Measuring PR in the 21st Century: What Actually Works, by Christopher Penn SHIFT Communications.
The primary responsibility of PR is to create awareness of the brand and establish trust, establish the beginnings of the relationship with the audience. Awareness equals audience. Awareness creates audiences, because if someone is unaware of you, they can’t do any kind of business with you.
PR has failed at measurement in three important ways:
- Not trying- not bothering to measure at all
- Ad Value Equivalence- selling advertising solely based on square inches of paper
- Making stuff up-making up numbers and measures that have no bearing on actual business results
Measure what matters and what you can control when it comes to PR:
- Audience Reach
- Engagement
- Action
Branded organic search, referral traffic, and social media traffic are among the most impacted audiences with regard to effective PR.
“If you don’t understand the past and make changes in the present, the future is out of your control.”– Christopher Penn
Kaon Interactive 