So, you are a B2B or SMB business that is using likes and impressions to link PR to sales? Well just stop for a minute and think. First of all, they probably don’t work (see my article, “Why Impressions and Likes Are Like Sperm”). Secondly, what is it that you are really trying to do?
For your sort of business, the only reason I can fathom for measuring with impressions and likes is the lack of anything better. And this article will help you get something better.
Learn from the Biggest
First, let’s learn a little something from those businesses that do use likes and impressions. The businesses that measure successfully with impressions are typically very large. And they typically have many years of experience and huge piles of PR, advertising, and sales data to work with.
Take Proctor & Gamble, for instance. Over many, many years and millions of customers and sales they have learned the relationship between their advertising and PR impressions and sales. Specifically, they know that the following three types of impressions will result in X many sales:
- Brand mentions
- Brand recommendations
- Desirable visuals
My point here is not that impressions work (because, in general, they don’t). My point is that P&G has acquired the knowledge of what makes customers want to do business with them.
Go Out and Get the Right Data
Just because you have a smaller business or budget or customer base or sales volume doesn’t mean you can’t learn the same sort of thing. If you don’t have data on what makes customers want to do business with you, go out and get it.
(I’ll bet the reason you are using likes and impressions is that such data is easy to come by. Heck, you can’t not know how many people like you on Facebook. Aren’t you just a little suspicious that free data might be, well, not so valuable?)
Chances are if you actually ask your customers (what a concept), they’ll say things like price, or availability, or features. The key thing is to dig into that data far enough to get beyond the easy answers. What’s the fourth biggest driver? Are there differences between men and women? Old vs. young?, etc.
What’s the Spark?
Figure out what it is that you do that drives their behavior. PR is frequently referred to as “the spark that starts the consideration process.” So, find out what is it that your PR does or says to touch off that spark. Ask your sales force, your customer service group, or market research. Someone in your organization must know what motivates customers to do business with your company. Get lots of input and then figure out what role you play in that process. Now figure out a metric based on that role. Do you shorten the sales cycle, does awareness make your sales force more efficient, do your key messages help sell a product? Whatever that role is, measure how much of that activity you are generating.
Once you know that you can quantify how PR contributes to the process. Start counting those sparks, or the appearance of those sparks. Develop a technique to track and quantify the connection, like unique URLs, quarterly pulse surveys, or total engagement. ∞
(image: Imagination’s Underground Railroad)
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