As the statistician and management consultant W. Edwards Deming once said, “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
Collecting and analyzing data is critical for all businesses and organizations. Understanding results gives teams insight into what is working versus what isn’t. It helps them make informed decisions and optimize performance.
As strategic partners, PR professionals should constantly review and analyze the effectiveness of their work. Understanding the success of a campaign can be paramount in driving results for your client.
Below are some common questions and best practices for analyzing a PR campaign’s effectiveness.
Where do I start?
PR professionals should begin by defining campaign goals, so you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. For example, some common goals might include building brand awareness, enhancing reputation, managing a crisis and growing thought leadership. Clearly defined goals help you track and measure your progress.
What types of data should I track?
You’ll want to choose relevant metrics that align with your PR goals. For instance, consider measuring things like website traffic, share of voice, the number of articles published or message pull-through.
On a larger scale, it can be helpful to measure the impact of PR efforts on business outcomes, such as sales and leads or customer retention. You’ll likely need to ask other department heads for this data, which you can then correlate with your PR campaign.
Once I’ve decided what I’m tracking, what measurement best practices should I use?
Below are a few best practices to ensure your data is accurate and reliable:
- Organize your data in a spreadsheet: This allows you to easily manipulate it and see metrics like coverage by quarter and region, growth rates, the correlation of activity to results, response rates, average domain authority, unique visitors per month and the like.
- Use consistent measurements: This ensures you can compare results over time. For example, when tracking growth rates, be sure to use a consistent period of time to ensure an apples-to-apples analysis. When tracking data on the number of articles published on your client’s behalf, you should gather the articles published within a given quarter, year, month, etc.
- Use benchmarks: It can also be helpful to benchmark results against key competitors. To do this, gather the competitor’s articles within the same time period, then review and compare the growth rates to those of your client.
How do I use this information?
Once you’ve gathered all the necessary data, dig deeper. Analyze your results to better understand what activities contributed to your campaign’s success or failure. Nailing down causes can help you identify specific improvements for your next campaign.
For instance, to increase your chance of media coverage, you may want to update your pitch to add value. Including unique angles in your pitch removes some of the burden from journalists, making your story more appealing and increasing the likelihood of coverage.
You can also target different reporters to ensure you’ve thoroughly covered the media on behalf of your client. Consider a shift in strategy if its execution is not driving results.
What’s the best way to present this information?
Once you’ve gathered and analyzed the data, present your findings to the client in the most organized and professional manner possible. Consider developing a slide show using the following template:
- Introduction: Begin with an executive summary that highlights your findings and reiterates your goals.
- Findings: Use the middle slides to dig into the campaign metrics and results. Use charts, graphs and tables to make your data easily accessible.
- Next steps: Provide clear and actionable recommendations on how to improve results for the next campaign.
- Be sure you are measuring the impact of each campaign as your relationship with your client continues to grow.
Analyzing data and results is equally as important in PR as in any other business. It’s critical that PR professionals understand the impact of their campaigns and make necessary adjustments to provide clients with results that move the needle for their businesses.