How Do I Measure the Return on Investment of my Advertising and PR Efforts?
Unlock the Power: 3 Ways to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Advertising and PR Efforts
As a small business owner, you understand the importance of advertising and PR in growing your business. But how do you know if your efforts are making a difference? The truth is that traditional metrics like media impressions and the number of placements may not give you the insights you need. To truly understand the impact of your advertising and PR, consider these alternative measurement approaches tailored to your business:
Analyse Referral Traffic with Google Analytics
Gaining access to your website's analytics is crucial for evaluating the success of your advertising and PR initiatives. By leveraging tools like Google Analytics, you can track referral traffic and identify which sources drive qualified leads to your website. For example, you might discover that media placements, social media, or blog traffic are responsible for a significant portion of your sales leads. Armed with this data, you can quantify the potential sales opportunities generated by your efforts. By setting up conversion goals and tracking specific actions visitors take, such as filling out a contact form, you can directly attribute revenue to your advertising and PR activities.
Maximise the Lifespan of Media Placements
Don't treat securing media placements as the final goal. Instead, think of it as just the beginning of a better lead generation strategy. Optimise your social media promotion to extend the longevity of your media placements. By regularly sharing and promoting articles even after their initial publication, you can continue driving qualified traffic to your website. Additionally, consider using tools like Snip.ly, which allows you to include compelling calls-to-action within shared articles. This approach helps convert article visitors into leads and creates a sustainable sales machine that contributes to your bottom line.
Leverage Trusted Backlinks to Boost Search Rankings
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is crucial in generating organic leads. Backlinks from reputable websites with high domain authority can significantly improve your search rankings. When PR efforts result in articles about your brand being published on trusted sites, ensure those articles include a backlink to your website. This helps establish your site's credibility and boosts its domain authority. With a higher domain authority, your content will rank higher in search results, leading to increased inbound leads. Keep an eye on your site's domain authority score using tools like MozRank and monitor the impact of PR-generated backlinks on your organic search traffic.
Understanding the Business Value of PR
While intangible benefits like building trust, increasing loyalty, and raising brand awareness are essential, PR can also directly impact lead generation and business growth. By employing these alternative measurement strategies, you can effectively evaluate the effectiveness of your advertising and PR efforts. Remember, aligning your metrics with your business goals is crucial to understanding PR's value to your small business truly.
