If you’re thinking of launching a Public Relations campaign in 2022, but you are worried about delivering proof of your investment, I have some good news.
PR used to be notoriously hard to measure. It was a crude tally of circulation X column inches and wasn’t a comprehensive reflection of the true value of PR.
Fortunately technology has changed all that!
I use software which displays coverage in an electronic portfolio. It provides solid data and independent third party metrics.
This includes details of the number of times the article is likely to be viewed in its lifetime, what influence the publishing website has on search engines (very importantly, its domain authority) and how many backlinks have been created from articles to a website.
Backlinks also help with SEO and in improving your visibility on search engines because your brand has been endorsed by a third-party.
Having your PR and website experts working in tandem is an even better approach and you can delve deeper into analysing the PR shared across your social media channels. Using Google Analytics and other tools, you can see what affect the media coverage has had on website visitors.
There are ever-evolving coverage tools that can measure both tone and mentions of your brand linked to your key messages, compared with your competitors, so the metrics can get as detailed as you need.
And if you also introduce digital PR into your marketing efforts (using a Press Release, media coverage or social media to encourage downloads of your Owned Media including podcasts, blogs and whitepapers), you can see how PR has triggered more views, shares or subscribers.
PR is an amazing and powerful tool which can help you to reach new audiences, drive traffic to your website and create new opportunities and partnerships. So make sure you include it in your marketing arsenal!