Top 3 metrics for PR campaigns

Earned media is powerful and, more often than not, can have a much bigger impact than incremental channels like paid digital. Through our EARN IT. strategies we’ve driven month on month increases in branded search of over 600%. In today’s dynamic landscape, measuring earned impact  isn’t just plausible; it’s essential. At Nexus, we deliver quantifiable results, constantly evaluating our reporting metrics and challenging how we can improve our PR and marketing services for our clients.

Here are the top KPI’s and metrics you should be looking at if you want to understand just how powerful PR and wider earned thinking is.

1. Discovery
   Earned strategies play a huge role in driving genuine brand discovery. Being published by credible sources gives consumers confidence that your product or service is commended. It plays a key role in influencing audiences to find out more about you.
   
   But how can you measure if you’re delivering an effective discovery program? Aside from traditional brand tracking surveys which look at awareness, there are wider points that can help demonstrate performance of your PR and influencer programs.  
   
   Key metrics
   Branded search: How many times is your brand name search aligned to coverage  
   Impressions: How many times a piece of content has been seen
   MUU: Monthly unique users sets out how many visitors to a news site or the total number of print publications available to buy 
   
2. Authority
   The importance of reaching the right audiences for campaign success cannot be overstated, and a good media relations strategy can help you achieve just that. Expert knowledge of the media landscape is essential with deep understanding of the nuances of the titles and their sectors. If the overall goal of the campaign is to drive real business results like foodservice listings then getting coverage in titles those key stakeholders read regularly is key.
   
   Key metrics
   Media ranking:  A good agency should clearly set out the highest impact titles aligned to your audience, this doesn’t always mean the highest reaching! Typically a bespoke gold, silver, bronze approach makes things clear.
   Positive sentiment and engagement rate: If people are liking, resharing and making positive comments, this is a good indicator that your brand authority is growing
   Inbound requests:  Investment in creativity, PR and influencers will pay back – journalists, media, podcasts and speaker invites is a great way of tracking increases in authority
   
3. Conversion
   One of the biggest opportunities for evaluating (proving!) the success of your campaign is comparing media coverage with website hits – did the number of users increase the same day that MailOnline piece went live? Of course, it isn’t always so linear, as this is also about building future demand and a good campaign will always consider its digital footprint.
   
   Key metrics
   Unique visitors: How many unique visitors have landed on the website as a result of recent coverage. Typically you see these spikes on the date of publication and for the next two to four weeks. 
   Site dwell time:  As consumers with genuine interest are driven to your owned channels by credible sources, the dwell time on your site will increase, this is an opportunity to start having deeper conversations.
   Sales: There will be instant sales but you also have to look at the medium and long term impact that credible coverage and influencer recommendations will have.

Ultimately, if you’re not demonstrating value or measuring effectiveness your strategy isn’t being proven. At Nexus, our EARN IT. approach blends analytical marketing thinking with the fizz and relevance of earned channels such as PR, social media and influencers.