We live in a world where instant results are expected and demanded. Patience and the importance of long term success or rewards are often ignored. Yet this can be a problem when trying to evaluate PR and marketing results.

With any aspect of building a business it’s important to know whether you are getting a good return on your investment. But measuring the value of PR can be harder than other forms of investment as it’s not simply about looking at raw numbers and often difficult to quantify.

Frankly there is no good reason to measure the effectiveness of your PR strategy or your agency’s work simply by counting the column inches. This short term measure may be good for the ego but only provide one idea of how your money is being used.

Firstly it’s important to understand the PR results in terms of your business and marketing objectives. Why did you hire an agency or embark on a PR campaign? To increase website traffic? To increase the number of visitors at an event? Expanding your client base? Only when results are measured against objectives can the delivery be properly assessed.

There’s the importance of audience and influence. Where are the column inches appearing? Is the publication relevant for your target market? Is there an endless stream of articles in small publications or have the agency managed to get a great piece in a national? Is the tone of the piece positive?

Then there are the more opaque type of results, brand image and doors that have been opened or relationships that have been strengthened. This type of ‘soft’ publicity is vital to building the business over the long term and any good agency should be able to nurture and grow this aspect of the PR and marketing campaign.

So don’t simply look at the obvious when assessing your PR. Dig deeper to understand what strategic impact it is having on your business.

To learn more about how Red Marlin can give your PR and marketing a more strategic and measurable approach, call us on 01926 832395.