PR Metrics

There are four popular PR metrics. These traditional measurements help you analyze the media coverage that your PR program stimulated.

These are navigational metrics. They can help you navigate your program in the general direction of higher profitability. But they can't actually do anything toward measuring your profitability (which evaluative metrics can).

Here are the four metrics:

Clip Counting and Media Impressions are simple forms of measuring your media coverage and, by assumption, changes in the behavior or mental state of people in your target audience.

Accuracy of Coverage goes beyond Clip Counting and Media Impressions: it considers not only the quantity of media coverage but also the quality.

Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) goes one step further and attempts to put a dollar value on coverage. However, this tool can be dangerous: although it appears to be evaluative (it "measures" PR in dollars), the dollar-denominated calculations have nothing to do with profitability, and can confuse senior managers who are not familiar with marketing metrics.

For a complete list of all metrics mentioned on this web site, see the List of Metrics and Tools. It shows which are navigational and which are evaluative.

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