Quantifying public relations provides valuable insight into the effectiveness of specific PR strategies, campaigns and tactics.

There are many ways to analyze the same set of data.

For example, looking at PR measurements and analytics through the lens of sports statistics develops an interesting, new perspective. 

Keep reading to learn how you can use sports to better understand the impact of public relations on your gardening business.

How Sports Statistics and PR Measurement Overlap

Baseball and football rely heavily on statistics to tell the story of individual or team success.

Most people recognize basic sports measurements. Strikeouts (K), Home Runs (HR), Touchdowns (TD) and Interceptions (INT) are all relatively common terms.

Plus, all of these touch-points are easily quantified. A quarterback might throw a certain number of touchdowns or interceptions, and a batter might strike out or hit a home run.

Public relations also has simple forms of reliable measurements. "Total circulation" counts the number of subscribers to a publication, and "online reads" refers to the cumulative number of times a story was viewed online.

These measurements are relatively standard public relations terms and are enough to make a snap judgement of how PR efforts are impacting your gardening business.

However, just like in baseball or football, these are not the only measures of success.

Diving Deeper into Public Relations Success Statistics

Photo Credit: PRO-MIX®

Complex sports metrics have developed over the past 30 years to measure performance more fairly and accurately than ever before.

Earned Run Average (ERA) in baseball is still a valuable statistic, but it is flawed in that it only counts runs allowed by a pitcher. Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched (WHIP), however, shows how often the pitcher is providing the other team opportunities to score.

Both ERA and WHIP are useful statistics, but the new perspective of WHIP provides more opportunity for thorough judgement.

Gardening PR firms also have ways of using advanced statistics to provide a complete picture of their success.

With Google Analytics, it is now possible to measure internet activity such as click-through links and even time spent on certain pages of your garden business' website or blog.

Measuring social media impact is another way to gain a new perspective on success. It's not easy, but it provides another chance to evaluate the effectiveness of your garden business' PR strategy.

To Learn More About How Gardening PR can Grow Your Business, Download our e-Book Below!