In this episode, I’ll be talking about Step 5 in the NATA PR model for creating a public relations campaign with traditional media or influencers. Today we’re talking about metrics, choosing metrics, and how metrics is simply the best tool for moving forward toward the success you want.
As some of you know, I’m fascinated by the professional coaching industry and its growth in recent years. I’ve been using professional coaches every year for many years, so I can make progress and measure my results. In 2020, in fact, I decided to earn my certification from one of the most reputable and qualified schools: The Life Coach School.
For me, choosing and setting targets that can be measured is simply the best tool. It’s what our amazing brains can use to help us find solutions that match our needs and move us forward toward the success we desire.
Whether you’ve taken on your own media relations or you’re working with an agency, you know how important it is to set quantifiable targets – what we like to call Key Performance Indicators (KPI). You’ve probably already heard the term, which simply means defining the key factors you’re going to measure when the campaign is over.
Here are a few examples:
- Traffic on your website at the end of the campaign
- New subscribers on your lists
- Number of articles in online magazines
- Number of interviews in the trade journals
- Number of desired influencers for an organic campaign
- Number of impressions at the end of a campaign
- ROI (return on investment)
- etc.
What you choose to measure—your indicators—can vary widely. If you’re on your own and starting to send out press releases, set yourself simple targets for the number of contacts and follow-ups.
You can start with as simple a list as five carefully-chosen media outlets or influencers, and test their interest and their responses.
Set yourself follow-up targets with them—four, five or six with different angles and news.
Between you and me, achieving 100% of the targets you set isn’t essential, especially when you’re just starting out. What is vital, however, is identifying what works and what can be changed and improved. Public relations is not an exact science, and that’s what keeps me so interested.
I especially like Alain Fernandez’s definition of metrics. He’s talking about economics here, but it applies to us:
“You don’t measure to control, but to steer. In our corporate approach… we’re too quick to associate the terms ‘metrics’ and ‘indicators’ with ‘control’.”
He goes on:
“… You must move away from the approach of upstream planning and downstream reporting, toward a dynamic and responsive approach: measure/act/react.”
In short, you’ve got to choose which measuring points will answer your questions. If your target turns out to be hard to measure, like increasing your visibility, it’s even more important to make it quantifiable—in other words, something like writing three articles on the company’s history.
I hope I’ve convinced you of the importance of Step 5 in our model. Look at it as a game and have fun measuring the actions you take and the results you get.
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