A new media evaluation agency is urging the PR sector to rethink their approach now “or risk losing budget to other marketing disciplines.”
The warning comes from Mark Westaby, who’s the head of Tribe’s new sister company Metricomm.
“Our offer is a game changer for the PR industry, and I don’t say that lightly. It provides a much-needed solution to one of the biggest problems the industry faces. Currently, PR professionals are operating largely in the dark, with little insight into what aspect of their work is driving engagement, or indeed the full impact of their work, making it difficult for PR to show its worth. This is detrimental to the industry, and other disciplines with far more superior metrics are capitalising,” explained Westaby, who founded media evaluation firm, Metrica, which was acquired by Durrants and later became part of Gorkana and Cision.
“Online media consumption in particular paved the way for big data and algorithms to be used in this way. We can now provide a concise response to key questions such as, how many people read the coverage generated by PR, which is not the same as circulation numbers or reach, and take action – for example, visit my website or search online for my company? PR professionals no longer need to hide behind outlandish numbers, such as reach, volume of coverage and opportunity to see, that boil down to nothing.”
Metricomm has been established to “elevate the standing of PR in boardrooms.” It has created its own algorithm to “determine the size of the audience most likely to have read, been influenced by and reacted to media coverage.”
The company has spun out of Tribe, which merged with Westaby’s agency, Crescendo in March 2019.
