What do you want from your PR?

When we make any purchase, we want to make sure it does what we want it to.
So what do YOU want from your PR?

This is one of the things we’re often asked for: “What we want from our PR is big splashes of editorial”

Let me explain why this, by itself, isn’t a great thing to ask for.

I know there are still people who equate the value of editorial to the amount it would have cost to buy that much advertising space. Known as AVE or ‘Advertising value equivalent’ , this way of comparing PR to advertising has been roundly denounced by the PR industry for years, and rightly so.

After all, how can you put that sort of value on BBC coverage? Or what is the value of coverage in an obscure title – or what about uncomplimentary editorial? Or what about this recent press coverage.  No, AVEs are just a lazy shorthand, and really don’t measure how successful a PR campaign is.

But what are the alternatives?

Well, firstly, it’s important to work out what you want to achieve with your PR.   Is “more awareness” something which can be measured? No. Having a SMART (specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and time-based) goals will help you and your PR agency.

For example:

• “we want to achieve a 10% increase in numbers of visitors to our exhibition stand on 16th September” or
• “we want to get 120 downloads of our white paper on the benefits of rail freight, before the end of the year” or
• “we want to get 6 pieces of trade press coverage during our 3 month campaign, specifically in Logistics Manager and Handy Shipping Guide” or

Here are some of the other ways to measure a PR campaign, which are taken from the Barcelona principles:

• Don’t just measure how many press releases you’ve sent out – measure the outcomes (ie. did they appear where you hoped?)
• The affect on business results can and should be measured where possible
• Media measurement requires quantity and quality ie. how many potential readers saw the coverage? Was it positive about your company?
• But at all times, remember AVEs are not the value of PR

If you put some goals in at the start, then you’ll know if you’ve achieved them or not.

How will you know your PR is working?