PR Campaigns.

Public relations campaigns can be measured in a variety of ways, depending on the specific goals of the campaign.

One of the most common ways to measure the success of a PR campaign is by tracking media coverage. This can include the number of articles, interviews, or mentions in the media, as well as the tone of the coverage. Is it positive, negative, or neutral?

It’s also common to measure website traffic, social media engagement, or the number of people who attended an event.

It’s essential to measure engagement as well as exposure to a message.

How many people have engaged with a particular piece of content or message? How many likes, comments, shares, or retweets on social media, have you achieved. What are people saying about you anecdotally?

There are various media and social engagement platforms designed for the PR industry which help PR firms track results for clients.

Sales and enquiries are often a good barometer for the success of a campaign but PR campaigns shouldn’t be judged solely on financial return since it is difficult to know whether it is PR, or a number of other factors, which have persuaded a customer to make an enquiry or buy a product. PR campaigns should be judged in a holistic way..

Overall, measuring the success of a PR campaign requires a clear understanding of the goals and objectives of the campaign, as well as the metrics that are most relevant to those goals. By tracking and analysing these metrics, PR professionals can assess the effectiveness of their campaigns and make adjustments as needed to achieve their desired outcomes.

PR campaigns can differ in price from a few hundred pounds to millions, depending on the nature of the brief. The cost also depends on the size and quality of the PR agency. There are agencies in the UK to suit every brief and every budget.

During the KFC PR crisis when the fast food chain ran out of chicken, there were a few things that were considered good about their response. Firstly, KFC showed gratitude to all the stakeholders involved by publicly thanking everyone who was impacted. Secondly, they injected the right amount of humour in their key messages to make things right. The company changed the branding on its famous buckets to read FCK instead of KFC.

This cheeky move softened criticism, showed a human/humorous side and got people talking about KFC (and not necessarily for the lack of chicken in its UK stores). It was a well managed campaign, albeit in a time of communications crisis, but it worked well and was commended by the PR industry.

A successful PR campaign requires several key factors. At Altitude, this means starting with a good degree of planning and strategy.

Before we embark on any PR campaign we develop messaging and key content pieces that target a specific audience and address their needs.

We research, set clear goals, and metrics of success for the campaign, and really seek to understand the needs of both the client and their audience.

We’ve found that tapping into current trends can be effective but equally we draw on our outstanding relationships with journalists, influencers and other communicators.

Keeping things simple often works best. Great photography and video really helps campaigns gather traction. It’s also essential that enough time is built into schedules to get results.

No PR campaigns can be offline, online or a hybrid. PR agencies can tailor your campaign to suit your audience. In today’s digital world, many people are online but audiences still exist offline and we can suggest bespoke ways of reaching these audiences depending on your need.

PR campaigns can range in length from 1-2 months or longer. Campaigns are usually part of a longer, more strategic PR approach. Short campaigns are often timely, date-sensitive campaigns that are tied to a current event. A comprehensive PR strategy could be made up of several campaigns over a 12 or 18 month period.

PR is most effective over a period of several months because challenging perceptions, educating and informing audiences does take time and patience.