Blog post - 7 June 2017 08:32

Why Measurement Matters in Your PR Strategy

If you don't measure the impact of your PR strategy, how can you be sure that your efforts are worthwhile? Measurement is vital to assessing the impact of a PR campaign in sufficient detail to allow you to optimize your strategy.

Let's take a look at why it's so important to understand the impact of every news release or piece of content, and how you can develop a measurement framework that allows you to gather and make sense of all the data you need.

Why Measurement is Important

In simple terms, if you're not measuring something, you're not managing it. Therefore, if you don't measure every aspect of your PR strategy, you're leaving a lot of things to chance. It's also important to use the right level of detail in your measurements. You probably already track the number of impressions and media mentions your content generates, but do you understand how that attention translates into new subscribers? By defining the metrics that matter most to you and using measurements to determine what factors affect them, you can achieve your PR goals.

How to Use Measurement in Your PR Strategy

The first step is to develop an analysis framework. AMEC's interactive template can help you to do this. In summary, you need to begin by defining your objectives: is your goal to generate more subscribers, or something else? You would then need to define the inputs, outputs, activities, and outcomes you will measure.

Some of the most common outputs and outcomes measured by PR professionals include:

The number of people engaging with your content
The number of times a piece of content is shared
Likes and comments on the content
Conversations generated by the content
Effect of content on lead generation and sales

You may want to measure some or all of these metrics, depending on your goals. Whatever metrics you choose, you will need to track them over several weeks or months, and for as much of your content as possible, so you can establish a baseline against which to compare your latest marketing efforts.

Measurement Tools That Can Help

Many tools that can help you analyze and draw conclusions from the data you collect. These include Google Analytics, Audiense, Adobe Analytics, BuzzSumo and yes, even the Mynewsdesk platform. You will need to research each option to find out whether it can deliver the metrics you want to track in a format that is easy for you to use.

Drawing Conclusions From Data

Simply gathering data isn't enough to have a positive effect on your PR strategy. You need to use the numbers your analytics tools produce to compare your various content pieces against each other so you can work out which ones have the greatest positive impact. When you know which content pieces have generated the most subscribers in the past, you can focus on creating more of that kind of content in the future.

You also need to review trends over time to work out how your overall PR strategy is performing. If email open rates are falling or your traffic from Facebook is dropping rapidly, you need to know about it as soon as possible, so you can work out what is going wrong and take action to re-engage an audience that may be losing interest in your brand.

To learn more about how to measure your reach, please get a free copy of our latest handbook.

Topics

Media, Communication

Contacts

Press Officer

Press contact Media inquires press@mynewsdesk.com

Adam Karseland

Press contact Press contact adam.karseland@mynewsdesk.com +46 79-075 64 25

How To Measure Your PR [Free eBook]

Without measuring your PR, it's impossible to assess the impact and success of your efforts and optimise accordingly.

29 March 2017 10:50

How To Use Monitoring - Free eBook

Media monitoring is an essential part of every PR and communicator's roles. Why? Because, without knowing what's being said about you and your competitors or how your campaigns are performing, how are you supposed to succeed? Effective communication starts with listening.

6 June 2017 09:00

How To Measure Reach With Mynewsdesk

Reach. The buzzword that’s been doing the rounds for the past few years, now. But what does it actually mean, why’s it important to track reach and how can you measure your story’s?

18 May 2017 11:38

How to use Mynewsdesk to Identify and Engage Your Audience

Whilst a well-written press release or creative piece of content is key for coverage and shareability, if it’s irrelevant to the recipient then, essentially, it’s futile.

2 May 2017 14:50

How To Create and Publish Impactful Stories

Today, getting attention for your brand involves more than sending out a dry press release. You need to create an engaging story to capture the attention of social media users and influencers. Let's take a look at the key steps involved in choosing a good story, creating an impactful narrative around it, and publishing in a way that ensures it receives as much attention as it truly deserves.

28 April 2017 08:30

How To Create And Publish Stories With Mynewsdesk

All too often we hear communicators complain that they “don’t have anything to write about.” They don’t have a story to tell. But that’s a myth we want to debunk right here, right now. Why? Every brand has a higher purpose. Every brand has a story to tell.

11 April 2017 10:53

5 Ways To Use Mynewsdesk For Media Monitoring

Whether it be a) evaluating success, b) attending to a crisis over a misjudged campaign or c) trying to get closer to your target demographic and what they really think, media monitoring is becoming essential in today's digital world. But remember, effective communication starts with listening.

6 April 2017 11:27

Why Media Monitoring is Important for Your Business

If you’re serious about your business’ long-term success, understanding what’s going on in your industry is a fundamental first step. Media monitoring can help you keep up to date with the latest industry trends - and it needn’t take too much of your time or resources. Here are some reasons why you need to monitor the media for industry news:

15 June 2017 09:37

The PR Workflow - 4 Steps to Follow to Become a Pro Communicator

The PR Workflow is a continuous process. It’s a guide on what you need to do and how to do it to succeed with your communications and PR. How you determine success depends on you and your organization. However, your ultimate goal, irrespective of industry or size of the organization, is to ensure that your story both gets told and heard to the right audience at the right time.

10 January 2018 08:30

2018 PR Resolutions: Set a Goal, Hit a Goal

It’s that time again - ‘New Year, New You’. We all wake up on January 1st with a determination to be ‘better’; we set ourselves resolutions to improve fitness, eat healthier and generally get on top of things. But sometimes these promises are tough to stick to. And that can be the same in an industry like PR and Communications. This is why it’s important to set yourself SMART goals:

22 June 2017 09:03

7 Takeaways from Content Marketing Masterclass [June 2017]

Last week, Mynewsdesk was invited to present at Content Masterclass to share our years of content wisdom with a room packed full of marketers, communicators and PR pros. Here are my 7 key takeouts from the afternoon which might help you when trying to navigate the quandary that is content marketing.