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The pursuit of a return on investment drives nearly every strategic business decision. However, when it comes to PR campaigns, short-term ROI proves notoriously tricky to measure. This does not mean that PR’s ROI is immeasurable, and it certainly does not mean PR is not worth the investment.
Unlike advertising, PR is rooted in earned — not paid — exposure. It’s about building credibility, shaping perception and creating longterm visibility. That’s also what makes measuring its return on investment (ROI) uniquely complex.
A single feature in a respected publication can have a far longer-lasting impact than a paid advertisement. While advertising aims to maximize exposure through financial investment, PR builds trust through third-party validation. Consumers often view ads with skepticism, but earned media offers credibility that money can’t buy.
Related: The 5 Answers You Need Before Hiring a PR Agency
How PR influences sales
PR doesn’t drive immediate sales in the same way that direct-response ads do. Its influence is subtle, cumulative and embedded in every stage of the sales funnel.
Effective PR efforts — press releases, media outreach, thought leadership — are often a customer’s first point of contact with a brand. These touchpoints shape perception and plant the seeds of trust. Case studies, customer success stories and founder features help potential buyers evaluate the brand before a sales rep even enters the picture.
And while sales teams close deals, PR often lays the groundwork. It establishes brand awareness, communicates core values and nurtures longterm loyalty. Even post-purchase, PR plays a role — supporting customer retention and encouraging advocacy through ongoing storytelling.
Key metrics for measuring PR ROI
To quantify PR’s impact, brands must look beyond immediate conversions. Here are some useful ways to assess ROI:
- Media mentions: Track how often your brand is featured in online, print or broadcast media. More mentions generally signal growing visibility.
- Reach and impressions: Use tools to estimate the size of the audience exposed to each media placement.
- Share of voice: Compare your media presence with competitors to gauge relative influence.
- Website traffic: Monitor spikes in site visits following major press coverage.
- Engagement metrics: Dwell time, social shares, and comments can reflect how well your messaging is resonating.
- Lead attribution: Track leads coming through PR-driven sources like press releases, interviews, or speaking events.
- Sentiment analysis: Use media monitoring tools to understand how people feel about your brand across channels.
- Conversion tracking: Connect PR-generated traffic to outcomes like demo requests, purchases, or sign-ups using analytics and CRM tools.
Tools to support measurement
Today’s media monitoring platforms allow publicists to track earned media mentions, sentiment and overall reach. Social listening tools offer real-time insight into trends and audience perception. Web analytics reveal where visitors come from, what content they engage with, and how they convert. CRM systems tie PR-generated leads back to revenue.
Combined, these tools help paint a fuller picture of how PR efforts move the needle.
4 PR Campaigns That Prove ROI
1. Airbnb — “Live There”
Designed to promote local, authentic experiences over traditional tourism, this campaign leveraged user-generated content and social media. The results? A 9% boost in brand awareness, 15% increase in social media engagement, and a 20% spike in booking conversions.
2. Dove — “Real Beauty”
Challenging conventional beauty standards, Dove featured diverse women to reflect real-world audiences. The campaign grew sales by $2.5 to $4 billion over ten years and made Dove bars the top-selling soap in the U.S.
3. Red Bull — Extreme Branding
Red Bull aligned itself with extreme sports through high-impact content like documentaries and events. Its most iconic moment? The Felix Baumgartner space jump. The brand now holds 75% of the U.S. energy drink market, a direct result of its PR-powered brand storytelling.
4. IHOP — “IHOb” Stunt
Temporarily rebranding as the International House of Burgers sparked a media frenzy. The result: burger sales quadrupled, 20,000 news articles were published, and 36 billion social media impressions were generated.
Related: 3 Metrics That Matter When Measuring the Success of Your PR Campaigns
The long game of PR
Yes, PR ROI can be measured — but it requires patience, the right tools and a broader definition of impact. While PR may not deliver instant clicks or purchases, it builds something even more valuable: brand equity, trust and long-term influence.
So, before dismissing PR as intangible, ask yourself: What is the value of credibility? If your answer is “priceless,” then PR is not an expense — it’s an investment.
The pursuit of a return on investment drives nearly every strategic business decision. However, when it comes to PR campaigns, short-term ROI proves notoriously tricky to measure. This does not mean that PR’s ROI is immeasurable, and it certainly does not mean PR is not worth the investment.
Unlike advertising, PR is rooted in earned — not paid — exposure. It’s about building credibility, shaping perception and creating longterm visibility. That’s also what makes measuring its return on investment (ROI) uniquely complex.
A single feature in a respected publication can have a far longer-lasting impact than a paid advertisement. While advertising aims to maximize exposure through financial investment, PR builds trust through third-party validation. Consumers often view ads with skepticism, but earned media offers credibility that money can’t buy.
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