In today’s business climate, it is more important than ever to deliver tangible results that show, on some level, an improvement to the bottom line of every business. Naturally, every member of the C-level not only wants to see this, they expect to see it from every possible area of the company’s operations. PR is no different, which is why Merit Mile leverages its Metrix measurement technology to demonstrate high-level integration within client marketing campaigns.
For many years, PR’s special calling was that it delivered “buzz”, “awareness”, and “mindshare”. While this is still true today, PR is now similar to other areas of the marketing and sales team. At the end of the day, getting buzz for the CEO and generating awareness for the company are both extremely important, but PR had better find a way to demonstrate an ability to show that its activities are helping to increase the sales funnel. Fortunately, new technology and a closer strategic approach to marketing allows every PR campaign to deliver on this promise. Years ago the general routine for most PR campaigns went something like this: Identify an issue within the company to formulate a press announcement, write and send out a press release, and then count the number of places the press release was picked up.
Add in a little strategic thinking and you’ve got a neat PR campaign that, for the most part, generated some buzz for the company around a certain product or service offering. PR analytics through Metrix are clearly evolving, though, and the practice is integrated more closely with strategic marketing functions that drive lead generation and sales activity. PR will be used to deliver on building mindshare as well as supplement marketing, driving traffic to specific web pages where leads are collected for the sales team. Advanced analytics tools are used to measure traffic and leads resulting from the PR efforts so that the C-level can more clearly see the value stemming from the PR program.
At the same time, the C-level can leverage Metrix to get a holistic overview of the integrated campaign results. In the near future, Merit Mile Metrix will reshape the environment for PR analytics, showcasing integration with marketing campaigns and also helping to drive sales activity. With Merit Mile Metrix and strategic agency vision, executives on the C-level are giving PR another look when considering an integrated marketing communications program to generate awareness AND drive sales activity.