With the onset of the pandemic, many Ukrainian and foreign businesses had to quickly change or adapt their strategies and communications to quarantine realities in record time. Companies realized that the crisis would last a long time and acted on the principle of “the worse the situation, the more communication.” This approach helped them stay afloat, and for some, even increase sales and strengthen market positions. Those who did not believe in the power of PR or chose to forgo PR services for the sake of saving money suffered much greater losses.

For example, during the strict quarantine period, Raketa actively communicated on social media and used influencer advertising, while Uber Eats ceased operations in Ukraine because it did not invest in communication and did not understand in time that “now” was the time to work at full capacity.

Once again, Bill Gates proved right in this situation when he said, “If I had my last dollar, I would spend it on PR.”

Every business faces problems familiar to many but at the same time remains unique: it has its own vision, strategy, audience, values, resources, and employees. Therefore, increasing consumer awareness and trust in the brand’s products or services through PR (and marketing) tools can be achieved when the team or PR specialists have answers to the following questions:

What does the company specifically aim for: to increase brand recognition among its target audience, focus on finding new customers, or combine efforts? How many resources does the business have to convey the necessary messages to the audience? How noticeable is the brand in the information field? What do people say about the brand: does it require crisis PR?

To understand what communication is not working or, conversely, to prove its effectiveness, PR specialists must demonstrate how PR has impacted the main goal of the business. And it is the measurement of PR metrics that helps choose the activities and tools that best suit a particular business.

How to Evaluate PR Effectiveness?

During the analysis and evaluation of PR activities, we consider the following parameters:

Outputs: the quantity and quality of mentions and posts, coverage, website or blog visits

Each mention affects the brand. It is worth paying attention not only to how much is written about it but also to who and what exactly is written about you.

For example, is the brand mentioned once among the list of sponsors or is it compared to competitors in a market review? Are the company’s speakers, products, and services mentioned, is the product name spelled correctly, are the employees’ initials correct, and so on.

What tools can help evaluate these parameters?

Google Alerts – a free resource that sends notifications every time your keywords (a person’s name, company name, or even an entire industry) are mentioned on the Internet.

@MonitoringBot – a Telegram bot that, after setup, immediately provides a link to the material. This bot informs about new mentions in the media based on keywords, but it does not process old media data – only new ones.

Outtakes: engagement, social media followers

Engagement – a key metric that involves tracking likes, comments, views, downloads, reposts with or without captions, etc.

Special tools can help track and analyze these parameters.

Social media statistics – helps find useful insights: which audiences respond better to photos or videos, memes or posts about important topics, Monday evening or Saturday morning.

Similarweb – an important resource for PR work, as this tool is designed to analyze audience, online media traffic, and even applications.

Outcomes: attitude change, behavior change, trust, intent

These indicators help understand how your communications have affected your target audience. Has their behavior changed? Do they trust you more or treat the company differently?

This is the most challenging metric to measure, but tools do exist.

NPS (Net Promoter Score) – an index that helps determine the audience’s attitude toward your product or service. NPS is best measured both at the beginning of campaigns and after their completion.

Audience surveys – quantitative and qualitative surveys, although time-consuming and costly, help assess communication quality and obtain additional insights for future campaigns.

Impact: reputation, social changes, increased sales

A qualitative metric that helps evaluate the effect of communication.

What to do with the information obtained:

Structure and visualize the data. Identify cause-and-effect relationships and context. For example, did a decrease in demand for a product or service lead to a price increase? Determine what information is missing from the study. For example, if clients speak well of the company’s service and employees, what is your growth point? Or if you assumed that the problem was with the product quality, over which you’ve been working hard lately, and during surveys, it turned out that clients are dissatisfied with the service.

How it Works – Practical Cases

Land Reform in Ukraine. The communication campaign aimed to explain to Ukrainians the positive outcomes of land reform and encourage them to support the legislative package.

To achieve this goal, we utilized informational materials in national and regional media, press events, and participation of speakers in television broadcasts. Additionally, we engaged social media by reviving the “Land Reform in Ukraine” Facebook page, where we communicated the main reform changes in a simple and understandable manner, using memes and videos.

Here are the metrics we measured:

Outputs. PR: Overall media coverage – 6,968,000, number of articles in national media – over 160, articles and news in regional media – over 450, six television interviews, two radio interviews, three discussions on a thematic online channel, three press releases, and one press conference.

Outtakes. Social Media Marketing (SMM): Interactions – 155,946, views – 25,934,093, number of subscribers – 25,633 (before the start of the campaign – 150).

Impact. Two key bills were adopted.

Noology. The company Noology aimed to enter the American market, and our task was to create and distribute materials regarding the launch of its product in relevant global media and social networks.

Materials in global media on general topics related to drones, aviation, technology, business, defense, and the military, as well as posts on Facebook and LinkedIn, helped achieve results.

This was evidenced by a key indicator: Outputs. Coverage exceeded 1.1 million.

What to pay attention to?

Compare the obtained information dynamically, not only with your competitors but also with the brand you aim to surpass.

For example, if your client is a well-known pharmaceutical company, choose the corporation with the best metrics globally. How does it communicate, what results does it achieve, and what goals does it accomplish? Analyze its cases, which will help you stay in tune and become better than competitors.

Over time, you can create your own PR metrics or detail existing ones, and also utilize the assistance of professional services. And remember: it is important to process data qualitatively and draw clear conclusions, rather than analyze everything indiscriminately.

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