PR’s effectiveness should also be seen in sales leads

Why was there not a mention of PR’s impact on sales in your article about the need for the PR industry to measure the outcomes of campaigns, not just the outputs?

Levels of awareness and positive perception are metrics of value to a marketer, but do they sufficiently illustrate the PR’s effectiveness, especially to the wider organisation? Do the sales teams, and even the board, really care about the latest change in audience behaviour? Don’t they care more about the numbers of qualified sales leads and eventual customers?

B2B marketers, therefore, have to measure PR activity using metrics of tangible value. Part of modern B2B PR has to be the ability to construct the processes and infrastructure that identifies an individual influenced by PR activity who then travels through the web or ‘blogosphere’, all the way through the ‘sales funnel’ to becoming a qualified sales lead and then ultimately a customer.

Imagine the ability to determine how many prospects PR generated this month; which specific activities are driving them; and which converted to sales – as opposed to the usual numbers of press clippings, AVE figures and perception surveys. Which statistics would you rather present at the next board meeting?

Bob Dearsley
CEO, ITPR

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