Sending a press release is a great way to get the word out there about the fantastic things your company is doing. But after you’ve spent time and money on a release, how can you track its success and measure its impact?
Our handy guide will help you understand how you can measure success of your campaigns.
Media Coverage:
The most obvious way to measure the success of your press release is to monitor the media coverage it receives. Our distribution service includes a hand-picked list of contacts who will be interested in receiving your story and we send a distribution report to you so that you can see which publications have received your story. This makes it easier for you to find any coverage.
Online tools, such as media monitoring services or Google Alerts, can help automate this process. Check Google News to see whether Google’s algorithm picked up your press release, then track key media websites by opening their site to see if your release shows up in their new stories. You can also try Googling yourself and your company’s name to see if it comes up in any top search results.
Website traffic:
If your press release has been picked up, you should start to see an increase in visits to your website. You can also post your press release onto your own website, although we advise changing it into the first person to avoid it being marked as duplicate content by Google.
Your web analytics should be able to show you what your traffic was before, during, and after the press release, and many web traffic monitors also tell you where this traffic was coming from. The ideal scenario is that your press release caused a spike in visitors and your traffic going forward has improved from previous traffic levels.
Social media platforms offer an excellent opportunity to measure the reach of your press release. This is not only through your own social profiles, but also by your company name being mentioned on the pages of the outlets which have covered your press release.
Track social media engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and retweets before and after your press release was distributed to identify trends in activity. Watch for posts and comments referencing you and the subject of your press release, and engage with them to make your profile more visible.
Media requests:
All press releases sent by PR Fire include a media contact, enabling the press to get in touch with you if they require further information, or to put your name on file for any future stories. For example, if a journalist is looking for a comment on a story which affects the sector your business operates in, they may come to you to ask for your opinion.
Make sure you keep track of any enquiries your media contact receives, as these can be valuable ways of developing relationships with the media and being one of their points of contact for industry comments.
Customer enquiries:
Ultimately, the key aim of your press release is to get your company’s name out there, so people know you exist. If successful, this should translate to an increase in customer enquiries so keeping an eye on any changes in the volume of enquiries you are receiving is important.
If you have a contact form on your website, track the number of enquiries you receive before and after your press release is distributed. Also monitor the number of inbound sales calls to identify whether there has been an increase in enquiries. If you find that business has increased off the back of the press release, you will soon discover that the time and effort you spent working on it has more than paid for itself.
IIf you’re looking to distribute a press release or want to create one but aren’t sure where to go next, our experienced team is here to help. Head to our site to place your order today.
