Does public relations really work? Well, as a state-of-the-art fintech PR agency – if we do say so, ourselves – yes, PR is very important. In fact, if you aren’t quite sure how to see if your media efforts are measuring up, our team of communications specialists is here to answer your biggest questions.
So, how can you measure success?
Media Impressions
If your public relations agency isn’t already providing you with metrics when it comes to the average audience of a media outlet, ask them! Certain outlets, like Fox Business or CNBC, have millions of viewers and see thousands of page views per day. However, most industry outlets have a significantly smaller number of viewers.
That’s okay! Along with the average number of page views, you should also be looking into the typical audience for each outlet. This will allow you to better understand what types of people will be viewing your media placements and how much of them fit into your desired clientele. Consider asking your fintech agency for domain authority (DA), as well. As a rule of thumb, try shooting for a DA of 60 or above.
Website Traffic
Did you just have a live interview on Fox? Did your subject matter expert (SME) just get featured in a trade publication, such as InvestmentNews or ThinkAdvisor? Maybe your company had a quote in TechCrunch or CBS MoneyWatch. All of these are great! Now, it’s time to monitor your website traffic.
One of the best things you can do to better understand if your media relations strategy is working – and thus, the efforts of your PR agency – is to measure the traffic of your website both before and after your campaign is launched. Though a campaign may be a months-long affair, it could also just be a week. Maybe, your campaign involves getting in front of holiday shoppers so they better understand safe spending; your campaign may last for just a few days, but your media hits could be the gift that keeps on giving.
Market Surveys/Share of Voice
Consider either conducting surveys or creating a share of voice report, to gauge how you stack up to the competition. If no one has heard of you, but by the time your media relations have finished you see an increase in recognition, then the public relations efforts are working! Increased recognition and name mentions are some of the top ways that you can see the impact PR efforts are having on your company.
So, what’s next?
That’s a great question. When heading into 2024, you are going to want to make sure you have clear goals for not only your media relations efforts, but also your company as a whole. KCD PR recommends your objectives be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Though we didn’t come up with this genius – see what we did there? – concept, we do wholly believe in SMART goals.
When creating a strategy and, thus, deciding what goals are most appropriate for your brand, start by analyzing your previous strategies and PR activities. Identify what worked and what didn’t work. Perhaps it is time for a change of direction. Create new goals for next year using the SMART method, and then identify the target market by which you want to complete these goals.
Finally, you will need to make sure you are working with the right PR agency to complete these goals. You want an agency that will help you with all forms of media specific to your needs, with a team that is willing to dig in and research where you can make improvements to determine success and craft an updated, better-suited PR strategy for you. From there, you and your agency can determine your metrics for success and milestones to get you there.
