Return on Investment (or ROI) is a critical measure of success in any line of work. Public relations is no exception to this rule. A widespread issue we come across is the vagueness around how to measure the ROI of a press release. There’s an evident need for guidance on how to navigate press release ROI. Read on for our tips and tricks.
The History of Press Release ROI
Back in the “old” days, when the internet had minimal existence and hard copy publications were the norm, public relations agencies would find printed placements of a client’s press release and then provide an estimated number of people who read each publication.
This would give their client an idea of their press release ROI. And that was that.
Accurate? Absolutely not. But it’s the best they could do.
Today: A Different Story
Now, news distribution services (such as GlobeNewswire) and PR agencies can provide more details.
We can now tap into the benefits of online publications. We can provide precise numbers of visits to a website per day, per month and per year.
We have the tools to seek out and target the most effective online publications for clients.
We can select the highest quality websites from the plethora of financial, trade, general local, regional and national online publications.
All of this allows us to deliver better ROI to our clients.
However, none of it matters if those clients don’t understand how to properly assess and measure press release ROI.
Quality Over Quantity
A common mistake that companies make is to measure press release ROI simply by looking at the number of publications where their release has posted.
While this methodology might seem effective (and may provide vanity metrics that look good in reports), you should never assess your return on investment based solely on the number of websites where it posted.
Why?
If your release doesn’t reach a target audience, what have you really gained? Nothing. You might increase brand recognition…but that isn’t worth anything if those people aren’t interested in what you’re offering.
So, how should you asses your press release ROI? By looking for the high-quality websites that posted it.
What constitutes a high-quality website? We’ve defined this as a website with:
- Consistent, engaging theme
- Well-developed content throughout the site
- Clear and intuitive layout
- Consistently high volume of traffic
- Reader engagement
- Industry engagement
- Social media engagement
- Strong team of editors, journalists and management
- Target audience relevant to YOU
As part of Notified, GlobeNewswire focuses on providing clients with high-quality press release distribution options —because our goal is to enable your success.
GlobeNewswire’s media relations and research teams invest a great deal of time and effort into finding websites that meet all the above-mentioned criteria.
Learn more about our press release distribution solutions.