Measuring the Effectiveness
of Public Relations
One of the most frequent questions regarding public relations is "How do you know a PR campaign was successful?" There is no definitive answer. Virtually every PR practitioner will give a slightly - or sometimes a very - different answer to that question.
One way to measure a campaign's effectiveness is by counting "clips" - that is, the number of times that information from a press release appeared in a newspaper, magazine, on radio and TV, etc. Recently, the Denver Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Colorado District Office of the Small Business Administration presented a conference for women business owners. Over several months, press releases on the conference were sent to every newspaper in the state. When the clips were counted, over 30 stories had run on the conference.
To show an even greater value of the conference's PR efforts, the number of "impressions" was calculated. This was done by determining the newspapers' circulation, and then adding up the total numbers. For example, five stories ran in the Business Times of Western Colorado, which has a circulation of 5,250, for a total of 26,250 impressions. The total number of impressions statewide was nearly two million! Does this mean that the stories were read two million times? Of course not. However, it is obvious that many people did read the stories, as the conference had over 500 people registered, from all over Colorado.
Obviously, counting clips is a subjective measure of a PR campaign’s effectiveness. Quantity is not always important. For example, one story in the Wall Street Journal could have a greater impact than 50 stories in much smaller newspapers. Also, remember that counting clips is just one way to measure the effectiveness of PR.
It is very important to note that public relations should be used in conjunction with other marketing efforts. For example, to promote the conference, advertising on TV and in newspapers and magazines was used; as were e-mails, flyers, etc. All of this combined to create a coordinated effort to promote the conference.
Don't forget that PR is much, much more than just sending out press releases. It includes employee communications, community relations, executive speeches and so on. Additionally, it is critical that companies, no matter what size, include public relations with all their marketing efforts. Because no matter how you measure it, PR is a crucial component to a company's success.
©2005 Wise Women Communications