ives with the organ­isa­tion and shape their per­cep­tion of what is essential. 

Here we go:

The Golden Rule of Measuring PR

What gets meas­ured, gets done.”
— Peter Drucker

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The Golden Rule of Measuring PR

If an organ­isa­tion focuses on the wrong met­rics, it might estab­lish, main­tain, or devel­op the wrong long-term rela­tion­ships. 1The insight is based on 18+ years of prac­tic­al con­sult­ing exper­i­ence.

The Golden Rule of Measuring PR: Your choice of PR meas­ure­ment meth­od and track­able PR object­ives will impact your organ­isa­tion more than the res­ult­ing meas­ure­ments ever will.

Choosing the meas­ure­ment meth­od and object­ives for pub­lic rela­tions is more crit­ic­al than get­ting the actu­al data from those trackings.

Learn more: The Golden Rule of Measuring PR

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What Gets Measured Gets Done

The say­ing “what gets meas­ured gets done” is a well-known concept in busi­ness. It implies that an organ­isa­tion must meas­ure its pro­gress toward that goal if it wants to achieve something. 

By meas­ur­ing pro­gress, the organ­isa­tion can identi­fy areas that need improve­ment and take action to address them. This is also true for pub­lic relations. 

If an organ­isa­tion wants to improve its repu­ta­tion or build stronger rela­tion­ships with its stake­hold­ers, influ­en­cers, and pub­lics, it must make more con­scious decisions about what to measure.

The focus on meas­ur­ing out­put is often mis­placed. Many PR pro­fes­sion­als are too focused on the num­ber of media men­tions or social media shares. While these met­rics are essen­tial, they only tell part of the story.

Creating Impact With Designed Intent

Public rela­tions (PR) is all about estab­lish­ing, devel­op­ing, or main­tain­ing stra­tegic­ally essen­tial rela­tion­ships with publics. 

It is the art of com­mu­nic­at­ing with stake­hold­ers, such as cus­tom­ers, employ­ees, investors, media, and the pub­lic, to build and main­tain a good rela­tion­ship. PR pro­fes­sion­als use vari­ous strategies and tac­tics to man­age the flow of inform­a­tion between an organ­isa­tion and its stake­hold­ers, with the ulti­mate goal of cre­at­ing a pos­it­ive per­cep­tion of the organ­isa­tion and its products or services.

However, meas­ur­ing the suc­cess of pub­lic rela­tions is a com­plex task. It is not just about count­ing the num­ber of media men­tions or the amount of traffic gen­er­ated to a web­site. While these met­rics are essen­tial, they only tell part of the story. 

The fun­da­ment­al PR chal­lenge for com­mu­nic­a­tion meas­ure­ment activ­it­ies is to impact the organ­isa­tion with the designed intent.

Choosing What to Measure is a Strategic Choice

Choosing what to meas­ure in pub­lic rela­tions is a highly stra­tegic choice. It informs the organ­isa­tion of what is essen­tial and what should be prioritised. 

For example, if an organ­isa­tion decides to meas­ure the num­ber of media men­tions, it sig­nals that media cov­er­age is cru­cial in build­ing its repu­ta­tion. On the oth­er hand, if an organ­isa­tion decides to meas­ure its social media fol­low­ers’ engage­ment, it sig­nals that social media is an essen­tial chan­nel for com­mu­nic­a­tion with stakeholders.

Choosing what to meas­ure has a more sig­ni­fic­ant impact on the organ­isa­tion than the out­put of the chosen meas­ure­ment. It sets the tone for the entire PR strategy and shapes the organisation’s per­cep­tion of what is essential.

This line of think­ing bears the hall­mark of Marshall McLuhan’s point that “the medi­um is the mes­sage,” mean­ing that a medium’s format will pro­foundly impact the audi­ence more long-term than any single mes­sage. 2The medi­um is the mes­sage. (2023, February 25). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​T​h​e​_​m​e​d​i​u​m​_​i​s​_​t​h​e​_​m​e​s​s​age

The Importance of Measuring PR

Instead of react­ing to the out­put of meas­ure­ments, PR pro­fes­sion­als must be pro­act­ive and focus on what hap­pens before actu­al meas­ure­ments occur. This means set­ting clear goals and object­ives for PR activ­it­ies and devel­op­ing a strategy to achieve them.

For example, sup­pose the goal of a PR cam­paign is to increase brand aware­ness. In that case, the PR team may meas­ure the num­ber of media men­tions, social media engage­ment, web­site traffic, and search engine rankings. 

However, if the goal is to improve cus­tom­er sat­is­fac­tion, the team may choose to meas­ure cus­tom­er feed­back, social media sen­ti­ment, and cus­tom­er reten­tion rates.

By being pro­act­ive, PR pro­fes­sion­als can also identi­fy poten­tial issues or risks and devel­op a crisis com­mu­nic­a­tion plan to mit­ig­ate any neg­at­ive impact. This involves mon­it­or­ing and ana­lys­ing con­ver­sa­tions about the organ­isa­tion on social media and oth­er chan­nels, identi­fy­ing poten­tial issues, and devel­op­ing a plan to address them before they escalate.

In con­clu­sion, meas­ur­ing the suc­cess of pub­lic rela­tions is not just about count­ing media men­tions or web­site traffic. It is about choos­ing the right met­rics that align with the organisation’s goals and object­ives and being pro­act­ive in devel­op­ing a strategy to achieve them. 

Choosing what to meas­ure is a highly stra­tegic choice that shapes the organisation’s per­cep­tion of what is essen­tial and sets the tone for the entire PR strategy. By being pro­act­ive, PR pro­fes­sion­als can not only meas­ure the impact of PR on the over­all busi­ness goals and object­ives but also mit­ig­ate any poten­tial issues or risks before they escalate.


Consider shar­ing my pub­lic rela­tions blog with oth­er com­mu­nic­a­tion and mar­ket­ing pro­fes­sion­als. If you have ques­tions (or want to retain my PR ser­vices), please con­tact me via jerry@​spinfactory.​com.

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ANNOTATIONS
ANNOTATIONS
1 The insight is based on 18+ years of prac­tic­al con­sult­ing experience.
2 The medi­um is the mes­sage. (2023, February 25). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​T​h​e​_​m​e​d​i​u​m​_​i​s​_​t​h​e​_​m​e​s​s​age
Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at Spin Factory and KIX Communication Index. Before that, he worked at Kaufmann, Whispr Group, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Cover Photo

The cover photo isn't related to public relations; it's just a photo of mine. Think of it as a 'decorative diversion', a subtle reminder that there is more to life than strategic communication.

The cover photo has

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