What truly makes a PR campaign successful? A question which usually results in a stream of complex answers with contradicting opinions and unnecessary jargon, leaving you feeling even more baffled than before. But it doesn’t have to be this way. While volume of coverage is one factor for how ‘well’ a PR campaign has performed, there’s other, more useful metrics you can use to analyse the impact of the coverage you’ve achieved.
As part of our commitment to only ever work on briefs that deliver genuine value to our clients, we thought it was time we delved deeper into what actually makes a PR campaign successful. Whether you’re looking to secure backlinks to improve your site’s domain authority, or you're looking to enhance yours or your company’s reputation with the media, there’s plenty of different ways to understanding how well your media relations efforts are performing.
Here we take a look at the four questions you should ask yourself when reporting on your next PR campaign...
Has the story featured in any target publications?
Forget the data for now, are the publications your story or article has featured in, of real value to you or your client? Quality over quantity wins every time. Now that doesn’t mean an article that’s been featured in a trade magazine compared to a national newspaper is of any less value. If you had a client that operated in the cement industry for example, then it’s probably more beneficial for them to be featured in the likes of World Cement or The Construction Index over a fleeting mention in a national newspaper, even if it does have a readership figure in the millions. In May 2024, statistics showed that 90% of a B2B buyers’ journey began online. Understanding who your audience is, where they are, and what they’re reading is crucial.
2. Has it gained any traction on social media?
Even when looking at social media in isolation, it’s a solid platform for businesses and their senior spokespeople to showcase their expertise on their own channels. But how does this crossover into media relations?
If your story has hit the headlines, it’s more than likely it’s made its way across to conversations on social media too (particularly on X and even LinkedIn). Being able to track the number of times an article has been linked or discussed on a platform like X for example is easier than ever, not least because you can report on metrics such as engagement, impressions and reshares, but it means you can track overall sentiment too. There’s plenty of social listening tools available to help gather and interpret this type of data, and while it’s possible your team will have one in place already, manually trawling for these types of statistics is also possible.
How many people are estimated to have viewed it?
One thing we stand by at Yasper is that quality over quantity always wins out when it comes to coverage, but audience reach is still important for the overall reporting process, particularly when you need to feed back on statistics and what this means for overall spend and return on investment (ROI).
That being said, it’s important you’re investing your time (and content) into targeting the right audiences. Yes, the more well-known newspapers and business publications will more than likely have a higher number of readers, but reaching more people doesn’t automatically equate to higher engagement or conversion.
If brand awareness is one of the main objectives for your media relations campaign, then of course the number of people you’re able to reach will be a key metric to report on, but it’s also worth asking yourself: a) where have these statistics come from? And b) do they seem higher or lower than you expecting?
How many organic backlinks has your story earned?
If your PR efforts are contributing to your overall SEO strategy, then it’s more than likely your campaigns are tailored towards increasing the number of organic or ‘do-follow’ backlinks to your website.
If a recent campaign hasn’t achieved your desired results when it comes to backlinks, it’s worth asking yourself what you should be doing in future campaigns to ensure they have the desired effect. Writing for the media is one thing, but pitching stories to news outlets that they actually want to cover and share with their readership is another. For example, issuing a press release highlighting your company’s growth probably isn’t link worthy, but issuing a press release with polling results or statistics from a survey you’ve commissioned could make all the difference.
What more can I do to measure PR success?
While the above questions relate to various areas of PR reporting, media relations success really does look different to everyone. If your business is looking to improve its domain ranking, then yes, securing backlinks is important. However, if you’re looking to influence opinion, then you may want to look at gathering completely different entirely. Different objectives lead to the development of different communications strategies, which is why there’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to measuring the effective of a campaign.
If you’re looking for a media relations partner that can offer you tailored advice and help your organisation improve its communications efforts, contact us or visit our services page to find out more.