How To Measure PR in 2021 (pt. 1 of 3)
📏 6 metrics you should track
For three years, I’ve been working on this article-turned-newsletter-series. Fo’ real.
Since I went out on my own in 2018, this article has seen dozens of revisions. And GIFs. Many, many GIFs.
I’ve found that few B2B tech marketers know what to put in their public relations metrics dashboards. What is there to measure? What is accurate? Which tools should I use? In fact, 71% of PR professionals say measuring business impact is their highest-ranked challenge.
So, if PR professionals are struggling with measuring their output, we gotta fix this.
“How do we know if PR works?”
“How will we calculate the ROI of public relations?”
“What are the KPIs we should set when hiring a PR agency?”
“How can we see what PR is doing for us?”
“Is PR working cuz I could just buy ads?”
If you’ve ever considered or launched a PR program, you’ve probably asked those q’s—and you should—even if it causes heads to:
The #1 question I’ve been asked: How can I measure PR?
After I asked 100’s of marketers what key performance indicators (KPIs) they track, and knowing how the very best PR measurement pros do what they do, I compiled what I feel is the best of the best.
That said, you must decide on metrics that make sense for your goals with PR. What was worth tracking at your last job may not be helpful today.
Please note none of the KPIs below can stand on their own and tell a complete story. Together, they provide the right insights and formula while avoiding vanity metrics.
OK, commence measuring efforts!
6 Critical KPIs to Measure PR:
Share of voice
Website traffic
# of thought leadership pieces placed
Coverage quality
Aggregate readership (content appears in front of X total readers across all publications)
Community chatter
Share of voice 🗣️
One of the younger metrics used by communications pros, share of voice (SOV) is your mentions compared to competitors. In other words, of the conversation happening on topics you want your brand connected to, what percentage of that conversation includes you.
It’s helpful as a metric because when marketers and PR pros work together, they can uncover where the opportunities may be for a company, see what news and messaging competitors are putting out there, and strategize. Also, people that don’t work in or “speak PR” can usually grasp it.
Keep in mind, since you don’t know your competitor’s budget or strategy, the caliber of their PR team, or the # of hours they put towards PR, SOV is not a stand-alone pillar.
Take note that a higher share of voice doesn’t mean it’s positive. Sentiment within SOV should always be considered. For example, say you compete against Oracle and they have a workplace harassment issue that becomes widely covered by the media. Though Oracle may have increased its share of voice, it’s not positive.
Website traffic
Website traffic should be measured at the beginning of every relationship with a tech PR firm and before each campaign. Neither usually happens, but after marketers do it one time it typically becomes a habit because it’s one way to demonstrate the value of PR.
Here’s what matters. If you’re a brand with low awareness, new unique visitors matter the most, followed by returning visitors. If you’re an established brand, returning visitors is likely more important because you’re seeing them come back for some reason. These potential inbound leads can trigger your sales team to take action.
All PR campaigns should be increasing site traffic even if it’s not a top priority.
Whether a client talking to Glossy mentions your company or your product manager wrote a bylined article for a trade magazine, it’s worth checking for a bump in site traffic to see if a reader browsed your site and took some type of action like visiting your online newsroom. Don’t rush though. You don’t have to do this on the day a story gets published.
After your LinkedIn company page and the appropriate employees share the link to a media story, and the media outlet adds the story to their newsletter and/or posts to its social account(s), then use Google Analytics to see the traffic sources. Sometimes what you see will adjust your PR and ad strategy. For example, if you find out that when your CEO was quoted in Retail Dive it generated more site traffic than when they guested on an industry podcast, you’re armed with actionable data. Now you also know which podcasts you may want to sponsor.
Speaking of leveraging site activity site to adjust PR strategy, I recommend adding ‘How did you hear about us?’ on your contact page’s drop-down menu. Why?
Attribution! A client of mine recently heard from a high-intent lead that reached out through their site. The hot prospect told them they saw the company name in an article interviewing a client of theirs (case study story). Now we know for sure that type of media coverage is working to deliver potential customers, so we will keep at it!
Update: Part 2 of “How to Measure PR in 2021” is live. Dig it. Ciao!
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-John