The Art of PR: Overcoming Difficulties and Measuring Success

The Difficulties of PR

PR involves several challenges that companies must overcome to achieve their goals. The first and most significant challenge is creating valuable and compelling content. According to a recent survey, 52% of PR professionals consider creating compelling content as the biggest challenge in PR. This is understandable, as journalists receive countless pitches daily, and to stand out, your content must be unique and provide value to their readers.

Another challenge in PR is reaching out to journalists and getting them to publish your story. This requires a considerable amount of time and effort to build and maintain relationships with journalists. In addition, finding a unique angle for your story is another challenge, as journalists receive pitches on similar topics daily.

Lastly, companies must avoid being too salesy in their pitches. A common mistake made by businesses is focusing too much on their brand and not enough on the value they provide to the readers. To overcome this challenge, companies must focus on providing valuable information that readers will find useful and interesting.

The Benefits of PR

Despite the difficulties, PR has many benefits. One of the most significant benefits of PR is that it improves brand awareness. By getting your brand featured in publications, you can reach a wider audience and create a positive image of your brand. In addition, PR can have a snowball effect within the journalistic community. When journalists see your brand featured in publications, they are more likely to consider you for future stories.

Another significant benefit of PR is that it can help with SEO and drive traffic to your website. When your brand is featured in publications, you get backlinks to your website, which can improve your search engine rankings. Moreover, PR helps drive traffic to your website, which can increase lead generation and sales.

Tracking and Measuring PR Success

Tracking and measuring PR success is vital. By tracking your PR efforts, you can see what works and what doesn't. You can then make informed decisions to improve your PR strategies. The first step in tracking your PR efforts is to set goals and benchmarks. This will help you determine what success looks like and how you can measure it.

One effective way to track your PR efforts is through a simple excel or google sheet file. You can track press coverage, estimate its value, track results over time, and compare them to preset goals. By doing so, you can see the value of your PR efforts and make informed decisions.

According to the Holmes Report, 87% of PR professionals say that measuring PR effectiveness is essential. However, tracking coverage, estimating its value, and measuring success can be challenging, especially for small businesses.

The PR Tracking Template

To help companies track and measure their PR efforts, a PR tracking template can be used. The template should include tracking PR coverage, estimating its value, tracking results over time, and comparing them to preset goals. By using such template, businesses can save time and effort and make informed decisions based on data.

I have preselected a media coverage template that does all these things:

• record all your media publications or mentions over time in a single file
• score each publication based on your own criteria (media quality, content quality, paid/free, etc.)
• get automatic monthly, quarterly and yearly reports and charts
• visualize your progress against your own goals
• track both PR volume and quality
• identify your top 3 most popular topics, per month, quarter and year

You may download this template to use it for your own activity: Press Relation Media Coverage Measurement Template

PR is an essential aspect of a business's success, but it involves several challenges. By creating compelling content, building relationships with journalists, and finding unique angles, businesses can overcome these difficulties. The benefits of PR include improved brand awareness, a snowball effect within the journalistic community, and improved SEO and website traffic. With these few elements, and a solid tracking of your PR efforts and results, you should see your media results improve quickly.

Julien Rio.