PR agents traditionally measure success in the number of media clippings and quality of the mentions or references. The other traditional way is by repeating surveys to gauge influence gained. These are still viable measurement tactics.
Today there is so much more feedback that can be gathered, analyzed and reported easily and with little cost to results of public relations. The measurements used will vary from client to client. Some are more focused on noting increasing amounts of time on their sites, while others don’t mind if the time is short as long as we can show that the visitors are going to pages that have been referenced in digital ads or in publicity. In other words, it is evidence that the audience is getting the “word.” I also like to see where referring website traffic is stemming from and note if it is originating from articles we helped our client place or ads designed for digital publications.
We are interested in learning more from our colleagues in the field on this subject. In a recent survey report issued by the Public Relations Society, it was noted that PR measurement is more important than ever to the C-suite and also that more PR agents are working directly with top management. I do believe there is connection in those findings. Measuring and reporting on results is critical to a successful top level relationship. See the article here.
