How Often Should You Look At Your Press Release Marketing Results?
Analytics, those data points that reflect your marketing efforts, are an important component of building and growing a successful business. They’re used when you review, plan, and modify any marketing plan or strategy. Your press release marketing shouldn’t be any different. Creating a consistent approach to reviewing your analytics will help improve your press release marketing results.
Annually and Quarterly
Generally speaking, you likely sit down once a year, or perhaps quarterly, to create your marketing strategy and plan for the upcoming year or quarter. This includes content marketing, SEO, social media marketing, and press release marketing just to name a few.
As you create your plan for the upcoming year or quarter, it’s important to have a data summary with you. Not only will it help you avoid mistakes from last year, it will help you refine your press release marketing goals.
Being able to review your press release results for the past year can help you identify key changes you want to make to your upcoming press release plan. Additionally, your overall marketing analytics can help you better integrate your tactics and achieve optimal results.
Before You Launch
Before you issue a press release, or even sit down to write one, review your analytics. Look for the press releases that generated the most:
- Engagement
- Shares
- Comments
- Traffic
- Sales
- And any other data points that fit your objectives for your press release marketing.
You can use this information to help you craft an attention-grabbing press release that helps you reach your press release marketing goals, as well as your specific goals for this particular launch or release.
After Your Release Has Been Distributed
The best time to begin reviewing the data is immediately after your release has been distributed. You’ll want to track how your press release is being received. For example, is it being shared on social media? Is it driving traffic to your website? And if it is driving traffic, which pages are people visiting? Are your readers clicking on links in your release? If so, what links are they responding to?
Analyzing the results in real time and for a few weeks after your release has been distributed can help you capitalize on the momentum. For example, if you realize that people are actively sharing a particular image in your press release, you can take steps to further market that image and leverage it for better results.
Reviewing analytics is an ongoing process. It should be part of your routine, and something that you’re comfortable with. Additionally, it’s essential that you have a good source for your data. In addition to tools like Google Analytics, make sure that your press release distribution tools also provide you with the information you need to maximize your results.
