‘Show me the money!’ Why? Well apart from being a fantastic line in one of Tom’s finer movies it should also be the expectation of every single marketer out there responsible for their organisation’s PR activity.
As consumers, we expect more for our money and so we should. But when it comes to PR, does just achieving a great AVE value really assess the effectiveness of your PR agency’s activity? The answer should be a resounding no.
The real power of PR is the ability to influence behaviour, whether that’s generating sales or creating brand ambassadors, by opening up communication lines to those all-important audiences. Yet, so many clients fall into the trap of believing if their PR agency is amassing large volumes of coverage and achieving that all-important return on investment (ROI) they are performing.
Yes, delivering large volumes of coverage is a part of what your PR agency should be delivering. In fact it’s the very least that they should be achieving for you, but it shouldn’t be the extent of their measurement or your expectations. Volume is important but so is demonstrating the impact of the coverage generated, from the use of key messages right the way through to the positioning of each piece of coverage.
In recent times, PR’s have demonstrated their true value lies in helping marketing and sales teams achieve their objectives. It is the medium that bridges the gap between these two departments and so it should be evaluated as such. Now, more than ever, your PR activity, be it carried out internally or by an external agency, should and must deliver real tangible and commercial results or risk becoming an irrelevant exercise in ego massaging.
A marketer who treats their PR team as an extension of their sales and marketing team will reap the biggest ROI; they will see their investment and key messages convert into real engagement, which will ultimately impact on their business bottom line. How? By communicating, because PR has the ability to converse, engage and most importantly, influence a magnitude of consumers across multiple communication channels at any given time to deliver real commercial results.
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