When a business decides to roll back their PR budget, the reason given is often the same.
“You can’t quantify the value of PR. There’s no data that shows PR equals sales.”
Guilty as charged. It’s difficult to show concretely that the work of a PR agency is the catalyst that led to a sale. PR doesn’t work that way. It was never intended to work that way.
There is more data available than there once was, and agencies like ours should and do use it. We can, and do a degree, show the numbers that point to a probable correlation between what we do and your bottom line. With that said, we really don’t have to show those numbers to show our value. Good PR is quantifiable, just not in that way.
If you can’t, then, correlate PR to sales as specifically as you might like, the way to show the value of the service is to look at the impact the absence of PR can have.
If a business doesn’t have good internal and external communications, will they be as successful?
If a business doesn’t share stories with the media, will they be as well known?
If a business doesn’t handle their online reviews and have a plan for growing and maintaining a positive reputation, will they be able to live out their mission?
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates understood the value of great PR from the beginning and has never wavered.
“If I was down to my last dollar,” he quipped. “I’d spend it on PR.”
If you agree with Mr. Gates, and you want that PR dollar to go far, we hope you’ll give us a call.