 Are you taking advantage of the power of online PR? If not, you should be. Launching and maintaining online public relations campaigns can have a positive, long-lasting impact on your business. Lyris' Web analytics solution, ClickTracks, can help you determine (and share with the powers that be!) the results of your PR efforts. Here are a few tips on quantifying your PR results:
Tracking Bylined Articles
When submitting a bylined article for online publication, make sure you make it easy for readers to find your site--don't forget to add that URL to the end of your byline! Consider providing a unique or trackable URL in your byline to make it easier to track in ClickTracks.
For example: Contact Amy at
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or visit www.mavencom.com/?source=LHQ for more information at the bottom of this article will let me know that you clicked through from www.lyrishq.com when I'm looking at my own traffic in ClickTracks' Search Report.
What If I Don't Use a Tracking-Friendly URL?
If you already have your articles placed without those unique URLs, don't worry - you can still see the traffic that's been generated as a result. Simply go to Advanced Visitor Labeling under ClickTracks 'create labels' menu option. Then select 'referred from a particular search engine or other site', the first option on the screen. After clicking 'next', select the URL of the site hosting your bylined article from the drop down menu. ClickTracks will automatically assign a label to the visitor and, after reanalyzing the data, you'll be able to see the paths visitors took as a result of reading your masterpiece!
Tracking Publicity, Including Press Releases
So you've successfully pitched your recent product launch to the masses - now it's time to see if all that relationship building and legwork translates into increased traffic and dollar signs for the client.
The What's Changed Report: Typically, it's the PR department's job to coordinate initial publicity and get the word out immediately upon a launch or other newsworthy event. Within the first 24 and 48 hours of news of a product launch (or any other PR activity) hitting the web, it's a safe bet to imagine that visitors searching for the topics covered in the media are searching because of the stories you were able to land.
Using ClickTracks' 'What's Changed' report is an easy way to see the impact your activities has had. Select the What's Changed report from ClickTracks' splash screen, then tweak the dates so that they show what was happening the week (or even month) before your recent news, and what's happening now. Note that the What's Changed report compares the same amount of time for two time periods-e.g. it can measure a week before and after a date (or a month or even 8 weeks) so if you've just launched two weeks ago, consider making that your parameter.
The What's Changed report will immediately highlight differences in numbers of visitors, new referrers and even new geographic locations that just weren't there before your campaign took place.
Using Advanced Labeling: Following along the same line of reasoning discussed our 'What's Changed Report' section-namely, that the public didn't know to search for your company's BlueWidget until your PR machine announced the BlueWidget's availability-you can also use ClickTracks to show you the paths and activities of visitors who searched for your company's BlueWidget before it became 'old news'. For this tactic, you'd employ ClickTracks 'Used a certain search engine query' under the advanced labeling menu to highlight visitors who searched for your BlueWidget.
Simply select BlueWidget from the dropdown list of search query choices. Then, you'll be able to see not only how many folks searched on that specific term, but also if they came to the site, took the tour and headed straight for the checkout, or if they visited for a brief moment and then abandoned ship.
Tracking a Specific Media Outlet or Piece of Publicity
Let's say that you've recently won an award, and that you're curious about its impact. Do visitors who read about you on the site that announced the award winners behave differently than others? Find out.
First, go to the site and find the exact URL for the page that hosts the awards info. Make a note of it, remembering to ignore any gobbledygook session info tacked to the end of it. Then, in ClickTracks Advanced Labeling options, select 'visited from a certain search engine or site.' On the next screen, select 'matches completely' and find that exact URL from the dropdown list. After analyzing, you'll be able to see if people from a specific article or announcement behaved differently than other visitors who may have been sent over from other areas of the referring site.
Sharing Your Findings
ClickTracks makes it extremely easy for you to show the boss or the client measurable results from your PR campaigns. All of the reports-from the What's Changed Report, to the Search and Navigation Reports, can be printed or converted to Excel or PDF files suitable for e-mailing.
So the next time the boss asks, 'How'd that PR campaign go?', use Lyris' ClickTracks to show them the quantifiable proof of your hard work.
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Amy Hooker is President of maven communications, inc. Prior to starting maven communications, Amy handled PR and marketing for North Carolina's oldest history museum, Cape Fear Museum. She can be reached at 910-362-8004 or at
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or online at mavencom.com.
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