Strategy, media, analytic tools, measurement, and monitoring; these terms are a PR’s guide to everyday functioning and probably routine. While we’re no strangers to these scheduled tasks, every PR professional also knows that just getting results for clients is no good unless they know about it.
PR Reporting is an essential tool that measures results and impact. Every stakeholder’s interest is to see how the plan of action has progressed. PR Reporting is crucial because it’s a documented work analysis backed by result statistics. From the CEOs and investors of the agency to clients that are paying and brands interested in hiring your PR services, a range of stakeholders can benefit from these. The accounts department of many large agencies also demands PR reports to understand the allocation of funds and expenses. A well-framed PR Report can serve several purposes to save time and also become documented evidence of the agency’s PR effectiveness.
While PR reporting demonstrates the value to stakeholders by focusing on results; it also helps analyze KPIs and maximize strategies and tactics. However, it does need to have a decipherable template to include the queries of your target audiences.
To include the range of stakeholders interested in PR Reports, they should have responses to all possible queries along with PR efforts. The work done, the results accomplished, the engagement driven, and media impressions. To enhance value addition, sales growth, website visits, and conversion must also be mapped to show impact. In short, a PR Report can be defined as a tangible, practical, and measurable outline of a brand’s PR journey to prove efficiency.
PR Reporting measures the depths of efforts in driving PR responsibilities like Image Building, Crisis Management, Media Relations, and Social Influence. While all the parameters are enough to provide value, it is crucial to monitor, measure, and mention result statistics for tangibility. PR Reports should also be personalized and framed in a downloadable format with all the relevant data intact.
The most common timeframes are weekly, bi-monthly and monthly. However, reports should be created and delivered depending on the targeted analytics. The intention of report mapping should also be considered since some metrics are crucial for brand management.
When aggregators like digital impressions, unique page visits, and viewability are on the scale, a daily reporting schedule must be framed. Goal-oriented like click-conversion, brand awareness, and page depths can be considered for weekly reporting. Print media impressions, brand recall, and proactive media acceleration should be monitored and documented for results bi-monthly and monthly, depending on the sector. Retail, entertainment, F&B, IT, and lifestyle sectors experience immense momentum and need a daily and weekly tab. Sectors like banking and finance, real estate, etc., are open to reporting metrics in the count of weeks, depending on the need. Metrics like ROI need a longer period and shouldn’t be a part of the weekly or monthly dashboard.
In this digital age that we live in PR Reporting is no longer restricted to traditional formats like word documents, PDFs, and PowerPoint presentations. With the launch of digital and free-for-use dashboards like Google Data Studio, report creators are experiencing the power of combining data to convey impact like never before. These virtual dashboards also allow customizing dashboard formats to complement client and agency requirements. Given these immense benefits, e-dashboards are gradually gaining mainstream acceptance. However, the traditional formats will remain around for longer.
The usual needs are brand impressions, recall, awareness, consumer feedback, etc., but some crucial elements like Crisis Management truly portray the value of PR expertise. A Crisis Report that includes the measures taken to neutralize the negative publicity and retain brand reputation is compelling. Media mentioning statistics is an effective way to quantify results. Social Media engagement reports are abuzz with labels like comments, shares, retweets, and mentions about the Social Media channels. With monitoring and measuring, metrics to consider are brand impressions, total mentions, the share of voice, and mentions tracked over a while. Not to forget the league of influencers to be mentioned who make a significant difference in brand engagement and help drive consumer traffic.
The agency and team recommendations are a valuable component of the report. Since it serves as a piece of communication that could highlight the improvement in strategies and key metrics that need tweaking, it is good to have actionable insights to help achieve your client’s goals.
In a nutshell, PR Reporting helps build transparency and accountability to strengthen mutual trust.
