There are different ways to measure the success of a media campaign. For some companies, the number of articles is the most important; for others, it’s about one hit in a target publication. Ultimately, measuring coverage should connect to your company’s objectives.
In a recent PR Daily article, Senior Editor Allison Carter wrote about a media coverage scorecard presented at PR Daily’s Media & Measurement Conference. The scorecard creates a framework for measuring coverage based on “desirable criteria” and “undesirable criteria.” The scorecard is split in two columns to identify if the coverage is positive or negative toward a company’s overall goals.
The desirable column includes checkboxes to score if the article has a positive headline, includes a desirable visual, contains a positive message and mentions an event or program, among other elements. In the undesirable column, the rows include the opposite measures, (e.g., contains one or more negative messages, a negative headline or has an undesirable visual, etc.).
At a high level, the objective of the scorecard is to measure beyond whether or not you secure the coverage and determine if the article is “good.”
While these factors help classify if coverage is positive, it’s important to take a step back and look at the messages in the article. A message can be positive, but there might be other takeaways you want for the reader. For example, if your company is eager to attract and retain talent, an article in a business publication that raves about your solutions might help attract potential customers, but not attract applicants.
Therefore, when crafting campaigns and coaching spokespeople, it’s essential to make sure you have alignment on the messages your audiences need to hear and understand. This will help ensure that the resulting coverage will include some of those messages.
Every interview, pitch and press release quote does not need to include all key messages. However, aiming to have at least two or three of those messages in a campaign can help increase the likelihood that at least one will come through in the final article.
Message Pull-through
Message pull-through is a measurement that can help determine the effectiveness and quality of coverage. After an article publishes, you can measure pull-through by looking at if and how your key themes came across. When calculating message pull-through, you should create a chart that lists your top three to five key messages. Then, when reviewing the coverage, check the boxes to highlight which messages were included in each article. You’ll be able to see which themes are coming through and if you need to change any processes to diversify messages. Something as simple as the chart below:
|
Message/Theme |
Y |
N |
|
Improved efficiency |
X |
|
|
Robust team |
X |
|
|
Scalability |
|
X |
|
Higher employee satisfaction |
X |
|
You can then tally up the findings in a way that best aligns with other metrics tracking (e.g., X number of articles mention scalability, or X percent of articles include messages about scalability and efficiency, etc.).
Outlet Readership and Reach
Another critical element to consider when measuring the quality of coverage is the outlet and its readership. This goes hand-in-hand with message pull-through. You might have the right messages, but the article is less effective if those messages reach the wrong audiences.
In many industries, some audiences prioritize different messages, so evaluating the outlet and its relevance to your specific audience will also impact the success of message pull-through and the overall “quality” of the article. Additionally, if the theme and audience are correct, the publication’s reach can also improve the quality of the coverage. For example, if a company wants to raise awareness of its brand and can reach many more individuals with one publication and article, it can meet its goals and save budget.
Scorecards aren’t a one-size-fits-all measurement. It’s best to work with your marketing and PR teams to create a custom tracker that aligns with your goals and that you can update as those goals evolve.
Have you set new communication objectives for 2023? Will those goals change the way you track results? Reach out to our team to help you create a tailored scorecard for measuring coverage.