Why Does a PR Person Need a Ruler? Tips on Measuring Communications

Just 20 years ago, a PR specialist’s work could be measured with a ruler. Clippings—collections of publications about a company—were made of paper, and the thickness of such binders some managers directly equated with the productivity of the PR department. Today, working with data has become an important part of PR activity: the ruler has turned into diagrams, charts, and Google spreadsheets. Although public relations work has become more complex, the CEO of PR News and expert in communication research, Lilia Glazova, predicts that PR specialists will soon disappear. In their place will come communicators—people who manage company information across all channels and will replace SMM, PR, and digital specialists. Preparing for a shift in the profession should start now—first and foremost by learning how to work with different data and analytics.

In the audiobook “Why does a PR person need a ruler?” the author explains how to choose the right way to monitor the media and save on research; compares different KPI metrics and shows which ones better reflect campaign effectiveness; teaches you to read audit charts and measure the results of sponsorship projects. Several chapters by Lilia Glazova are devoted to how to use other people’s memes and create your own, and she also predicts which PR tools will be in demand in the Russian market in the near future. In addition to sections for PR specialists, digital specialists, and media analysts, the author includes information for those who don’t work in media but read it regularly: she explains how to distinguish true news from fakes and how to choose a source you can trust.