7 metrics PR pros should track to gain respect

Of course, that’s not a new conversation. We talk about it a lot. We talk about how measuring our efforts to real business goals will get us a seat at the leadership table. We also talk about how our jobs are quickly becoming those of hybrid PR professionals.

But he had a couple of insights I thought were interesting.

He said the industry gets no respect because you can’t track or scale PR, PR pros have a terrible reputation problem with journalists, and there is no use putting lipstick on a pig.

Does that sound about right to you?

In Canada there is an industry-wide initiative to get rid of media impressions and advertising value equivalencies (AVEs). It has been so successful, clients no longer ask PR professionals to submit results based on those two things.

But that’s still how the way the industry measures its efforts in the U.S. In fact, when we judge award entries for professional organizations, the results sections lack real business results and focus instead on the number of Facebook fans, media interviews, and media impressions.