We’d be lying if we said PR was an exact science. To be honest, that’s probably why we love it.
It’s a multi-faceted, reactive and ever-changing environment – but this does beg the question: how do we accurately measure the work we do? Sure, it’s easy enough to tell a client how many pieces of coverage we’ve got and the opportunities to see (OTS) of those pieces, but that doesn’t tell us (or for that matter, the client) how successful we’ve been.
Recently, Hatch undertook a full measurement audit to examine how we report to our clients. The founding philosophy was that while reports take time to produce, they need to be valuable: it needs to perform a function for the clients as well as us.
All too often, our industry reports in a way that only speaks to our peers – and not in language or with metrics that really translate. Ultimately, if any PR team is spending time on a report, it needs to be digestible and informative.
What have we done?
Since the audit, we’ve introduced a new reporting strategy across a number of our accounts – the result? Data-driven reports that genuinely inform our clients.
Any PR knows the ingredients that go into a delicious dish of fantastic coverage. Is there an image, an RRP or maybe even a link? Is the sentiment positive? What’s the DA of the site? Has what we’ve tried to communicate really landed with our target audience?
Here at Hatch, we now track all this and much more. Not only does this give our clients an in-depth view of the value of coverage, but it also helps them with their own day-to-day. We’ve also done away with OTS in favour of reach figures, which are trackable and verifiable.
For example, by analysing stockist links for ecommerce brands, we can now present client teams with information to share with their sales team to impress their own customers. If we can prove our activity gained a retailer a multitude of links over the course of the year, not only have we driven brand awareness, but we’ve encouraged site traffic and probably added value to their SEO profile as well. Everyone wins.
By tracking stockist links it also means we can use point of sale data to track back to our activity and prove the return of investment in coverage, showing the direct impact of our work on customer behaviour.
A great example of this can be seen in our Remington case study – where we were able to show that our linking coverage directly contributed to a product sell-out!
We also track key message inclusion: identifying at the outset our client’s priorities when it comes to what we’re communicating means we can analyse how many pieces of coverage reflect our missive. This is good news for any marketing teams who are looking to present a comprehensive update of reach and messaging on a wider scale.
Like I say…all of this, and much more.
Why bother?
Well, as we said, it’s not an exact science. Each client should receive a bespoke report, as no two brands are the same – and our measurement strategy gives us the tools to go way beyond the lacklustre stats of PR reports gone by. Opening up the conversation around reporting has meant we now build reports based on client needs and wants, so it’s a two-way street.
If you’re looking for results-driven PR activity for your brand, then Hatch is the place for you. Give us a bell on 0113 361 3600 or hello@hatchpr.co.uk – and with any luck, we’ll be able to have you in for a cuppa really soon.
