‘How do we know if our PR campaign has been a success’ is a question we’ve been asked many times by brands over the years.

Measuring the success of a PR campaign isn’t easy  - it’s all very dependent on the brand you’re working with and what success looks like to them.

Setting the goals and objectives of your campaign at the outset and agreeing them with your agency is important so the PR professionals can track progress and have something to be measured against.

Setting targets or KPIs are equally as important - that will give you agreed targets to work towards and something you can aim to achieve and exceed.

The metrics for measurement will differ depending on whether you’re running a trade or consumer campaign, a traditional PR campaign or a digital one.

Here are some metrics you should consider:

Domain authority

If digital PR is most important for your business, at the start of a campaign, check domain authority and carry on checking throughout. DA is judged by links to your website and links from high authority sites. The DA should increase if a brand's digital PR campaign is successful.

Backlinks

Backlinks are important. They’re great for SEO and are a good source of traffic, driving people from other sites to yours. Follow links are the ones you want, but it’s good to have a mix. The more follow links you earn, the more impact your campaign will have on SEO and search rankings. If this is important to you, make sure to establish it with your agency at the outset so they can set appropriate KPIs. 

Website traffic

If outreach for a PR campaign reaches the right audiences in relevant titles, you can expect the organic traffic to your site to increase as a result. The impact can be seen in clicks, sales and enquiries.

‍Mentions

These are the number of times your brand's name, hashtag, product has been mentioned. More mention equals more brand awareness which is always a good thing. There is the change of negative mentions, particularly through social channels - keep an eye on those ones. mention comes through social channels.

‍Volume of coverage

This is an effective way to measure, and achieving coverage in big titles and on popular sites will allow you to reach a wide audience. 

Sales

A good PR campaign will play a part in driving sales. PR can get customers interested and to a site, but it’s up to the brand to convert those to sales.

To see some of our most successful campaigns, take a look here, and get in touch to find out more about planning PR activity for your business. 

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