The myth about the PR impact is going burst.
Public relations is a relatively young marketing exercise. Although history is Public relations is quite old but in Indian scenario it new. Public relations in India came in the early 19th century. Before that, the practice was there but in a different form.
The entire pubic relations campaign depends on the mediums. As a medium of communication started growing the public relations activity grew accordingly. The best example of public relations we can find in the Indian freedom movement. Instead of having the minimum way to communicate with the public, our freedom fighters used it quite effectively.
Earlier the objective was achieved through Newspapers and radio. Once the means of communication increased the Public relation became more effective.
In recent times it has grown tremendously. The use of social media and the Internet has given new wings to the public relations exercise. It allowed everyone who wants to communicate effectively with the audience. But the question lies here is how to judge the impact of Public Relations?
Website traffic:
Mostly its been seen here that after the Public relations exercise, or let’s say after getting covered by different mediums, the website traffic increases. After reading, viewing, or listening about a certain brand, people come looking for the information. If a PR activity is done with the correct strategy, it results in good website traffic.
Word of mouth:
Public relation activity mostly increases the word of mouth impact of the brand. But it is not easy to evaluate the world of mouth. Hence Public relations activity can be measured based on readership. Let’s say if a company is covered by X newspaper, the circulation of the newspapers determine the value PR. Although it is not mandatory that everyone who reads the newspaper, compulsorily reads the article but as we have seen in the past that it does impact the readers if we start appearing continuously.
Sales of the product:
Many times, a PR activity also supports the sales of the product indirectly. In some cases, whereas we have seen the immediate spike in product demand, in other cases it impacts indirectly. For instance, people want to buy a product that is endorsed by others. The credibility of the product matters a lot. And Public relation activity primarily increases the credibility of the product.
Brand Visibility:
Public relations exercise helps in increasing brand visibility. It’s really simple to understand that when we do a PR activity, the name of the brand with credentials appears on different platforms. It not only appears on a different platform, but it also creates credibility. As PR activity mostly depends on the third party credibility. A journalist or any other influencer endorsing the brand will create an instant increase in brand credibility.
There are more than the above-mentioned points with which the impact of PR can be counted. But one thing we should always keep in mind that PR does not work overnight. For that instance, any marketing activity does not work instantly. Since sustainable brand building is a gradual process. Hence, PR plays a major role in sustainable brand building.
So, it is not difficult to measure the PR effect.
