Pugliese on PR: Measuring your PR campaign
By Tina L. Pugliese, APR, Pugliese Public Relations
News Clipping Services. You will want to know if syndicates and wire services are picking up your story. That is where a subscription to a clipping service can help. These services scan thousands of newspapers, magazines, and Web sites and monitor television talk shows and news programs looking for mention of your company or product.
You can also provide them with key words thereby keeping up-to-date on your industry or competition. There are services that still manually clip articles but there are also Web-based services that scan electronic versions of publications and deliver your clippings in electronic form. In either case, having these clippings enables you to judge whether your news is reaching your target audience and if your PR plan is effective.
Websites and email. The Internet provides another important medium to increase public awareness of your issue. Include your organization’s web address on your communications materials. Be sure to keep your website current. Link to resources related to your organization’s mission and purpose.
Monitoring Efforts. Keep the issue alive by writing letters to columnists and responding to articles and editorials. Make follow up calls to ensure your news release, calendar release or opinion editorial is read. Tracking the placement of a story is an important part of any media relations campaign. As media monitoring can be time-consuming, it may be an ongoing project for interns or volunteers.
PR Campaign Measurements. One way to create news is to conduct a survey and report the results. Surveys are most helpful when you can use numbers to make a before-and-after comparison. They can be used to gauge the knowledge of your audience on your products or services or to determine the effectiveness of your PR campaign. In any case, they should always be short and specific. These days, surveys are not just limited to telephone or direct mail. Using the Internet to conduct a survey can provide quick feedback at minimal cost.
Tina Pugliese's columns on public relations appear in Palm Beach Business.com every other Monday. Her previous column can be found here.
Tina L. Pugliese, APR is an executive coach and counselor for Pugliese Public Relations, a communications firm in Boynton Beach, Florida. Pugliese is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America, and is the author of the book, Public Relations for Pharmacists, and e-books, Marketing Your Business for Success, How To Work With The Media, Public Relations Manual — A Guide for Entrepreneurs, and the PR Survival Kit. She can be reached at (561) 889-3575 and by email at Tina@PugliesePR.com. Her web site is www.PugliesePR.com.
Article excerpted from e-book, PR Survival Kit, by Tina L. Pugliese, APR.
