Why PR pros should be measuring more than numbers.
Historically, PR success has been determined by metrics such as media coverage, impressions and engagement rates. But the need to connect communication strategies directly to an organization’s bottom line goes beyond numbers alone.
The shift towards measuring business relationships, alongside traditional metrics, enhances strategic value and ensures that communication initiatives contribute to organized success.
“It’s really important to show that communications is not just a cost center,” said Jean Creech Avent, global head of brand, content and communications, at Arkose Labs. “We’re creating brand awareness and putting our organization in the pathway of the buyer. But we want that strategy to align with customer satisfaction and our overall goals. You’d be surprised to see how many organizations have no idea that what they’re communicating isn’t resonating with customers.”
Of course, it’s important that KPIs align with business objectives and that analyzing engagement, media coverage, bounce rates and time-spent-on-page are critical to comms’ strategy success, she said.
But it’s also possible, imperative and often forgotten to measure relationships as well. There should be more of an emphasis on how to accomplish this and why it matters, Creech Avent said.
To effectively gauge the strength of business relationships, comms teams are encouraged to assess their efforts in the following ways:
- Conduct surveys and gather feedback: Regular surveys to collect feedback from clients, partners and employees can provide vital insights into relationship satisfaction. “We need to know how stable our customer base is,” Creech Avent said.
- Analyze customer retention rates: Monitoring retention and churn rates helps gauge the effectiveness of communication efforts in fostering long-term relationships. In other words, “understanding why a customer leaves can provide insights into the effectiveness of our overall communications strategy,” Creech Avent said.
- Engage more with internal stakeholders: “I stay very close with our sales and marketing team and ask questions about where a customer came from and what was their prior experience,” Creech Avent said. Maintaining open communication with sales and marketing teams can enhance understanding of how PR efforts resonate with clients.
- Use relationship metrics: Employing metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS), a publicly available tool to help monitor customer loyalty and satisfaction, can help gauge the temperature and see if your brand is measuring up to expectations as well as providing valuable insights into the strength of business relationships.
- Monitor social sentiment: Social listening tools can be instrumental in tracking public perception of a brand, Creech Avent said. These could be anything from Prowly, Hubspot, Hootsuite, Idiomatic or other social trackers. “When we see positive sentiment, we can adjust our strategies to enhance relationships.”
Without assessing critical relationships with stakeholders, it’s impossible to know how your customers feel, Creech Avent said.
This was evident in a past role, Creech Avent said. After conducting a customer survey expecting the results to show one thing, what it actually showed was that the customers had no idea what their strategy was trying to accomplish, she said.
Conducting research, surveys and learning from focus groups can add critical value to your company’s mission.
“Why are these things important?” Creech Avent said. “Because if you think about it, companies have shareholders. Start-up companies like mine, we have investors. They want to know that the functions are contributing to overall growth of the company. Comms teams are responsible for the relationship that a company has with its customers, and you might think you know where you sit, but it’s worth the question, ‘do you really know?’”
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at courtneyb@ragan.com.
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