by Shannon Sullivan
Many organizations find it challenging to determine what metrics they should track to measure their public relations efforts, leaving them unsure if their strategies are driving any real value. Do you feel like your brand is struggling to accurately measure the positive impact PR has on your organization? If so, you’re not alone.
We recently attended Muck Rack’s State of PR Measurement 2024 webinar to learn more about what PR professionals had to say about measuring their efforts this past year. The webinar was guided by Muck Rack’s latest research report, which surveyed over 400 professionals in the industry to uncover how they track and report metrics, the challenges they encounter, and how they determine which metrics are most valuable for their organizations. We also dove into Muck Rack’s State of PR 2024 report, which surveyed more than 1,000 PR professionals. This document sheds a broader light on the industry’s emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities.
Drawing from these two reports, we will outline the most compelling takeaways we found, as well as how clients can utilize these metrics to measure their success.
The Importance of Measuring Your PR Efforts
Tracking and measuring public relations tactics is essential in understanding their effectiveness and impact. Without clear data demonstrating how your work benefits your organization, you risk your efforts being undervalued and overlooked, which can make it more difficult for you to secure a budget for it in the future.
Muck Rack’s report showed that 82% of PR pros track their PR efforts, and 86% said that measuring their efforts was very important or extremely important. Additionally, 40% said that media measurement and reporting was a major part of their job. Tracking and reporting metrics can also be crucial in proving the value of public relations to those who may not fully understand the impact it can have, with 89% of survey respondents saying they used metrics to demonstrate PR’s impact to stakeholders.
Properly tracking and measuring metrics and KPIs can seem challenging, if not daunting, at first. In fact, 38% of survey respondents said they struggled with unclear goals or success metrics. So, how do you determine the right metrics to properly measure your communications strategies and ensure you’re tracking your efforts properly? In this blog, we will break down what PR professionals in 2024 used, industry recommendations on what to track, and how Geile/Leon measures the success of our strategies.
Measuring Success Through Metrics
In Muck Rack’s State of PR Measurement 2024 report, the metrics that PR pros said most accurately measured their efforts and were most trustworthy were:
- Number of stories placed (63%)
- Reach/impressions (42%)
- Key message pull-through (35%)
Cision, the public relations and earned media software company, also recommends tracking share of voice (SOV) and engagement across social media in their Complete Guide to PR Measurement.
At Geile/Leon we’ve been integrating these metrics into reports and continue to analyze the newest metrics available to give clients the most relevant, useful stats.
Although Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) has been a controversial metric to track in recent years, we still find it beneficial. We have found that many of our clients want to see this statistic because it reassures them and their executive leadership that there is truly value in the investment they are making in public relations. This information can also be useful when creating budgets or assessing how your organization’s advertising spend compares to competitors.
Muck Rack’s report also dove into what PR pros said least accurately measured their efforts. The most common response was pitch performance, with 32% agreeing that this metric did not accurately reflect the impact or success of their strategies or tactics. Pitch performance can be defined as the number of pitches sent, the open rate, click-through rate (CTR), and more. While it’s great for a pitch you sent to have a high open rate and CTR, this does not mean the pitch will lead to an actual story. At Geile/Leon, we use this information to help us analyze the subject line’s performance and when we should pivot to a more attention-grabbing one, but we do not use this information to directly determine the success of a pitch.
Sentiment was another commonly cited metric, with 24% of respondents saying that it does not accurately measure their efforts. Sentiment ratings of media stories (positive, neutral or negative) can be an unreliable metric when generated by media measurement companies. At G/L, we often have to change an article’s sentiment rating from auto-generated coverage reports for this reason.
PR pros also questioned the accuracy of revenue impact: 24% said this is not a trustworthy metric. Revenue impact can mean the leads and sales gained from public relations efforts. This metric can be very difficult to quantify, which is why the PR industry generally does not tie revenue to PR efforts. Public relations should not be seen as a lead generation strategy, but rather as awareness and brand-building.
Don’t Overlook the Power of Qualitative Data
While quantitative data provides clear, numerical evidence of the success of PR efforts, qualitative data can also provide your organization with many invaluable insights. Cision’s Complete Guide to PR Measurement report explains that combining qualitative and quantitative data can give your organization a better understanding of campaign effectiveness, brand reputation, and market share. The qualitative data sources they outline are:
- In-depth stakeholder interviews
- Focus groups
- Forum analysis
- Customer testimonials
- Surveys
How In-House Teams and PR Agencies Collaborate to Drive Success
Effectively and accurately tracking metrics is a challenge for many PR professionals. While most in-house teams understand the importance of measuring their efforts, they often lack the manpower and resources to properly track these efforts. Muck Rack’s State of PR 2024 reported that having enough resources is a top concern for 58% of PR professionals that work in-house, which is 16% higher than those that work at agencies.
This is why handing off any extra work to an agency can be a great way to gain additional support, improve efficiency, and ensure your efforts are effective. PerMuck Rack, 43% of PR professionals said their public relations is managed by a combination of an in-house team and an agency. Many of these partnerships work on a retainer, with only 8% of brands assigning projects to agencies on an ad hoc basis.
A majority of brands say they utilize agency help for pitching (83%), research/building media lists (73%), project-based work (51%), and content writing (39%). At Geile/Leon, we pride ourselves on being an extension of your team, jumping in to help our clients with a range of public relations services when needed.
If you’re struggling to show your executive leadership that your PR efforts are valuable and important, we’d love to discuss how partnering with Geile/Leon can help your team. Reach out to Terri Waters at 314-727-5850, ext. 116 or [email protected].