Public relations is often all about improving and increasing the image of a brand or institution. It makes sense that a key part of the process is therefore measuring its success. Just like anything else you invest in, you want to make sure the service you get is worth it but, in the PR industry, is that easier said than done?
Thankfully, the way in which we can measure PR has evolved significantly over the last decade or so, partly thanks to a shift towards digital PR. This shift has allowed PR professionals to use analytics platforms to measure the reach of their PR work and to collect data about audiences – which allows us to target and assess our efforts effectively.
So why is measuring PR important?
- It builds credibility and trust
- Ensures you’re working towards goals
- Keeps everyone accountable
- Improves strategy
Measuring PR is so important because it is not only a way for you prove its value, but it also allows you to optimise strategies and ensure you are producing meaningful outcomes that work towards your goals. Let’s take a closer look at why measuring is really worth it…
1. It builds credibility and trust
Providing solid data and analysis – for instance, through tools like CoverageBook – is a great way to showcase the impact of PR work and really enhance the credibility you have internally as well as in collaboration with an agency like us if you have one. It allows you to share the results with stakeholders, and this transparency will build trust.
2. Ensures you’re working towards goals
Before any cooperation in PR, it is very important to set clear goals for the campaign and what you’re looking to achieve. This could be increasing brand visibility, focusing on student recruitment, or targeting a specific industry. By continuously monitoring the PR campaign, you can be sure that your strategy is aligned and is contributing to the goals you agreed at the beginning.
3. Keeps everyone accountable
Measuring your PR campaign regularly, and being transparent with your stakeholders, will always keep you and your colleagues accountable. It encourages a culture of performance and continuous improvement.
4. Improves strategy
By analysing your PR efforts, you can identify what strategies are the most successful in reaching the target audience and achieving goals. Knowing this allows you to continuously improve and optimise your PR strategy going forward.
How can you measure PR?
1. Media coverage
One way to track the impact of a PR campaign is to look at the number of media hits you’ve secured. Keeping track of this and analysing not only how many you’ve secured in a time period, but also the quality of the hits is an effective way to see if you’re meeting relevant goals.
That’s because the number of media hits isn’t everything. You can also take into account the domain authority and the readership of the publication – who are you influencing? How relevant is the audience? In some cases, trade publications can be better than top-tier due to their whole readership being the intended target audience!
We regularly provide updates which showcase all of the media coverage that we have secured with various numerical milestones included. It helps to effectively highlight the work that we do.
2. Social media engagement
Another effective way to track the impact of PR efforts is to track your follower and social media engagement, such as likes, comments, and mentions to gauge its impact on your brand presence.
In the case of business schools and universities, a lot of your target audience will be on social media so it is a fantastic way to keep track of whether you’re reaching the correct audience.
3. Student recruitment and other impacts
For business schools and universities, one of the main reasons to invest in PR is to increase student recruitment. Whether that is to increase it as a whole, or to increase it from a certain target market, keeping track of your student recruitment from before, during, and after the campaign can be a good way to monitor the effectiveness of your PR efforts. Are applicants saying they’ve been influenced by articles they’ve read about your school? Find out!
And beyond student recruitment, what other impacts could you see? For instance, are faculty being invited to speak at conferences or advise bodies like the UN or governments because of media coverage for their research and insights that has boosted their visibility?
Finally, what tools are you using to help track and measure success? We use a media monitoring service as well as tools like TalkWalker and Google alerts, and we provide reports to demonstrate success.
It is so important to measure the success of PR and show your worth! If you set out the goals and targets beforehand, then the methods above should help you to determine if your campaign was successful.
If you would like more information on how to measure and deliver impactful PR campaigns, contact BlueSky Education today.
Katie is a Senior Account Manager at BlueSky Education.
She is an education communications specialist with journalistic flair thanks to a degree in Multimedia Journalism and a stint as a reporter at the Financial Times.
