When it comes to measuring results of a public relations campaign, it feels like acronyms are everywhere these days – KPI, ROI, OTR, SEO, CSR, CRM – the list goes on.
While some of these metrics are more useful than others, it is always important to have a way to demonstrate the overall business impact that public relations efforts have produced.
Compared to marketing or advertising, it is difficult to qualitatively demonstrate the impact, such as if the campaign had the result in call to action or influenced people’s thoughts. But it’s not impossible.
The Barcelona Principles, which have been updated twice since its inception in 2010, are a measurement and evaluation framework that outline industry best methods for measuring value in public relations. One key difference between these principles and previous processes of capturing value creation is the focus on outcomes rather than outputs. In other words, they suggest that rather than focusing on the number of social media posts or impressions for a press release, emphasis should placed upon the change or impact of the work upon stakeholder behavior, opinion, or knowledge.
Based on these principles and our own expertise, these are the steps needed to demonstrate value created from PR:
- Find out what the goals are for the organization as a whole:
- Increase market share?
- Sales growth?
- Build new business channels?
- Retain customers?
- Improve search engine optimization?
- Enhance membership experience?
- Link communications tactics to these goals. Not all executives will understand or care about communications efforts when they have a multi-national company to oversee.
- Craft a narrative for C-suite executives outlining how PR can help accomplish their objectives, in ways they understand.
- Provide benchmarks to compare results against. Whether this is the first time or the millionth time the impact of communications tactics is being measured or evaluated, it is important to have a standard upon which to compare findings.
- Continue to monitor, update and adjust approaches to continue to best reach the organization’s goals.
Below, we have outlined several ways we use public relations strategies help clients accomplish their broader objectives and ambitions.
How Xenophon help clients reach their organizational goals…
- If the goal is to increase sales or market share: Share of voice within industry conversations will help demonstrate how much stakeholders are talking about the organization or how much it is top of mind.
- If the goal is to improve SEO: Having backlinks to a client’s website in an article on a respected newspaper or other publication will do wonders for your SEO.
- If the client’s goal is to cut costs: Earned media through public relations is much cheaper than paid media and advertising.
- If the goal is to make better investments to appease their board: The Barcelona Principles help organizations make smarter decisions about where to invest in communication by focusing on metrics that executives, not just communicators, understand and value.
- If the goal is to increase Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives: Providing data regarding the industry or societal impact of your public relations efforts helps provide a ‘why’ behind the work for stakeholders..
- If the goal is to improve their reputation: Inclusion of key messages will ensure that the narrative you create and desire is being disseminated.
- If the goal is to increase knowledge or awareness of their brand, product, or service: A feature story in a well-known and esteemed media outlet shows that a brand has gained the respect of an objective third party.
It’s important to measure what public relations can do and evaluate that in terms of what the business is trying to achieve. That said, it is difficult to portray to executives the effects of public relations without being able to execute and capture the social media posts and media pitching efforts needed to generate impact.
Xenophon has over 20 years of experience in public relations, public affairs, media training, and social and digital asset creation, not to mention strategic planning and working with C-suite executives to gain their support for communications efforts. For more information on how Xenophon can help add value to your organization, please visit: https://xenophonstrategies.com/services/strategic-messaging/.