Law firms must regularly assess the performance of every aspect of their operations, including legal marketing and digital public relations (PR) efforts. Legal marketers and public relations professionals are vital in helping promote a law firm’s services and attracting new clients.
While PR may seem like a vague concept to quantify, there are vital ways to measure performance. A law firm’s PR Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), such as media mentions, potential publication audience reach, and website referral traffic from media outlets, can provide insights into the effectiveness of public relations strategies and help identify areas for improvement.
Similarly, a law firm’s SEO KPIs, such as website traffic, lead conversion rates, and pay-per-click ad conversions, are crucial metrics that can provide insights into the effectiveness of marketing strategies.
By regularly tracking KPIs for both marketing and public relations efforts, law firms can better understand their overall performance, stay competitive in the legal marketplace, and ultimately grow their clientele.
PR Metrics vs KPIs: What’s the Difference?
Public relations professionals often use the terms “PR metrics” and “KPIs” to evaluate the effectiveness of their campaigns. While these terms are often used interchangeably, they have different meanings and purposes.
PR Metrics refer to the specific numerical measurements used to track and analyze PR activities. For example, PR metrics may include the number of press releases issued, media mentions received, or website referrals generated from media outlets.
On the other hand, KPIs are used to assess the overall success of a PR campaign. KPIs measure a campaign’s performance against a predefined goal and strategy. For instance, a law firm might set a KPI to increase brand awareness by 10% within a specific timeframe.
By tracking both metrics and KPIs, PR professionals and law firms can measure the effectiveness of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions to improve strategies moving forward.
Top PR KPIs and How to Measure Them
Here are the most effective PR KPIs to track as a law firm marketer. It is always best to start with the ones that have the most significant impact on your business. Measuring your performance against competitors in these areas may also be helpful in understanding where you may need to improve in the media.
- Active Media Coverage
Active media coverage metrics reveal the number of media placements and coverage the PR team has secured. This metric represents the overall success of public relations efforts in generating publicity and positive exposure. Focusing on top-tier publications for your target audience may help measure the PR team’s effectiveness in securing coverage in the most reputable and relevant outlets, which can be shared on social media and the firm’s website. - Potential Audience Reach
This metric refers to the estimated total number of people who could potentially view mentions or features of the law firm in various publications and websites. It considers the reach of these platforms, including readership, subscribers, and online traffic. This information is essential in determining the potential impact of media coverage and its ability to reach a wider audience. - Share of Voice
Share of voice represents the percentage of coverage of a law firm’s brand, lawyers, or managing partners compared to the industry as a whole. This KPI is helpful to gauge a firm’s place within the industry against competitors. Share-of-voice can be tracked by volume or reach. For instance, a competitor might have a higher volume of mentions, but the firm may appear in higher-reach publications. - Sentiment
The tone of articles mentioning a law firm or competitors is reflected in sentiment. Monitoring sentiment helps determine whether the firm is being portrayed positively or negatively. Sentiment analysis can also help identify negative comments and address them to improve brand perception. - Geographical Presence
Geographical presence measures media coverage based on location. This is essential when evaluating effectiveness in targeting specific areas. This is especially useful for firms operating in multiple states. Understanding the impact of media mentions and which outlets feature the firm nationally can help attract more clients to different locations. - Domain Authority
Domain authority is a metric that predicts how well a website ranks on search engines, using a logarithmic 100-point scale. A successful PR campaign can increase domain authority by securing media link placements or backlinks on high-authority sites, which also positively impacts SEO. - Earned Traffic and Engagement
This KPI tracks the number of visitors who come to a law firm’s website due to earned media coverage and link placements, as well as how many engage with the coverage on social media. Tracking this helps identify which publications are driving traffic to the site.
Get Help Tracking PR Progress
Integrating these PR KPIs into PR campaign planning allows law firms to monitor and evolve success. From setting specific targets to tracking and measuring PR metrics, firms can make more effective decisions. For those looking to start a PR campaign or use digital PR to grow the firm, consulting with marketing and PR experts can help accelerate results.
Source: Seven KPIs Law Firm Marketers Can Use to Track PR Progress
