How to Measure the ROI of a
Press Release
Great content
+
Great
content
distribution
Higher
ROI
=
What a News Release Does
Aids potential discovery by customers and prospects
Furthers the consideration process
Drives readers to engage, write, read, share, buy
Prompts brand fans to share the news
Re-enters the funnel
Awareness! Research Phase!
Take Action!
Advocate!
News Releases Activate Key Audiences
These audiences, defined by PR, IR, marketing and management teams, include:
Customers
Prospects
Stockholders
Employees
Brand Fans
Industry Experts
Reporters
Analysts
Activation!
Sharing by brand fans
M ea su re, A na ly ze, R ef in e M essa gi ng & A ud ien ce Pr ess R ele ase Pr ess R ele ase Newswire Service Internal Paid: Advertiorial Support Earned: Targeted Media + Influencer Outreach
Shared: Social Media and Partner Sharing
Owned: Website, Blog, Mobile / Email Lists
News Media: Target Trades, Financial, Geographic
Financial Services & Investment Systems
Online Postings
GMSM: Mobile Postings GMSM: Social – Blogs, Social
Channels
Online Newsroom, IR Site, Email and Mobile Alerts
Third-Party Articles and Coverage
Third-Party Articles and Coverage
Search and Discovery Search and Discovery Search and Discovery
Search and Discovery Third-Party Coverage
Endorsements Search and Discovery Third-Party Coverage
Endorsements
Sharing by media and their readers Sharing by brand fans Sharing by brand fans Sharing by media and their readers Sharing by analysts and
investors
Sharing by untapped brand fans and prospects Sharing by untapped brand
fans and prospects Sharing via brand, social
and industry fans
Defining ROI
+ Overall impact on sales and marketing funnel
- PR content creation costs (text, multimedia) - PR content distribution costs (newswire, advertising, influencer sharing, dlvr.it etc) - Team member costs
= ROI
NOTE!All calculations will be approximate.
Today’s monitoring tools do not measure the impact of private or offline conversations
Where to Start
• Establish goals and baselines
• Finalize approved content or news to share • Select distribution options for highest impact
– Paid – Earned – Shared – Owned
• Monitor, measure and adjust • Start all over again
Setting Goals
What is the goal?
Who is the audience?
What audience reactions impact meeting this goal? What content is needed?
What amplification tools are being used?
What assets can you include to increase ROI?
What sharing options increase impact? How can I track ROI?
How to Amplify Your Content
And create measurable activity across all channels
Leveraging the Power of Paid
Successful PR campaigns increase visibility
with paid programming:
•
Content creation
•
Press release distribution services
•
Influencer activation
•
Advertising/sponsorships/partnerships
•
Amplification services
Writing Your Press Release
• Drive interest in your news: Be
targeted; craft different content, releases and updates for different audiences
• Increase emotional interest: Add
multimedia to deepen connections
• Ensure message adoption: Use
industry language, bullets, bold text
• Activate social sharing: Add in “click
to tweet”
• Measure: Analytics URL builders! • Be successful: Use data and adjust
Increase ROI with Multimedia
• AP media partners ignore text
only news
• Reporters spend 30 minutes
searching for assets
• Multimedia releases get 3x
higher ROI
• Multimedia increases time on
site and story views
• Interactive assets result in
4-10 minutes of engagement
• Multimedia adds feelings to
facts
The Future of ROI: Interactivity
•
Hyperspotted
•
Embeddable
•
Measureable
•
Gamification
•
Shortens sales funnel
•
4-10 minutes average
EARNED Media Increases Results
Significantly
Even the most interesting press releases never reach interested readers and reporters without outreach.
• News coverage (media, blogger)
• Influencer coverage • Content distribution • SEO • Word of Mouth
84%
of consumers trust earned media including WOM >>67%
of consumers trust editorial content >>Using Your OWN Channels
Brand fans interested in hearing breaking news or reading new content. Share your news across your owned channels such as:
• Companynewsroom • Blogs
• Social channels • Newsletter
• Email mailing list • Email signatures • Intranets
SHARING Your Coverage
Nothing moves audiences through the
marketing funnel than shares of smart,
interesting news coverage by friends
•
Social sharing by company, employees, fans
•
Using “click to tweet” to initiate sharing
MEASURING Your Success
There are several ways to measure the
impact of a press release
MEASURING Your Success
Coverage
The first and oldest metric of PR is coverage including:
•
Pick-up/Coverage
•
Length of article
•
Assets used
MEASURING Your Success
Set Baselines
•
Overall discussions
•
Influencer discussions
•
Article count
•
Shares
•
Followers
•
Inbound traffic
•
Actions
MEASURING Your Success
Visibility
Measure how broadly your news was seen
• Who shared it
• Where was it shared
• Which content worked best • Which audiences was
MEASURING Your Success
Geo-Impact
• What markets were activated the most? • Support action with
additional marketing programs
• Strike while the
conversational iron is hot.
MEASURING Your Success
Inbound Traffic
• Add URL builders to track site traffic and usage
• Track
– Increases in inbound traffic
around launch dates
– landing page response rates
• Monitor and adjust
Allows you to track site visitors from start to finish
MEASURING Your Success
Owned Channel Registrations
Increase your marketing pipeline with registration links:
• Newsletter
• Social channels • Webinars
MEASURING Your Success
Social Shares
• Track overall discussions and shares
• Track hashtag usage
• Monitor message adoption • Identify brand fans and
