How to measure ROI for PR

In a recent Publicist Panel (listen to the podcast) we hosted, with three very talented publicists, one of the questions asked of our panelists was "what are some metrics that can be used to apply a value to PR that is received?"

As our panelists explained, PR is very intangible, which means it can be difficult to measure. Authors and entrepreneurs commit to PR in order to create awareness and increase their personal brand recognition with target markets. So how do you measure PR ROI?

Top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) is one way of measuring how well your name and brand ranks in the minds of your target markets. How well do your target markets recognize your brand? A measure of how often your name, book title, product, service or company name is searched online can give you a sense if you are gaining TOMA.

Try this simple, fun experiment. Visit Google Fight (not affiliated with Google) and enter two different search terms. This website will give you a reading of each terms popularity by giving a number for how many times the term has been searched. For instance, I like to use the name of my company, Bisson Barcelona, with one of my competitor's company's names. Occasionally I will use my name, Traci Bisson and my company name to get a sense of what brand is searched for more. My name is searched over 70,000 times more then my company name. Try this exercise prior to your PR campaign and then again at six and 12 month intervals. This is one of many tangible measures of a PR campaign.

Labels: brand awareness, brand recognition, PR, public relations, publicity, return on investment, ROI, top-of-mind awareness

posted by Traci Bisson @ 9:05 PM