Setting new benchmarks for PR’s value

Marketing has long been a metrics-based discipline. It’s time for PR to catch up.

The early tactics and processes previously used to measure PR campaigns, such as the use of AVEs, no longer accurately measure PR campaigns today. With 2020 on the horizon, more business leaders will question the real value of PR. As an industry, we need to advance the conversation or watch our PR budgets shrink.

Here are three ways to look at metrics and measurement:

1. Align PR goals with business goals.

Too often PR goals are created in a vacuum and are not deeply aligned with what a business really needs to accomplish. When startups come to my agency, their goal is often to “get more press.” That can be the program outcome, but that’s not where to start.

Instead, start with their annual business goals and then break those goals down quarterly. Once you have a deep understanding of the client’s quarterly business goals, develop actionable PR goals against them.

For example, if the company is focused on M&A activity in the next 12 to 18 months, focus on the messaging and positioning that will set the company apart, catching the eye of potential buyers, and then use it as a roadmap for communications to both internal and external stakeholders.

2. Advance your metrics.