How your PR initiative can lead to growth in actual dollars and cents

In the age of cancel culture, hyper woke-ism and all-round scrutiny, the impact of communications and public relations professionals have never been more important. Yet, tangibly showing the value of PR to a business outcome still remains a mystery.

At the tail end of 2025, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE wrote several articles around the value of PR and if “PR value”, an age-old method to measure the monetary value of media coverage secured through PR or pitched efforts is still of real value.

And while a majority of industry players agreed that the ways of measurement need to evolve, the constant frustration of business leaders and owners remain the inability to bridge PR initiatives with dollars and cents. While metrics such reach, impressions, and share of voice are undoubtedly important, they don’t always translate directly into revenue.

Don't miss: Is PR value just a way to justify marketing spend? 

Unsurprisingly, this then sees leaders struggling to understand how PR activities contribute to key business objectives, such as sales, customer retention, or brand loyalty.

“This disconnect often stems from a lack of integrated frameworks that connect PR efforts to business goals,” said Lin Liangmin, head of brand and communications at StarHub. She added that at StarHub, the communications team has evolved to now ensure that every PR initiative is tied to the purpose of creating value for customers, communities, and stakeholders – and tangible business outcomes.

Beyond creating noise with the help of PR, Lin added that the communications team prioritises metrics such as lead generation and conversion. The team also monitors changes in customer perception and behaviour, and connects PR outcomes to the broader purse of integrating connectivity into the brand’s value chain.

Adding to the conversation Syed Idid, general manager, strategic communications and stakeholder engagement of West Coast Expressway said it is natural for business leaders to express frustration over abstract ROI calculations that fail to link PR activities with tangible results such as increased sales, customer loyalty, or brand equity. To remedy this disconnect, PR professionals must adopt a more holistic approach that aligns PR goals with broader business objectives.

“For example, by analysing how PR efforts affect customer retention and loyalty, professionals can showcase how positive media relations contribute to the long-term value of customers,” Syed said. Actively monitoring where customers entered the sales funnel post-PR campaigns can also show direct variances in conversion rates linked to media efforts.

Last but not least, savvy PR professionals are also embracing attribution modelling as this allows PR practitioners to correlate specific PR campaigns with measurable business outcomes, effectively attributing changes in sales or engagement to specific media activities.

“As we progress, PR must evolve from merely reporting metrics to a focus on analysis that speaks the language of business leaders. By doing so, PR can demonstrate its full potential as a driver of sales and profitability,” he added.

How media intelligence companies can also step in to help

In the rapidly evolving landscape of public relations (PR), where reputation can hinge on a single news cycle, media intelligence has emerged as a crucial tool for businesses.

“As PR continues to intertwine more deeply with media intelligence and data analytics, the challenge remains for practitioners to showcase the true impact of their efforts on business outcomes,” said Syed.

Companies are increasingly turning to sophisticated methodologies that not only analyse data but also translate that data into actionable insights that demonstrate the real impact of PR efforts on business outcomes.

One such company which has experienced growth in the last few years is Meltwater.

Upali Dasgupta, senior marketing director of Meltwater shared that despite the growth of the industry, there is still much room for improvement.

“PR professionals today face the challenge of extracting meaningful insights from an overwhelming volume of online data. We’ve seen that just 48% of business decisions today are based on hard data and quantitative analysis. That leaves a huge opportunity for organisations to get ahead by making smarter, data-driven choices,” she said.

Hearteningly, there is however a new generation of PR professionals, moving beyond traditional metrics to demonstrate actual business impact. They're leveraging advanced analytics to show:

• Lead generation and conversion rates directly attributed to PR activities

• Share of voice compared to competitors and its correlation with market share

• Sentiment analysis and its impact on brand equity valuation

• Customer lifetime value influenced by positive media coverage

• Crisis aversion savings, quantifying potential revenue protected by proactive reputation management

“When PR effectively navigates potential crises, it safeguards the company’s reputation and prevents financial setbacks; but these preventative measures are rarely reflected in conventional performance reports. Companies need more sophisticated, data-driven approaches to truly understand and demonstrate how PR activities translate into business growth and risk mitigation,” she added. 

Related articles:   
What's driving PR agencies to expand in the Philippines?  
PR in 2025: AI is here to stay but what else will prevail? 
As you plan for 2025 consider if it is time to rethink the PR value metric