How to Measure PR Success Properly

PR isn’t just about getting your brand in the media—it’s about impact.

Whether you’re a consumer brand looking to build hype or a B2B company focused on credibility, measuring PR success is crucial but often thought of as intangible, with reach or (god forbid), PR value being the usual assumptions of measurement.

But there are true tangible and measurable ways to measure PR effectiveness which means PR contributes to traffic, sales and new customers - it's just about how you go about measuring and understanding what can be looked at.

Here’s how to measure PR strategy and coverage effectively.

1. Set the right goals from the start and know what you are measuring and how you are measuring.

We have 8 points of measurement we recommend to brands and add on from there. PR success can look different for consumer and B2B brands, with consumer brands wanting buzz, brand awareness, social engagement, and getting in front of as many potential customers as possible whereas B2B brands need authority, trust-building, thought leadership, and targeted media placements that influence decision-makers.

With those objectives, you need to be considering everything from increased brand mentions, SOV (share of voice), website traffic, event exit polls, CPT and quality messaging, and then some.

2. Track Media Coverage Quality (Not just quantity)

Not all press is created equal. A mention in a high-authority publication with the right audience is worth more than 20 generic articles. Assessing relevance is key, i.e does the coverage align with your brand positioning. Tone – is it positive, neutral, or negative? and messaging, which key messages are landing and which ones are resonating.

3. There's no such thing as Digital PR - it's just PR.

Website Traffic & SEO impact a good PR strategy as you want a CTA (call to action) which usually involves direction to an online site. Use tools like Google Analytics to track which publications are converting to traffic and monitor this, assess new users and returning visits. You want your targeted publications to be high tier and ranked titles to create quality backlinks from coverage which is great for SEO.

For B2B, PR can drive traffic to gated content or lead forms - media like a specific landing page tailored to content rather than a generic homepage. For consumer brands, PR should spark searches and product discovery so utilising best placed articles is key.

4. Share of Voice vs. Competitors

PR isn’t just about your own coverage—it’s about how you stack up against competitors. Are you being talked about more? Are you leading the conversation in your industry? SOV is an important metric to understand who you are placed in the press against but brands need to invest in platforms like Cision and Meltwater to get this type of analytics. To be able to communicate the benefit of PR, brands need to adopt the same mentality of measurement as they do with other channels. Without this investment in understanding the impact of an article, how can a brand hope to inform longer term comms strategy?

5. Social Media & Brand Sentiment

For brands, PR coverage can fuel social engagement. Monitor spikes in mentions, hashtags, and sentiment after media coverage. For B2B, LinkedIn engagement and thought leadership traction are key indicators and utilising coverage on your LInkedin posts is a perfect driver to showcase your authority as well as shouting about which publications are writing about you.

6. Business Impact - Leads, Sales & Partnerships

This is where PR meets ROI. Consumer brands should track PR-driven referral traffic and sales spikes after coverage. Brands should monitor inbound leads, partnership inquiries, and conversions linked to PR coverage.

PR measurement isn’t one-size-fits-all. Working with your PR team to craft the metrics that mean something to your brand and being ready to modify your approach to gain the perfect PR output should be a strategic process.

A case in point

An excellent proof point on how PR can drive business impact is with a single piece of coverage secured with a top tier title for one of our clients. The story was a collaborative piece with the journalist and was carefully crafted with them. That coverage increased traffic to the brand website by 82%, trended twice on Apple News and generated 200+ new customers. The take out? The earned media coverage worked and reached the desired target audience, so we'll do more of this for that client.

Simple really.