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The common belief is that it’s impossible to objectively
judge a PR campaign’s effectiveness. From old metrics
like “how many news clips a press release received” to
more recent measurements like website hits, marketers
have struggled to get a grip on PR effectiveness.
Objectively measuring a campaign’s return on investment
would help with budgeting and priority issues. With
today’s technology, PR pros can do just that.
Targeting is now easier than ever. And creating a
targeted message and making sure it is going to the
correct audience is the first step in creating a
measurable response.
Including a call to action in the message helps obtain
measurable results. If you are announcing a new product
or service, for instance, you can provide a toll-free
number for people to call in order to measure response.
Even better, if you use the web for your message, create
a special “landing page” where responses are received.
This page can be crafted to answer the questions your
initial message may have engendered.
Online messages provide more measurement ability than
any other medium. For example, this newsletter is a
web-based publication that creates a measurable
response. We know which articles are of interest to our
readers. The same can hold true for weblogs, podcasts
and other web-delivered communication.
With interviews or published articles, you can direct
the audience to additional information online and then
track responses. Have a white paper or an FAQ
(frequently asked questions) page for readers. Make it
easy for them to access – and for you to track.
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