The disconnect between PR metrics and budget holders’ expectations

We recently carried out a survey of over 350 marcomms professionals to find out about preferred measurement targets and challenges. The results highlighted that a key problem PRs currently face is being unable to prove the impact of their work, which stems from not being able to align their activities with commercial goals. But how can PR professionals resolve the disconnect between PR metrics and budget holders’ expectations to truly demonstrate the impact their work has on their client’s business?

Illuminating the challenges PR professionals are facing

According to our research, just one third of PR professionals are aligning their activities with commercial goals. This statistic is very concerning, especially as more businesses are looking for tangible results from PR activity. Although PR professionals are finally putting outdated metrics like AVE to bed, there is still no consensus on how best to prove the true impact of PR activity.

Our research also revealed that PRs are not considering the new business and sales pipeline, or investment generation when demonstrating the impact of their work. With only 41% of UK PR professionals taking the new business and sales pipeline into account, and only 14% of UK PR professionals taking investment generation into account, it is clear to see that PRs are neglecting commercial impact when proving the value of their work. This disconnect between PR metrics and client results has unsurprisingly instilled doubt into the minds of the PR budget holders and can result in severe budget cuts. Of our respondents, 31% reported that they experienced budget cuts last year, with half of those claiming that cuts could have been avoided if they had been able to successfully demonstrate the impact that their work has on the budget holder’s business. 

How is this disconnect damaging the PR industry?

PR professionals generate truly impactful results for their clients on a daily basis. From an increase in sales, to crucial lead generation, the value that PRs provide should not be underestimated. But how will budget holders realise this impact if the metrics that matter to their business are not being considered? Without showing these successful outcomes, and not measuring against the metrics that matter to your client’s budget holders, we can expect to see even more PR professionals suffer from budget cuts which will prevent them from going above and beyond for their clients. 

In order to address this challenge, PR professionals must adopt a more business-centric approach to measurement. This involves focusing on the metrics that are directly related to their client’s commercial goals to ensure that they can show their value, beyond securing coverage. However, this is a lot easier said than done. Our research revealed that PRs are far too focused on outputs and audience, with 96% citing target audience as a key measurement criteria and 66% citing high volumes of coverage. From these statistics, it is clear that in order for the PR industry to go beyond traditional “empty” metrics and prove true value to budget holders, a mindset shift is required. PR professionals must embrace this shift and prioritise measuring commercial impact before it is too late.

How PR professionals can demonstrate commercial impact

Firstly, PR professionals should work closely with sales and marketing departments to ensure that their PR activities are consistently aligned with broader business objectives. This will help PRs to make sure that their work is noticed by budget holders who will then see their value beyond vanity metrics and coverage. 

PRs should also ensure they are regularly reporting on the impact of their work and providing in-depth analyses into exactly how their work is benefiting their client’s business. This visibility will not only help demonstrate true impact to the people that matter, but it will also remove any unnecessary doubt from budget holders’ minds and instil a sense of trust in their chosen PR agency. 

PR professionals should also take advantage of the technology that is available to them. Our research revealed that many PR professionals feel that they need tools to help simplify measurement and reporting, and that the lack of these is stifling their reporting. To help address this issue, we created CoverageImpact.com, which is a free tool that allows PR professionals to turn coverage tracker spreadsheets into visually appealing ‘coverage over time’ graphics. It aims to help PRs streamline the reporting process and correlate coverage with a business’s impact data, whether that’s organic website traffic, sales figures, or event sign-ups.

Finally, and most importantly, PRs need to make sure that they are constantly aligning their activities with commercial goals. Before starting any PR activity, consider the effect this will have on the new business and sales pipeline and investment generation. By thinking about these factors during the planning process, PRs will be able to make necessary changes before the campaign begins to ensure they are providing this deeper value.

In the age of budget cuts and vanity metrics, I hope that this article will help PR professionals to go beyond vanity metrics and provide true commercial value for their clients. As PR professionals, we understand how impactful our work is, and it is crucial that we demonstrate that to others before it is too late.

Gary Preston is the CEO and co-founder of PR reporting platform, CoverageBook. He also founded AnswerThePublic, a tool that allows PR and marketing professionals to gain access to raw search insights directly from the minds of their customers, which was sold to NP Digital in 2022.