PR measurement has a credibility problem, and advertising value equivalent is most of it. AVE prices editorial as if it were an ad of the same size, which assumes coverage you did not buy is worth what space you did not want would have cost. Finance directors see through it immediately.
Report these five instead.
1. Quality-weighted coverage
Count pieces, then weight them. A weighting that works:
- Tier A (national or key trade, named spokesperson, message present): 3 points
- Tier B (relevant outlet, brand mentioned in context): 1 point
- Tier C (listing, syndication, passing mention): 0.25 points
Report the weighted total and the raw count side by side. The gap between them is the story about quality.
2. Share of voice against named competitors
Pick two or three competitors and track your proportion of relevant coverage each quarter. Share of voice is the most defensible number in communications because it is comparative — it survives a quiet news quarter in a way absolute volume does not.
3. Message penetration
Of your Tier A coverage, what percentage carried at least one of your three strategic messages? This is the number that separates being mentioned from being understood, and it is the one most programmes never measure.
4. Demand signals
Communications creates demand before it creates revenue. Track:
- Branded search volume month on month
- Direct traffic to your site
- Referral traffic from earned coverage
- Inbound links from editorial domains
These are the closest observable proxies for awareness turning into intent.
5. Pipeline influence
Add one field to your CRM: "How did you hear about us?" Free text, no dropdown. Read it quarterly. It is imperfect and self-reported, and it is still the most persuasive evidence in any board pack — because it is in the customer's own words.
Set the baseline first
None of these means anything without a starting point. Measure for one full quarter before claiming anything. Then report the same five numbers, the same way, every quarter. Changing the metrics is how measurement loses credibility.
What to say when a quarter is quiet
Say it was quiet, explain why, and show the leading indicators. Communications is a compounding function, and compounding is invisible over ninety days. A programme judged only on monthly coverage volume will be run for volume, which is precisely how organisations end up with a great deal of coverage and no reputation.
Measure what you would defend in front of the board. Then defend it.