Written by Yuru Tang, with input from Emma Haddad
Companies leverage PR to build good relationships between companies and stakeholders. The outcomes of PR campaigns might not be as directly and quickly as marketing campaigns which can boost ROI in a few weeks. However, businesses still invest billions in PR because it brings a profound impact on long-term development. By strengthening relationships with customers and media, companies can achieve a good reputation, improve customer engagement and brand loyalty.
As a PR professional, you must have experienced the company’s leadership and clients asked for the metrics over and over again. There are some principles to measure and evaluate your PR performance in 2021.
- Set a quantifiable goal before launching a PR campaign
Many PR professionals are used to first starting their plans and then consider the approaches to evaluate the outcomes. Nevertheless, it is important to carry out what to measure, how to measure, and why to measure at the beginning of your entire plan.
A good way to guide you to set a clear goal is to remember the SMART model:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
- Focus on a broader level of impacts
Instead of concentrating on sales promotion, PR professionals should think about what societal and organizational influences they can create. Never forget the purpose of PR is to build relationships with company stakeholders. For instance, Forbes launched a vote called “The Best Workplace in 2021”, which had positive impacts on employee retention.
When designing the metrics of PR campaigns, you should consider:
- Who are the stakeholders we are targeting?
- What impacts do I want to make?
- How do I measure these impacts?
- Who do I should support internally?
- Both qualitative and quantitative metrics should be included
It is impossible to ignore the numeric results in the big data world. Most PR professionals are experts in utilising surveys and analytical tools to evaluate campaign performance. However, qualitative measurements are equally important to tell if the PR activities reach the benchmarks.
Some common qualitative metrics are below.
- Article engagement
- Journalist reach
- Sentiments
- Support voices
- Message quality
Headquartered in New York City, Bao Communications is a full-service bilingual PR Agency specializing in social media, media relations, content creation, and influencer marketing. We serve local, national, and global clients in the United States and China.