5 best practices to show real comms impact

Demonstrating PR’s value has long been one of the industry’s hardest tasks. Yet how communications teams measure and report their work can shape budgets, recognition, and their role in organisational decisions.

More data does not necessarily make that case stronger. Measurement becomes useful when it shows what changed, why it matters, and what the organisation should do next. Here are five ways to make that happen. 

1. Start with the question, not the metrics

Before you open a dashboard, ask what the organisation is trying to achieve, and what role comms plays in it.

You may need to build credibility in a new market, understand changing community concerns, or establish your experts as trusted voices. 

Then ask who needs to become more aware, better informed, or more confident, and what evidence would show that it is happening. Write down the objective, priority audience, desired change, and baseline before the work begins. This gives you a clear point of comparison and helps you decide which measures belong in the report. 

2. Not every metric is a KPI

Your KPI should show whether you are making the progress you set out to achieve. Supporting measures provide the evidence behind it.

If you want to be recognised as an authority on AI regulation, your KPI might assess your presence in relevant conversations. Priority coverage, spokesperson prominence, message delivery, and share of voice provide supporting evidence, while qualitative analysis shows whether you are being quoted credibly. 

For each KPI, identify which measures explain it and which decision it could inform. If a number does neither, leave it out. 

3. Look at the media market your audience uses

Combining coverage from across the UK into one figure can hide important details about where a story appeared and whom it reached. 

Start with the people you need to reach, then map the national, regional, trade, broadcast, and digital sources they trust. A single story in the right trade title may matter more than a pile of general mentions.

If your organisation operates across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, compare results where location matters. Policy priorities, stakeholder concerns, and media response can vary, so reporting should show where the message is landing and where more work is needed. 

4. Question the good news

A bigger number is not always a better result.

Volume can rise because of passing mentions, and share of voice can grow because of criticism. When coverage lands, check its prominence, message delivery, tone, framing, and who represented your organisation. Track these signals over time to see whether coverage is reaching the right audiences and moving you closer to the objective set in step 1. 

AI-generated answers provide another place to examine how your organisation is represented. Muck Rack’s What Is AI Reading? research found that about 84% of AI citations come from earned media, with journalistic sources accounting for around 27%.

Start with a small set of prompts, run them regularly, and record how your organisation is described, which sources are cited, and which competitors appear. Look for patterns over time rather than drawing conclusions from one answer.

5. End with a recommendation

Stakeholders should not have to decode the dashboard themselves.

Tell them what changed, why it matters, and what you recommend. That could mean refining a message, prioritising a trade outlet, supporting an emerging spokesperson, or addressing a recurring concern.

Combine media analysis with referral traffic, enquiries, and stakeholder feedback to build a clearer picture of communications’ contribution. 

Match your reporting frequency to the situation.  A live issue may need daily updates, while reputation and trust require a longer view. Either way, one clear recommendation beats another page of charts. Make it specific: say what should happen next, who should act, and when progress will be reviewed. 

Put it into practice 

You do not need to rebuild everything at once. Pick one priority, set a baseline, and build from there.

For more practical advice, join Muck Rack’s mailing list and download The Ultimate Guide to Communications Measurement in the UK. Written by AMEC-certified experts, the 35-page guide covers KPIs, media and reputation analysis, AI visibility, reporting, and a 90-day action plan.

Iskren Lilov is the global marketing manager of Muck Rack, helping PR and communications professionals demonstrate the impact of their work.