Public relations professionals face a paradox in an era where data drives decisions. According to the State of PR Measurement from Muck Rack, 86% of PR practitioners consider measurement “very” or “extremely” important. Still, barely a third feel confident in the metrics they report to stakeholders.
This disconnect reveals a profession caught between the pressing need to demonstrate value and the challenge of proving it. It doesn’t have to be this hard!
Yes, the stakes are high. For 45% of PR teams, their budget hangs in the balance of whether they achieve their goals. Yet only 7% feel “extremely confident” in their metrics and results. And the majority—a full 49%—admit to being only “somewhat confident” in their numbers.
This is not good! In an industry that so desperately needs to demonstrate value as it relates to business goals—one that needs to measure outcomes, not activities—we need these numbers to rise.
This crisis of confidence isn’t merely an academic concern. In a landscape where 61% of PR professionals struggle to link their metrics to business goals, the industry faces existential questions about how to prove its worth in the boardroom. The challenge is particularly acute given that two of the top three ways to increase PR’s value among stakeholders rely on creating measurable results, yet most still measure the number of stories placed and media impressions.
The Measurement Mandate
Nearly every PR professional (89%) says they track and report their efforts to demonstrate results to leadership or clients. But here’s where it gets interesting (and a bit concerning). The data tells a different story. It shows we measure because clients or executives request it, for team motivation and recognition, to track internal performance, and to set benchmarks.
This is all fine and dandy, but these aren’t why we should measure our work. Only 44% get it almost right: they use it to inform and adjust strategic focus. Yes, and we should use it to demonstrate how we’re helping the business achieve its goals.
And here’s the thing. Nearly half of PR pros (45%) recognize that their budget is directly affected by whether they reach their goals. Think about that for a second. Nearly half of us are in a “prove it or lose it” situation with our budgets. Yet we’re stuck in a cycle of measuring what’s easy instead of what matters.
Increasing Our Value
Want to know what actually increases our value among the senior leadership team? The survey revealed three key factors:
- Producing measurable results (65%)
- Tying PR activities to key business initiatives (64%)
- Sourcing more coverage and media relationships (58%)
See the pattern? Two out of three top ways to prove PR’s value involve measurement—not just any measurement, but strategic measurement tied to business goals.
Here’s the painful truth: while measurement and reporting are among the top five most time-consuming parts of a PR pro’s job, most of us spend less than four hours per week on it. Yes, 88% spend less than half a day per week on something that directly affects their budget and perceived value.
This isn’t just about tracking numbers—it’s about survival and growth in an increasingly data-driven business world. One, by the way, that marketing and advertising have figured out, leaving us in the dust. When 61% of us struggle to link PR metrics to business goals, we’re not just failing to prove our worth; we’re missing opportunities to improve our strategies and grow our effectiveness.
Time for a Reality Check
If you’re nodding along, thinking, “Yep, that’s us—measuring because we have to, not because we’re using the data,” you’re not alone. But here’s the thing: measurement doesn’t have to be a burden. It should be a powerful tool that helps us:
- Make better strategic decisions
- Prove our worth in tangible terms
- Secure and grow our budgets
- Improve our performance
- Guide our strategies
The question isn’t whether to measure—that ship has sailed. The real question is: are we measuring what matters? Are we using that data to drive decisions? Or are we just going through the motions because someone asked us to create a monthly report?
When only 7% of us feel extremely confident in our metrics, something needs to change. And that change starts with understanding that measurement isn’t just about justifying our existence—it’s about improving our performance and proving our strategic value to the business.
I know it’s not easy, and there isn’t a uniform way across the industry to measure our work. But think about it this way: measurement is not the enemy. Poor (or no) measurement is. And if your budget or client work relies on you getting it right, you can’t afford not to do it.
And let’s get this out of the way, too: vanity metrics are baloney, yet the numbers from the Muck Rack survey are pretty eye-opening here.
Here’s What PR Pros Measure
Want to know what most PR pros are measuring right now?
- 85% track the number of stories placed
- 76% count reach and impressions
- 46% look at website effectiveness
- 42% measure social engagement of earned coverage
- 40% track share of voice
Tell me how these things relate to business goals. Think about leads generated, increased revenue, increased market share, increased stock price, or decreased sales cycle…how do the number of stories placed or media impressions demonstrate you’re helping to achieve business goals?
(That’s rhetorical—they don’t help.)
We measure what’s easy; not what actually matters to the business.
The Trust Gap
But the story gets even more interesting. While PR pros measure these things, they really don’t trust the numbers. The Muck Rack data shows:
- Only 63% trust the number of stories placed (yet 85% track it)
- Just 42% believe in reach/impressions (though 76% measure it)
- A mere 35% trust key message pull-through
- And helping to increase revenue? Only 20% even try to measure it
This is a crazy disconnect! We’re spending time tracking metrics we don’t even trust!
Time for a Better Approach
Look, I get it. I’ve actually lost count of the number of times we’ve demonstrated that the sales conversion percentage has increased or the number of qualified leads has quadrupled or that $2MM customer they just closed because of our efforts—with real data to prove it—only to hear, “Well, yeah…but I met that CEO at a conference 10 years ago, and he’s been following us ever since.”
Head. Desk. Bang. Over and over and over again.
I’m not here to pontificate without understanding the struggles. I do understand how challenging it is to measure our work on actual business outcomes because there is almost never a direct correlation. So, sure, it’s lots easier to count media placements and track impressions. But if we want that seat at the strategic table (and the budget that comes with it), we need to step up our game.
What if, instead of just counting clips, we measured a more robust sales pipeline, lead generation created from earned media, message adoption in target markets, share of voice on specific business initiatives, or website conversions from PR activities.
Yes, these are harder to measure. Yes, they require more sophisticated tools and approaches. But they’re also the metrics that matter to the senior leadership team—you know, the people who will give you more money to run your programs next year.
Three Big Measurement Problems
Now, let’s tackle the elephant in the room: how the heck do we make this happen?
Let’s walk through three big problems we need to solve:
- Why most PR teams are structured all wrong for measurement;
- How to fix the PR and marketing divide that’s killing our credibility; and
- The real reason executives aren’t buying our metrics (and what to do about it).
The Team Structure Problem
Let’s start with more data from the Muck Rack study. When asked who’s responsible for measurement and reporting, here’s what PR pros said:
- 32% say the entire team collaborates equally
- 21% push it to coordinators or specialists
- 20% delegate to managers
- 16% assign it to directors
- And only 6% have executive leadership involved
Listen, if we treat measurement as an administrative task rather than a strategic imperative, it’s no wonder we can’t demonstrate our value or secure more budget or resources. This is something that should be prioritized every month by people with experience. If not, there is only one person to blame when the senior leadership team doesn’t see your value and you can’t secure bigger budgets.
The Marketing Coordination Catastrophe
Unfortunately, it gets worse. The study shows:
- 31% handle reporting separately from marketing with zero coordination
- 30% share reports but don’t collaborate
- 24% try to integrate PR metrics into marketing reports
- Only 13% hold joint meetings to discuss combined metrics
People, people, people! In what universe does it make sense for PR and marketing to measure their results separately? Our audiences don’t experience our brands in silos, so why are we measuring in silos? Integration is the word of 2025 (I just made that up, but we should make it so.)
Guess what keeps your CEO up at night? Hint: it’s not media impressions. It’s profit and loss. It’s revenue and profit. It’s making sure the pipeline is full of qualified customers. It’s sales.
How can you demonstrate the work you do affects those things?
I’ll tell you how: it’s changing your mindset and restructuring your measurement approach.
First and foremost, it’s not the job of a junior-level or administrative professional. If that’s where it sits right now, move it to someone with comms or marketing expertise. Then, stop treating it as an afterthought. You want to make it part of your weekly team meetings. In the PESO Model Certification© course, I show you how to do this step-by-step. Involve everyone. This is where you can get the junior-level professionals involved and include your senior leadership team. And set aside time for analysis, not just data collection. It’s fine if you have someone pull the data for you. Even better if you have it automated. But you have to do the analysis.
Next, you want to bridge the marketing and communications divide. To do that, you’ll schedule regular alignment meetings with marketing and create shared KPIs. If possible, use the same measurement tools and present unified reports to leadership.
For most of our clients, we have a shared deck that we all import results into to send to senior leadership every week. The deck is compiled by Friday morning, and then I collaborate with the CMO or CCO at our client’s offices to do the analysis and make recommendations. Our teams provide their thoughts, and we collate them into one recommendation from both sides.
This process constantly evolves, and we always add and remove things. But the senior leadership team sees where we are against our goals, what is working, what is not, and what we’re going to change, test, or iterate.
And last, but definitely not least, you need to learn how to speak the language of the business. This is why making friends with someone in sales and someone in finance is important. For most of our clients, I have at least monthly calls with their sales leader to collaborate. This helps us understand what they’re up against, what they’re hearing from prospects, and where we might be able to help them.
When you report results, start with the business goals, not communications activities. Track the metrics that connect to revenue and report on outcomes, not outputs. And don’t just report the numbers. Tell stories. No one (not even the CFO) wants to look at a wall of numbers.
The Tool Problem (And Why It’s Not Really About Tools)
Yes, we need good measurement tools. But here’s the truth: most PR pros already have access to better measurement tools than they use. The Muck Rack study shows that 35% of PR pros find it difficult to track their work, but is it really about the tools?
When we dig deeper, we find that the real challenges are:
- Linking PR metrics to business goals (61%)
- Managing stakeholder expectations (53%)
- Having unclear success metrics (38%)
Notice how none of these are tool problems? They’re strategy problems. As long as you have Google Analytics, you can demonstrate results. The challenge, of course, is how, but stick with me in the next few months. We’ll continue to talk about this and I’ll continue to give you resources to get it done (or go get your PESO Model Certification now!).
Your Next Steps
Here’s what I want you to do this week:
- Look at your last results report. Count how many metrics are tied to business outcomes versus activities.
- Schedule a meeting with your marketing counterparts to discuss shared goals and metrics. If you don’t have marketing counterparts, schedule meetings with sales, finance, or leadership (but not the CEO) to understand what they’re tracking and reporting on.
- Ask your CEO or client what metrics would make them confident in the value of your work.
The goal isn’t to measure more things—it’s to measure the right things. And the right things are whatever helps the organization meet its goals. I expect the results from next year’s Muck Rack survey to be completely different because we’ve all gone from measuring outputs to measuring outcomes, we collaborate with marketing (or sales or finance), and we report results senior leadership cares about. We can do it!
