Tag Archives: digital-marketing

The Search is Over: Why You Need Public Relations More Than Ever

Posted on by
Reply

Online searches will never be the same, and for some, this is a good thing. For others, the struggle is about to get real.

On June 30, Google initiated its 2025 Core Update. Expected to roll out over a three-week period, this new iteration of Google’s algorithm will bring significant changes to search rankings. The new algorithm will focus on high-quality content and user experience, prioritizing helpful, relevant and authoritative content.

As with everything these days, this change leans on AI. Because AI-generated summaries (a/k/a zero-click searches) are, so far, less than perfect, brands should anticipate their messaging, positioning, tone and outright fact-based details may be summarized incorrectly by Google, potentially pulling in third-party or outdated information about the brand. As a result, brand websites could experience a drop in site traffic beginning this summer.

Brands can also expect to see a further decline in keyword-centric search engine optimization campaigns. Meanwhile, optimizing for voice, visual and video search will become of increased importance. This is already happening as organic search results are pushed further down by Google as more real estate goes to paid advertising, sponsored content and Google’s own products.

At the heart of these changes are brand authority and credibility. Those who lack a strong online presence—meaning frequent, engaging and varied source content—will be left behind in this new era of online search. For brands, public relations should be considered an increasingly critical tool for reputation management, promotion and search more generally.

The Credibility Factor

Creating frequent, original content, in a myriad of ways across a range of websites and social channels, is the best and most effective response to this seismic shift in online search.

PR pros can employ a range of tools to meet the changing landscape of search driven by AI. Securing multiple and regular opportunities for subject matter experts or brand leaders to represent their organizations outside of owned media (brand websites, blogs, social channels, etc.), will be paramount. These can include:

  • Podcasts, audio as well as video
  • Trade publication media interviews
  • Contributed articles to trade and other vertical media outlets
  • Guest blogs
  • Tier One media interviews or opinion pieces (i.e., Wall Street Journal, FOX News, Financial Times, The New York Times, etc.)

Additionally, brands will need to focus more on their owned content as part of their response to this change. Creating more robust content on platforms like LinkedIn Company Pages, brand websites and blogs, newsletters and online video content will be critical. Additionally, brand leaders will need to rethink the look, tone and substance of that content by unloading jargon and using more casual language to increase the likelihood of being found as voice search continues to grow.

As of June 2025, digital marketing firm SevenAtoms reported one in five global internet users now employ voice commands to search online, with 153.5 million U.S. adults expected to use voice assistants in 2025. That content will also need to incorporate more brand-focused Q&A information to respond to both voice and conversational search terms as traditional SEO continues to decline. Finally, it will be important to maximize brand websites for rapid loading as well as speedy mobile optimization.

When a brand’s public relations team secures credible, third-party media coverage and mentions in relevant, reputable media, this content will provide much of the high value, authoritative signals now prioritized in all search through varied placements and backlinks. Credibility, context and expertise are all core tenets of any effective public relations campaign, making PR the most effective way to help brands insulate themselves from the pace of change. Done well and with frequent, authoritative content and sources, some brands may see their search results improve overtime, allowing their SEO dollars to be repurposed elsewhere, perhaps to their public relations campaigns, as competition for human eyeballs continues to grow almost as quickly as the pace of AI adoption.

Diddy’s Silence Spoke Volumes: Why Secrets Are Toxic to Crisis Public Relations

Posted on by
Reply

When a brand or a public figure waits too long to tell the truth, they rarely escape the gravitational pull of a crisis unscathed. Whether it’s the ENRON scandal of 2001, Bernie Madoff’s 2009 arrest or the failed 2017 Fyre Festival, one common thread rings true; you can only evade the truth for so long.

Making recent headlines is Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ongoing public downfall. After decades of alleged abuse and misconduct from multiple sources, Combs is facing mounting legal and reputational crises. The musician and producer’s situation is a worst-case scenario from a PR perspective; a stream of headlines that could have been prevented with a wider perspective and proactive approach.

Don’t Let the Crisis Define the Timeline

In May 2024, CNN released a video of Combs from 2016 that showed a violent interaction with his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura after she filed a lawsuit against him in 2023. Allegations quickly began to accumulate, each one painting a more tainted picture than the last. CNN’s video was a turning point for Combs’ case in terms of his reputation and control of the narrative. What could have possibly been one or a few headlines became a viral cultural moment. For months, hundreds of allegations surfaced and by October 2024, an attorney announced he was representing 120 accusers with sexual misconduct allegations against Combs.

For PR to be effective, you cannot allow third parties, in this case the media, to define the narrative. This is paramount. Crisis teams are brought in to either diffuse or help to ensure a factual story, rather than lighting more fires. To do so, public relations professionals need every detail, every time stamp and every skeleton out of the closet from the very start.

Get the All the Facts Out

Secrecy is a dangerous thing in public relations. A slow cadence of new details like in Combs’ situation keeps a story alive and slowly tears down public trust. Letting the PR team know the details, and what might be out there waiting to be found, can give these professionals the tools they need to take a bit of the wind out of the media storm that just won’t seem to quit.

Speaking to your PR team could be viewed similarly to speaking with an attorney insomuch as all the details, warts and all, need to be shared with the PR team, with whom should have a non-disclosure agreement, up front. Being transparent and thorough with the crisis team early on, no matter how difficult, will help businesses avoid a slow leak of damaging stories and details. Sometimes the situation is simply bad, as in the case of Combs. Even in these scenarios, there can be a benefit to taking some measure of responsibility and trying to shape the narrative; not with spin, but with facts and taking a measure or responsibility. While doing so may not mitigate the public’s interest, it can sometimes allow you to get everything out at once which can, in some instances, shorten the lifespan of media coverage and attention. Once a crisis team is equipped with the full scope of a problem, they can work with business leaders to shape a fact-based narrative around it and try to develop a reasonable plan through the situation. Rarely can one avoid or go around a situation like Comb’s without some obvious reputational damage, even under the best of circumstances.

The Value of a Crisis Team That Knows the Right Questions

A good crisis team asks hard questions. They map out worst-case scenarios, poke holes, identify risks and prepare messaging that anticipates the next batch of headlines. They can only do so if they are brought into the room before the cameras start rolling, footage leaks and lawsuits multiply. In Combs’ case, every new, salacious detail draws more coverage and confirms what many had already assumed about the man. That’s the cost of self-preservation. Had his team had the full picture earlier, it may have been less of a sensational story, or at least less frequently publicized, and more focused on accountability.

In Combs’ case, his actions and behaviors have been further reinforced by past tragedies and altercations like his involvement in and reaction to the Heavy D & Puff Daddy Celebrity Charity Basketball Game stampede and the East Coast vs. West Coast hip-hop rivalry that allegedly contributed to the deaths of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. A crisis team will consider how a company’s past mistakes might be uncovered and rehashed in the media as a current crisis unfolds.

Secrets Don’t Age Well

While Combs’ case is particularly extreme for many reasons, any global brand or a public figure could find themselves in a crisis that plays out in the media. And when speaking with a crisis PR team, it is critical to lay all the facts out early. Anything left unsaid can quickly be found by the media, the courts or random sleuths on the internet. Owning the story and being forthcoming with information might not prevent backlash, but it does allow a crisis team the time and details necessary to manage a situation with clarity, compassion and some measure of control to ensure the client’s side of the story is told with care.

Brand Authenticity Requires Communicators to Play Lead Roles

Posted on by
Reply

While brands have a voice in shaping their narratives, it is their publics who play an outsized role in holding organizations to their brand promise and reputation.

One of the best time-tested methods of ensuring adherence to brand authenticity is having a public relations or communications professional at the decision-making table from the start. Failing to do so runs the risk of self-inflicted reputational harm that is extremely difficult, and often expensive to dial back later.

In brands we trust

B2C as well as B2B consumers have vast resources to evaluate brands and a wealth of options from which to choose. Brands that consistently speak to the values and priorities of their consumers engender trust and an emotional connection. According to April 2024 data released from Shopify, 86% of American consumers say authenticity is a key reason they buy or engage with a brand.

Whether it is Red Bull, GE or Salesforce, these companies and others are great examples of organizations that use engaging storytelling, emotionally targeted messaging and brand authenticity to reach and connect with their audiences. We know Red Bull gives you wings. We know GE is focused on imagination at work, and that Salesforce positions you to manage success, not software. Their messaging goes beyond taglines, and their stories resonate with their publics because they meet a need.

What Ben Franklin said

Ben Franklin famously quipped, “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” There are countless brands that illustrate Franklin’s point.

The example set by Target regarding its shifting DEI policies has put … well, a target on the Target brand with calls for boycotts and declining sales. Such inconsistent messaging causes brand audiences to reconsider the authenticity and trustworthiness of the organizations at issue. Consumers aren’t sure what, if anything, the brand stands for and repairing that damage will be a long and expensive undertaking.

On the B2B side, there is no more powerful example of reputational damage due to a lack of authenticity—as well as transparency—as WeWork. The company promoted a utopia-style revolution in how workspaces would evolve while leveling the playing field for entrepreneurs to work collaboratively. In reality, the company infamously misled everyone regarding its spending, profitability and stability, leading to a loss of trust among investors and business clients that ultimately led to the founder being ousted and a Chapter 11 filing in 2023.

The power of communications strategy

A chief communications officer with a seat at the leadership table can help organizations adhere to brand authenticity. These professionals are trained to assess the communications risks of any given action by an organization that plays out in front of its publics—internal or external. They help brands avoid unforced errors and plan for a range of responses from their target audiences.

Having that comms professional in the room from the start of major brand decisions can lead to important conversations and questions filtered through a public perception lens, such as:

  • How does this align with the public’s understanding of who we are and what we do?
  • What risks are we taking with this change, and what can we do to mitigate them?
  • Does this change align with our core values?
  • How should we communicate this change clearly to our audiences, and what are the best channels to do so?
  • What is the plan to measure the impact of this change on our brand reputation and perception?
  • What is the backup plan if this change is not well received, and what is the trigger to institute that plan?

Brand leaders are best served when their PR teams challenge group think and work to consider the reaction to organizational change among various audiences. This approach can strengthen and even improve the proposed changes, better aligning them with the brand’s reputation and perception and lead to a smoother introduction to its publics. However, making change better and more sustainable only happens if the communicators are in the room where decisions are made from the beginning. That is how you maintain brand authenticity, and it matters.

AI: How to Avoid Becoming a Cautionary Tale

Posted on by
Reply

AI will cure what ails you.

That seems to be the mantra of the 2020s. If you have a problem, it appears the solution is to implement artificial intelligence. However, AI is not a cure-all. While AI can be an incredibly powerful tool, it isn’t perfect and there are cautionary tales to consider as countless organizations incorporate AI.

Glitch in the System

Any adult functioning in the digital world knows technology sometimes fails to live up to its promise. AI is not immune to being glitchy, especially when humans fall short in their quality control roles, many of which are still evolving along with the tech. There are countless AI snafu examples that include:

  • Less than two years ago, Reuters reported on a U.S. District Judge who sanctioned two New York attorneys when their ChatGPT-built brief included six fake case citations.
  • Last spring Google was pilloried by users and media alike when its then-new AI capabilities roll-out resulted in a cascade of false information—including telling users to eat glue and rocks.
  • And Fast Company produced a cringe-worthy list of brands last summer whose AI-driven marketing efforts ranged from total failure to deeply offensive, including household names like Toy “R” Us, McDonald’s and Sports Illustrated.

Reliance Risk

The risk of AI is becoming overly reliant on AI. Reliant on its promise. Reliant on its ease of application. Reliant on its accuracy.

Large language models or LLMs—the engines that drive most generative AI tools—train on massive content libraries. As a result, AI is prone to repeating, in whole or part, both the words and style of some of the content on which its LLM trains. These AI tools aren’t designed to violate copyright laws. Rather, they are working with what they know, and what they know is existing, written—and often copyrighted—content. The intent is to mimic human creativity with enhanced, faster output. The risk, of course, is not only plagiarism, but also inaccuracies due to AI hallucinations as well as content that, frankly, often falls short of being truly creative or distinguishing.

Both the quality and legality of AI generated content will be adjudicated in the court of public opinion, as well as courts of laws, for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, humans are working to catch up. Plagiarism software is continually being stood-up and refined to catch the errant bot-writer. Publishers and others are setting policies for how they will handle contributed AI-generated content. And the legal industry is, most likely, viewing AI as the next asbestos as everyone considers its implications.  

Practical Realities

Learning to live with, and employ, AI is an evolving state. What business and nonprofit leaders must consider now regarding their use or incorporation of AI is this:

  • Brands and business leaders trying to position themselves as thought leaders will fail—possibly in very public ways—if they cede their expertise to the expedience and perceived accuracy of AI where content is concerned.
  • Leveraging AI as a starting point in the creative process can create efficiencies. Relying on AI to drive that process is simply lazy.
  • From courts to publishers as well as clients and consumers, much of the early AI-driven content we are seeing runs the gamut from being declared unacceptable to the merely unpalatable with limited exceptions.
  • Developing policies around how and where to apply AI in your organization is essential to avoid being left behind.
  • Closed AI—essentially a non-publicly accessible AI model—is the only practical approach to AI implementation for many businesses to protect sensitive company and/or client data.
  • A detailed dive into how and if your organization’s errors and omissions liability insurance addresses claims arising from your use of AI is most definitely warranted.
  • AI can be a remarkable improvement to one’s operational efficiency and even client engagement, but only if thoughtful guardrails are in place with humans overseeing the work and conducting frequent quality and accuracy checks.

Without question, AI is and will continue to shape the future of business. Guiding that process with high ethical standards, transparency and rigorous human oversight is required if non- and for-profit organizations are to maintain the trust and confidence of those they serve.

Keys to Boosting Brand Awareness in 2025: Embrace New Media

Posted on by
Reply

While you contemplate adding extra protein and strength training to your weight loss plans for 2025, why not consider adding new media and video to your company’s communications strategies?

A turn of the calendar to a new year presents an ideal opportunity to not only consider weight loss and exercise, but to evaluate business strategies as well – both successful and failed strategies. In public relations, as with many other industries, this new year refresh or reinvention beckons us to consider the latest trends and undertake new initiatives to continually boost brand awareness in the year ahead.

This time of year is replete with industry experts offering outlooks on what we can expect in the year ahead. And while traditional PR tactics, like contributed articles to well-respected outlets continue to carry weight, we are increasingly seeing good PR pros encouraging industry pundits to take on new platforms or new features of existing platforms to share their views, including – LinkedIn Live, LinkedIn Newsletters, TikTok, and new X competitor Blue Sky, among others.

Depending on the audience targeted, each platform can yield considerable results for company leaders who offer original, valuable and educational content. Leaders who want to boost their brand’s visibility in 2025 should consider the following new media:

  • LinkedIn Lives – In 2025, we will continue to see savvy thought leaders connect with their audiences through LinkedIn’s event-hosting platform LinkedIn Live. LinkedIn Lives are becoming increasingly popular for the platform’s ability to host live events with a casual feel – with one or multiple speakers, while engaging and interacting with the audience through a live chat function.

The tool markets itself in many ways as the event can easily be promoted among LinkedIn followers of the company page or the individual hosting the event. Followers will receive notifications about the event, as well as when it goes live. Moreover, any form of video in social media tends to generate higher levels of engagement than written content alone.

In the insurance space, digital marketing and transformation guru Ema Roloff has seen tremendous success with this resource, gathering roughly 1,600 registrations for an insurance predictions and trends event in late 2024. She hopes to do the same and more this year ahead of her Insurance Trends to Watch for 2025 event Dec. 17.

  • LinkedIn Newsletters – As LinkedIn continues to flex its authority as the social platform for business professionals, its newsletter function has also become increasingly popular for sharing thought leadership and other educational, nonpromotional content. LinkedIn claims it has seen a 59% increase in people publishing newsletter articles and a 47% rate increase in engagement. The platform claims more than 184,000 newsletters published. Once published, these newsletters invite your connections and followers automatically to subscribe so they are notified each time you publish with an in-app and email notification. Another perk – the success of your content is easily measurable through LinkedIn analytics.
  • Tik Tok – While Tik Tok has primarily been a successful B2C tool, we are now seeing the platform used more frequently for B2B engagement. In fact, Roloff has told us, her B2B Tik Tok videos on digital marketing in insurance have attracted more than one million views. We’ve been hearing for years that video content is essential for business communications, and Tik Tok proves the point and should not be overlooked in 2025.
  • BlueSky – As some look to move away from X, the app Bluesky, which bills itself as “an open foundation for the social internet” has been gaining popularity. In fact, BlueSky just reported crossing the 15 million user mark. As audiences flock to newer platforms like Bluesky and Meta’s Threads, business leaders will want to take note to ensure they are meeting their customers where they are.

To understand new media available to your business and what might be right for you, work with a communications specialist or agency that understands your business objectives, your audiences and the new media that can deliver on those objectives and audiences. Technology and AI are quickly changing how we do business, as well as how we communicate and interact with each other and prospects. Don’t get left behind.

Communicating with Sensitivity in the Holiday Season: A guide for home and office

Posted on by
Reply

We’re all worried about it. At this time of year everyone gathers. Linda brings up the election. Todd starts mansplaining. Rarely is there a workplace holiday gathering or end-of-year meeting where sensitive issues don’t come up. Oh, wait. You thought I was talking about holidays with the family?

Whether it’s bringing together far-flung (and far right and far left) relatives or just the company holiday party, some basic rules of the road apply to help you navigate both with grace, wit and diplomacy.

Know Your Audience

Spend enough time with anyone and you know what buttons to push and what reactions to expect. Keeping these in mind can avoid disaster.

  • Holiday Meals: Aunt Linda’s wine-soaked stories can venture into uncomfortable territory, while Cousin Todd is ready to challenge you on everything. Don’t engage. Instead, start light. “Please pass the rolls” is a safe opening that builds rapport and may only offend the gluten-free wing of the family.
  • Work Communications: When your boss is a bottom-line kind of executive or you have colleagues who need a little extra communication fluff to avoid shattered nerves, tailor your tone and content accordingly. When in doubt, lead with data and empathy. “Here’s the situation and my suggestions for how we can handle it.”

Address Conflict Strategically

Conflict is part of the human experience, but it doesn’t have to become a distraction from the mission of your gathering.

  • Holiday Meals: Avoid inflammatory topics like politics, religion, and Tofurkey. Instead, take the middle ground by spreading good cheer. Compliment the chef, celebrate Grandma’s bedazzled holiday sweater and admire your nephew’s alpaca-like hair style.
  • Work Communications: Take a beat before responding to a tense email or comment. Employ diplomacy by acknowledging a colleague’s concern, but stay solutions focused. “I understand your concerns. Let me clarify what I meant so we can find a solution together.”

Manage Expectations

Clarifying both your expectations and what you can offer helps to avoid misinterpretation. Clarifying your position without offending others can be achieved.

  • Holiday Meals: Stating you are stepping outside to “get some air” can be loosely interpreted to mean you’re taking a moment to avoid listening to Uncle Ernie (who no one invited) go on about how things were so much better in his day and how the world is going to hell in a handbasket now.
  • Work Communications: Be explicit about deadlines, deliverables and resources, especially during the holiday season. Doing so early helps avoid miscommunication. And push back when necessary, stating something along the lines of “I’d love to prioritize this, but I need more clarity/resources/time to do so.” Remember, no one appreciates it when someone over promises and under delivers.

Exit Gracefully

When things become untenable or you feel there is little benefit in continuing to be part of the situation, know how to leave without burning bridges.

  • Holiday Meals: Deploy a helpful excuse like promising to help in the kitchen or needing to get home to check on your pet that you’ve never mentioned and may not, in fact, actually have.
  • Work Communications: Politely steer the meeting toward a conclusion with positive words to the effect of “It seems we’ve aligned on the main points. We can regroup on the details in our next update.”

The secret to any family or work gathering at the end of the year is the same: navigate the situation with empathy, a little humor and as much tact as you can muster. To do so:

  • Listen more than you speak
  • Breath before you respond
  • Find humor where you can, but not at someone else’s expense

Applied successfully, you will navigate this season of full-contact family dynamics and stress-inducing end-of-year business, leaving everyone convinced of your manifest diplomatic skills while creating or contributing to as few moments of holiday drama as possible.

2025: Do You Have a Communication Strategy? You Should

Posted on by
Reply

As many businesses and non-profits begin to turn their attention to 2025 planning, one component that should not be overlooked as part of a success strategy for the new year is communication or comms planning. An effective public relations campaign can prove to be both an affordable investment in growing your organization as well as in deepening important reputational relationships that can help sustain for- and non-profit organizations in troubled times.

Here are five critical tactics for B2B organizations to consider when developing 2025 comms strategies.

  1. Highlight Industry Expertise. In the world of B2B marketing and communications, clients and partners look for actionable, tested expertise. By positioning your subject matter experts as thought leaders through authoritative content, you position your brand as a potential resource for your target audiences while demonstrating your deep understanding of, and vision for, the industry you’re in. That content can include contributed articles to respected trade outlets, white papers, industry reports, owned video content and feature-length broadcast interviews on hot topics or industry trends.
  2. Develop Authentic Messaging. Whether your audience is business or consumer, the public at large is tired of being sold to or fed boilerplate marketing messaging. Don’t sell. Instead, tell stories to highlight the purpose and values of your brand that address the concerns of your audience. No one looks for a sales pitch; they look for anecdotes, reviews and stories in which they recognize themselves or their priorities. Your audiences are more likely to turn to the sources of those stories or analogies when seeking solutions and opportunities.
  3. Focus on Data-driven Solutions. B2B audiences look for track records of success supported by hard data. Highlighting successful partnerships or projects supported by numbers and real-world outcomes creates a point of distinction and gives trade journalists something to work with when telling stories that can shine a light on your brand. This can also include information on lessons-learned and client testimonials.
  4. Be Prepared for Crisis Scenarios. From online review sites to social media platforms, the public-at-large can rapidly shape public perception of your brand in minutes or hours. By preparing for likely crisis scenarios and developing actionable protocols to deploy your response messaging, your organization stands a better chance in weathering whatever storms may come. Paramount to protecting your brand in a crisis scenario is developing messaging that is honest, authentic, empathetic and deployed with thoughtful speed.
  5. Pursue a Broadening Media Landscape. While rumors regarding the demise of journalism have been abundant in the past decade or more, the reality is the media landscape has broadened considerably. Where there once existed only print, broadcast and online, there are now podcasts, streaming platforms, vlogs, subscription-based email newsletters, audio-based social channels and even industry-specific Slack communities. The options are seemingly endless. Start by understanding the audiences you hope to reach and how they consume media. Then, plan accordingly.

If your 2025 marketing or business development plan lacks a clearly defined comms strategy, you are missing countless opportunities to convert the work you’re already doing into compelling storytelling that can move the needle for your brand. What’s worse, you may also be completely unprepared to defend your reputation if you find yourself facing a communications crisis. Make sure you have a 2025 comms strategy ready to go before January 1, 2025. And if you need help, Kimball Hughes Public Relations has nearly 30 years of expertise to help you make the most of the year ahead.

Envisioning a Clearer Line from PR to Sales

Posted on by
Reply

How do you measure the return on investment (ROI) on your public relations (PR) services? It’s a question asked of every public relations professional by clients and prospects frequently.

It’s also a question we wish we could answer with detailed rows of figures, colorful line graphs and a direct line to sales, but even in 2024, it’s not that easy.

Though we can — and do — give clients comprehensive measurement reports listing the circulation, readership, viewership or listenership of media outlets where they’ve been featured, as well as share-of-voice (SOV) reports, Google Analytics, and more, the industry is yet to develop that perfect algorithm or tool that demonstrates a direct line from PR to sales.

By no means does this mean our work is not generating sales and/or leads. In fact, experienced PR pros have clients say, time and time again, “We had a call come in from a prospect who said they were inquiring about our services after reading our contributed article in XYZ publication.”

For those in our profession, a statement like this is the ultimate compliment. We know, and the client knows, we not only positioned them in front of their target audience through a thoughtfully designed PR strategy, we helped bring, through our work, a prospect to their door.

So, how do you know your PR strategy is working?

A good PR partner will start with obtainable goals and consider a variety of factors to measure their progress. Key measures should include:

Comprehensive Metrics: These are critical in measuring PR success, but once again, you likely will not find an accurate direct link to sales. But there are plenty of metrics your PR team can examine to measure the success of a campaign.

For example, they should carefully review and measure unique monthly visitors to the host site, share of voice, tone, sentiment, reach, key word ranking, social media traffic and more. That information should be shared with you on a monthly basis with a media mentions report of articles, podcasts or other media where your company was featured during that month.

At the same time, to boost those metrics, your PR team should be working to secure backlinks in your media coverage where possible. Though some publications will not allow this, when permitted, a backlink can be quite valuable. Backlinks denote authority and raise the search engine optimization (SEO) of your website, as well as the authority of your content. If the publication’s own domain authority or SEO is considerable, that lends greater credibility from Google’s perspective. With backlinks and your website’s Google Analytics, your PR team can benchmark and track progress as to how the PR work is impacting web traffic to your site.

While ad value equivalency and media impressions were once the holy grail of PR measurement, these two metrics have since largely fallen out of favor. They are a “holdover over from print” and no longer accurate, according to PRWeek. Though impressions can tell you how many viewed and an article from a circulation perspective it fails to tell you how many times a physical article was passed around, how an article has been featured and circulated on social media, how long a viewer stays on an article and more.

Share of Voice: Share of voice, which should be included in the comprehensive metrics above, deserves a shout out of its own here as a key measure as it can offer a company critical insight into their own media footprint as it compares to their competitors.

The term share of voice denotes a measurement that encompasses a company’s print, radio, broadcast and podcast presence, as well as its online mentions and website traffic, among other factors. Share of voice is measured with a calculation of a company’s mentions divided by total market measures.

At Kimball Hughes PR, we’ve seen tremendous success for our clients in terms of growing share of voice via a strategic PR campaign. In fact, after one year of a PR engagement with our team, one of our clients saw their share of voice increase from just under 10% to more than 75% compared to their competitors. In addition to posting thoughtful press releases in tandem with the client, we accomplished this by leveraging insight from the client’s leadership team, by telling stories about relatable personal interests, tapping into industry trends and more to get in front of their key audiences in print, online, via broadcast and streaming platforms, via podcasts, blogs and more. Further, once these pieces of content were published, we provided recommendations and suggested messaging to amplify the article’s reach through social media.

New Business Origination and Leads: While these tools are helpful, as mentioned at the top, one of the best ways to measure PR success, is through a client’s new business wins after the prospect has read their insight in earned media coordinated by your PR team. There, you see PR’s direct link to sales.

No doubt, new tools will be introduced in the months and years to come to better measure PR success. In the meantime, be patient and open to considering multiple metrics in evaluating the success of your PR campaign.