It’s not only marketers that are under pressure to prove their worth. One of the top challenges facing PR professionals is justifying/showcasing the PR team’s value to stakeholders, according to a report [download page] from Muck Rack.
When asked to identify the top three PR/communications challenges their company faces today, 40% pointed to justification of their team’s value to stakeholders. This was only behind getting responses from journalists (53%) and having enough resources (48%).
This highlights the need for good metrics, per the analysis, with media measurement and reporting separately tabbed as one of the biggest core responsibilities of PR professionals.
When asked the top 3 factors that help increase the value of PR among key stakeholders, there were three that stood out above the rest. The most commonly-cited top-3 factor was producing measurable results (66%), followed by tying PR activities to key business initiatives (62%). These are similar to those cited by marketers in a recent survey, in which B2B senior marketers said that proving the effectiveness of marketing was one of the key responsibilities that has grown in importance in recent years.
Meanwhile, the third-most cited element that helps increase the value of PR is sourcing more coverage and/or media relationships. Encouragingly on that front, previous research from Muck Rack suggests that journalists are becoming more receptive to pitches from PR pros.
That’s good news, given that the most useful metric reported by PR pros to measure their success is the number of stories placed (7.6 – weighted score where a higher score means it’s ranked higher more often). Other useful metrics cited by respondents include reach/impressions (6.8) and key message pull-through (6.4).
Overall, the average PR pro was found to use around 8 metrics, up from about 6 last year and 5 the year prior.
For more, download the report here.
About the Data: The results are based on a March-April survey of 1,034 PR professionals and a separate October survey of more than 100 communications and marketing leaders.
