'The idea of quantifying everything in PR can sometimes miss the point'

There’s a famous quote that says “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” PR success can be hard to quantify. In this case, metrics are powerful tools that helps in demonstrating the value of PR and show clients proof of your hard work and its results. However, according to Buffer, 82% of PR pros don’t know how to evaluate the ROI of their PR campaign.

Following this, industry leaders came together to discuss on the topic – Value of PR for a brand: How to measure its success at the 14^th edition of e4m Indian Public Relations Corporate Communication Conference (IPRCCC).

The panel witnessed the presence of Animesh Gupta, Founder & CEO, Daakia, Dr. Sarvesh Tiwari, Founder and Managing Director, PR Professionals Group, Shalini Aggarwal, Emotional Intelligence and Personality Development Coach. The session was chaired by Ritika Upmanyu, exchange4media.

Sarvesh set up the discussion foundation with a compelling example and stressed on the importance of adopting a new approach to measure the value and impact of PR campaigns other than traditional metrics. He expressed that it is essential to educate industry leaders about the genuine nature of PR and how to effectively measure the real-time impact of their campaigns.

Supporting most of Tiwari’s and Animesh’s comments, Shalini extended her views about the importance of data and numbers in measuring PR success. “To understand the success of PR, we needed to have data and bring numbers to the table. PR metrics like website traffic, social media mentions, and press coverage tell brands a lot about the target audience and new behavioral trends”, she explained.

Animesh stressed the importance of understanding campaign objectives before measuring their impact. He illustrated it with an example, “If the goal is to enhance customer loyalty, it's a measurable outcome relevant to any enterprise. Building public perception is a key metric for maintaining customer loyalty.”

Supporting Animesh’s public perception point, Tiwari added, “It is extremely important to build public perception. By analyzing and conducting surveys based on public perception, we can compare how people used to think in the past versus now. This will allow us to measure the impact more effectively and obtain direct outcomes."

As a self-employed professional, Aggarwal explained that she measures the impact of PR campaigns by evaluating the level of awareness they generate. Additionally, creating the right kind of knowledge, interest, and prompting action through PR campaigns contributes to making a broader and more significant impact on the target audience.

Animesh explained that at Daakia, he primarily analyses customer engagement to measure the impact of the PR campaigns because it is crucial to have a human touch; otherwise, it will not be productive in the long run. The other two metrics are customer engagement with the product or services, and obtaining transparent feedback from customers to help build a long-term positive perception of the brand.

He further explained that it is essential to tell a story to connect with users rather than just pushing content from user to consumer, as this does not help achieve a desirable impact.

Tiwari suggested that to measure the impact effectively, you should track the daily progress of your campaign. Additionally, for a website with multiple pages, it's important to monitor the number of returning visitors and the feedback they provide, whether positive or negative. The third factor to consider is the impact on sales, which can be measured by the increase in footfall in the sales area. All of these factors serve as effective tools for measuring the success of PR campaigns.

Speaking on the effective way to establish the value of PR, Shalini explained, “First, we have to believe in our product and brand and we have to be very sure of what we are trying to achieve out there and we need to have everything in place like the perception and all. If we are very clear about our objective, half of the work is already achieved.

Animesh reiterated that PR is a long-term activity that requires consistent effort for results. Furthermore, he emphasized that building a reputation or brand awareness has a long-lasting impact in the future because the kind of exercises we do with time will have very fruitful results in the future and that would help bring repeat customers.

Agreeing with the views of both panelists, Aggarwal further added, “PR is a very long process, and not everything can be quantified. The idea of quantifying everything sometimes misses the point. The goal of achieving certain milestones can take a longer period, but the impact is far-reaching compared to just numbers.”

Tiwari concluded the panel with his final remarks with an intriguing example, “PR is such a valuable and important tool that can do magic, but everyone will gradually learn its importance and how to leverage it effectively over time.”