5 meaningful ways to measure your PR results

Do you know the results of your last communications campaign? We’re not talking about the number of Facebook posts or press releases you sent out or even how many adverts you placed in your local paper. We’re talking about the impact of your campaign. If your business spends budget on enhancing its reputation then it’s vital that you measure your PR results so you know the benefit for your brand. 

Why measure PR results?

Creating and delivering a successful PR campaign involves a lot of forward planning. And the hard work doesn’t stop once all the content is rolled out. This is when measurement kicks in based on your business objectives.

If you neglect to measure your results you won’t know if you have got value from your PR campaign or how to refine future messages.

Results that add value

In the past decade, the PR industry has reevaluated how it measures results. All too often results were based on the campaign collateral rather than its desired impact. 

The Barcelona Principles changed this. Importantly this gold standard in measurement emphasised the roles of three different measures in PR campaign results: outputs, outtakes and outcomes. 

Here’s a quick guide:

• Outputs are the things you create as part of your campaign. For example press releases, blog posts and paid adverts
• Outtakes are how your campaign affects people’s feelings towards your business
• Outcomes are the actions they take as a result of your campaign

Outtakes and outcomes are clearly the results you need to focus on if you want your PR outputs to have a positive effect on your business. 

Simple yet meaningful measures

Here are five ways to measure your PR results in a meaningful way:

1. Engagement

Keep track of the likes, views, shares and comments on your social media channels. Each platform has analytics tools to help you see these results.

2. Google Analytics

If you don’t already use Google Analytics to monitor your website traffic then you must. It’s a free tool that can give you a wealth of information about how people interact with your website. 

In terms of measuring PR and marketing results, use Google Analytics to: look for spikes in traffic; track visits from different sources; and monitor the bounce rate to see how visitors react to your website. 

Compare these results against a baseline taken before your campaign or from a previous campaign.

3. Google Search Console

Search Console is another handy tool from Google that lets you delve into the success of digital PR campaigns. If increasing your website traffic is one of your objectives, Google Search Console can tell you:

• Where your pages are ranking on Google over a period of time;
• How many people saw your website in Google searches;
• and, importantly, whether they went on to visit your website.

Improvements of these metrics are a measure of the success of your campaign. Find out more about the value of Google Search Console.

4. Trackable links

To help you see which campaign collateral has performed best use an online tool like bit.ly to create bespoke links for different campaign materials like blog posts, emails and social media posts. 

5. Quiz your customers 

Speak to your customers and find out why they have come to you now whether they call, email or walk into your business. Is it as a result of your PR campaign or something else?

If you want to create campaigns that are value for money and include measuring your PR results then we can help. Amplify PR is an award-winning PR consultancy based in Southampton. Get in touch to find out how we support clients with their PR and marketing campaigns.