Measuring PR Success:
Why PR Still Matters – and Why Measuring It Is (and Always Has Been) Tricky
There’s one question we’ve heard in every single client pitch meeting over the past 20 years, whether we are speaking with a scrappy startup founder or the CMO of a multimillion-dollar brand: “But how will we measure the ROI?”
It’s a fair question. In a world where digital ads spit out neat dashboards and social platforms hand over engagement rates on demand, PR can feel like a black box. We don’t buy a 30-second spot or boost a post and then wait for the click-throughs to roll in. We tell stories. We shape narratives. We build credibility. And while those things are measurable, the path from a great media placement to a business win isn’t always linear – which is why it is crucial to measure the right metrics for your business.
PR in 2025: More Than Media Hits
The definition of visibility has changed dramatically. It’s no longer enough to land one glossy magazine feature and call it a day (though we’ll happily celebrate it when it happens). Between the fragmentation of traditional media, the rise of influencer and niche publications and now AI-driven search reshaping how information is discovered, the game has shifted. Today, PR isn’t just about securing headlines – it’s about owning your narrative everywhere your audience is looking for it, whether that’s in The New York Times, a trusted industry podcast, or even an AI summary box at the top of a search result.
And that means our definition of “success” has to evolve too. It’s not just “Did we get coverage?” but rather, “Did we get the right coverage, in the right places, with the right message pull-through – and did it move the needle for our business?”
The Vanity Metric Trap
Let’s talk about media impressions. They’re not meaningless – reach is still an important part of the equation – but 2 billion impressions alone don’t guarantee impact. Without context, they’re just a big number on a slide. What matters more, is who those impressions reach, what they learned about you and whether they trust you more because of it.
One client, for example, came to us as they prepared to launch a high-end wellness destination in New York City. They wanted early buzz before opening their doors, so we designed a campaign targeting exactly the media their ideal clients were already reading – think luxury lifestyle, NYC insider outlets, and high-profile wellness publications. The result was nearly 30 high-quality placements and close to 2 billion impressions. But the real win wasn’t just the number. It was that the right local and national audiences walked into opening day already familiar with the brand’s story, because they’d already read about it in trusted sources.
Why Measuring PR Is Different
Here’s the challenge: PR builds trust and authority… and those aren’t single-click metrics. They’re cumulative. They take time. They often show up indirectly – like when a prospective client says, “I saw you in that article,” or when an investor mentions your latest podcast interview. Those moments rarely get tracked in a spreadsheet, but they’re some of the most valuable outcomes that PR can deliver.
And this is exactly why it’s important to look at both quantitative and qualitative measures of success. Yes, count your placements, impressions, backlinks and referral traffic. But also track sentiment, brand narrative consistency and share of voice. Because PR is about more than generating attention – it is about shaping the perception that turns attention into trust, and trust into action.
Your PR Health Check
If you want to measure PR effectively, start with the basics. Ask yourself:
- Do we have a clear, compelling narrative? And, is it consistent across all our channels?
- Have we earned credible third-party coverage in places our audience actually pays attention to?
- Are we part of the conversations our competitors are already having?
- If someone searches our brand in Google or asks an AI platform about us, will they find the story we want them to find?
If you’re not confident in those answers, the question isn’t “How do we measure PR?” Instead, it’s “How do we make sure we have something worth measuring?”