Measuring PR success: How much does reach matter?

Our clients have sought all sorts of metrics of success. Some simply want more press; some are targeting specific types of press. Still others have personalized metrics -– one company CEO was pleased that retired generals responded favorably to his op-ed.

But it was only recently that I was asked for reach as a metric of success. This isn’t “potential reach,” a manipulative metric used by far too many PR professionals and PR-tangential companies (I once had an op-ed get a few thousand reads -– but the “potential reach” was in the millions). This is actual reach -– the number of people who read, heard, or watched the client’s press coverage.

Without a media outlet’s internal metrics, it’s impossible to determine total reach. Tools like SEM Rush offer some of that capability. But the more I think about it, that may be an academic question because reach just isn’t a very valuable metric of success for a PR and media campaign.

Reach vs. other metrics