While it’s true we don’t use scales to measure weight or rulers to measure distance, we still have our own measurement tools. Throughout the research process, PR professionals seek data to measure the results of their campaign. The methods of research vary based on the needs of each campaign, but looking at share of voice, website visits, event attendance, media impressions, lead sourcing and social media engagement are all common sources of measurement.

Share of voice

A close review of the amount of coverage that your competitors receive in comparison to your own business – benchmarking success against peers provides a great baseline for campaign success

Website visits

This includes a look at how many backlinks are heading to your website, and which of those are the result of public relations generated earned media coverage. These figures share a solid snapshot of new visitors and web traffic that resulted from press placements.

Event attendance

Was your campaign connected to a specific event? One of the first measurements of event success is of course attendance.

Media Impressions

This is a calculation of the total reach of the combined earned media coverage generated from a specific campaign.

Lead Sourcing

How do new clients hear about your business or product? A simple way is to ask where they first learned about you and which leads may have come from earned media coverage that was seen by clients.

Social Media Engagement

This can include everything from retweets to regrams, branded hashtags, shares, likes, comments and more! Were new followers secured? Was there engagement? Was the commentary positive? These are all aspects to review.

As you can see, PR campaign results can be measured in a variety of ways, all of which provide valuable data and information to help quantify the results of a campaign. While you won’t be seeing PR professionals in white lab coats anytime soon, you will see us thinking creatively to find the measurement methods best suited for your campaign.