Curious about KPIs? Here are 13 metrics to consider for your next campaign.
While it certainly “feels” great to know that you are increasing visibility for your brand, either through a press placement, podcast mention, social media share, and so forth, it’s important to measure the success of any campaign with certain KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators.
In addition to measuring success and progress, KPIs help with accountability, decision-making, competitor analysis, resource allocation, and much more. If you’ve been curious about what those look like for your PR agency or partner, here is a checklist to refer to. Remember, not all may be applicable to your brand, so it’s important to work closely with your PR or marketing team to track the indicators that make the most sense and bring the most value to your business.
Here are 13 metrics to consider for your next campaign:
1. Media Impressions
How many eyeballs can we presume were reached by our placements.
2. Interviews conducted
Number of email or live interviews conducted by brand spokesperson.
3. Ad Value
What is the value of our placements if they were paid instead of earned.
4. Messaging
Were the key messages about the product, brand, or service included in the placement or pick-up?
5. Samples requested
How many samples were requested and sent to the media, celebrities, and influencers?
6. Target Media
Top 10-15 media outlets we will aim for inclusion based on our target audience and messaging to transmit.
7. SEO
The impact of digital media placements on our brand’s search engine rankings.
8. Web traffic
Number of visits to our website.
9. Social Media Impact (followers, shares, engagement)
Percent increase in our own followers, shares of our content, and engagement on our channels.
10. Share of Voice
What percentage of the conversation around our industry or offering is dominated by our brand.
11. Sentiment
What are people saying about our brand? Is it positive, negative, or neutral?
12. Demand
The increase of desirability of our offering. This can include media requests, sales, orders, retail commitments, inquiries, partnerships, leads, etc over time.
13. Affiliate sign-ups/code usage
How many times your affiliate code has been used in a story or influencer coverage, or the amount of new sign-ups from publishers and content creators.
*Placements: defined as media coverage, reviews, influencer content shared, mentions, etc.
When it comes to Key Performance Indicators for Public Relations, a number of factors will ultimately influence a campaign’s success, but the most important to realize is that the impact of public relations is long-term. The implications of a campaign – while centered around a launch or a season, for example – is longer lasting than advertising or marketing campaigns due to the nature of media relations in particular. That said, we suggest an integrated marketing + communications approach, one that marries multiple types of media, to increase visibility and ultimately results. Press placements in particular live in perpetuity, meaning their impact can extend beyond an initial launch period. Therefore, PR KPIs should be measured for a minimum of six months following the campaign to fully realize the impact of your efforts.