Building to the Big Release...Part 3: Measurable?

The last of a three part series on Media Releases...

Part one addressed an age old problem with most company announcements or releases; Is my release too promotional?  Part two made me rethink the impact MY releases were leaving; Is my release shareable?

And finally, for those wondering whether theirs is floating in a sea of other releases or making any impact at all, I call this,

Is My Release Measurable?

The words measurement and PR are common for creating anxiety in professionals whose business depends on putting a number value on Influence.  In the past you could offer clients numbers called ‘impressions’ – I don’t think I’ve heard that word in quite a few years. Today it is more likely to know someone’s klout score ( but when you consider that Barack Obama’s klout score is 99 and Justin Beiber’s is 96 ... does this really tell you anything?)

To measure the impact of a reputation, hard. To measure the impact of a release – easier.

If I’m doing a wrap report for a client, I usually end up measuring the impact of PR campaign(s) in three ways:  (Because I love bullets and numbering)

  • Reach –What media did we reach, what are the audience numbers, what is the readership, listenership
  • Engagement –What was the result on social media, were there comments, sharing, click-throughs (this can be found on dashboard or other measurement tools you currently have set up)
  • Influence – Influence means you motivated people to come to you. This is demonstrated through leads, sales or traffic to your website, store location, etc. This is usually the ONLY number clients are concerned with.

This same checklist can be applied to your media release as you go through the material;

Reach – consider how many audiences it could speak to. Perhaps changing up the first paragraph or a word in the header to make it more relevant to another group of journalists, individuals or professionals.

Engagement – See previous post Is my release shareable? There are lots of way to ensure people are using and taking action with your release.

Influence – You could use the opportunity to include a promo code or incentive within the story for them to buy or purchase from you. But please be wary of coming across as ‘sales-y’ – if it’s too promotional, you may not even get picked up on the wire in the first place!

Lastly, here is another great post on measurement and online. http://www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2012/9/9/whats-the-best-way-to-measure-influence-diy-not-klout.html

Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash

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My Lack of Klout (ecommerceveteran.wordpress.com)