The Public Relations Blog

At Axia Public Relations, we have seven principles for how we measure PR and a four-level measurement approach that provides the true impact to your organization. This approach includes setting SMART objectives and using communication methods to move your target audiences down the PR measurement funnel to the impacts stage where they’ll take action.

Our PR firm’s process for reporting public relations campaigns

Strategic communication requires consistent evaluation. In order to evaluate, you must have reporting methods, so you know if your audiences are consuming your messages and how your messages have affected your audiences over time. PR professionals frequently use real-time reporting methods, such as dashboards or live monitors, so teams can listen and immediately react, acknowledge, or adapt to their audiences.

Download a complimentary template to help plan your public relations campaign

Identifying all your organization’s target audiences is a key step during communication planning. Target audiences are part of your PR plan’s inputs. You can use this tool for communication, marketing, and PR strategies because it identifies what specific audiences need and improves your company’s communication methods.

Apply these methods to your PR and marketing materials

When you hire a public relations firm, you trust its members to make ethical decisions and use best practices in all stages of communication with your audiences. Persuasive communication methods work to change your audience’s awareness, attitude, or behavior. When working to persuade someone, whether it’s to attend, purchase, visit, follow, or donate, apply the T.A.R.E.S. test or the duty-based method to ensure ethical best practices. Read our post “3 golden rules of PR in 2018” to dive deeper into which ethical standards are trending this year.

Advertising Value Equivalency is an outdated PR measurement

Earned media coverage is a terrific way to get your organization in front of audiences that may want to purchase your products and services. Unlike advertising, earned media is an unpaid, third-party mention – that may be a quote, an endorsement or interview. How do you measure earned media coverage and prove its value to executives? Make sure you discuss measurement with your public relations agency early in the relationship so you have shared objectives for communication efforts.

5 questions to ask your PR firm to initiate a measurement conversation

When you bring on a public relations firm, one of your first conversations should be about measurement. This helps both parties identify the need for a PR campaign and the overall goal for your organization. In order to establish collaborative goals and a shared vision for your campaign, you need measurable objectives in your communication plan.

Axia Public Relations covers 15 mistakes companies make when hiring a PR firm, and not having a measurement conversation is mistake #14. It’s important to have the measurement conversation with your PR firm in the initial steps of planning your PR campaign.

Prospective clients ask us on a regular basis, “How do you get to know our company, and how do you use that information to generate earned media coverage?”

We love educating business people about the power of PR and how we help companies earn media coverage.

Axia Public Relations breaks down what it means to plan S.M.A.R.T.

Learn more about the improved version, the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. process.

Each of our clients has a personalized public relations plan. We collaborate with company marketing leaders to develop their communications for the quarter, year and future. We’re experts in planning and executing great strategic communications, and we know how to make them sharp and SMART.

And what exactly does SMART mean? We’ll break it down for you.

If you’d like help drafting your marketing and communications plan, Axia offers that service.

Begin your PR campaign the right way: Allow resources for measurement.

Most likely, your company measures sales, employee retention, and NPS scores. It’s also important to measure your marketing department's work along with your public relations agency of record.

Measurement must be a consistent process once you identify your key performance indicators. That’s easy if what you’re measuring is in-house and completely accessible. Hopefully, you already have the spreadsheets in place, so all you have to do is pull the sum at the bottom each week.

Companies should set aside resources for measuring their vendors' outputs, including their public relations agency. Being unwilling to spend the time and money upfront for proper PR measurement is one of the 15 mistakes companies make when hiring a PR firm. Read on to find out why you should include measurement in your PR budget.

One of the top questions in public relations is, “How do I measure PR?” You can easily measure PR when you have a strong plan in place before your campaign begins. Researching what you want to accomplish and crafting a PR plan allows you to see if you’ve met your PR goals.

The content of your PR plan will vary depending on your organization's goals. We’ve outlined exactly what kind of objectives you can work toward using the power of PR.