Have you ever considered the value of the crisis you didn't read about?

So much time in public relations is spent preparing for crises or crafting responses to mitigate potentially negative coverage. But if you can’t measure the bad things you stopped from happening, how do you prove the value behind all of that effort?

Here’s one method that worked for me:

If you aren’t tracking ALL incoming queries and ALL resulting coverage, you’re missing one of the hidden gems of PR measurement.

When a query comes in on a potentially negative story, log it. If you deployed a statement, talked to a reporter on background/off-the-record, log it. Capture resulting coverage and actively monitor for pending stories.

This takes discipline and team buy-in, but if you can implement the practice, you’ll have one of the best methods for proving the ROI of a media relations function. 

Measure the Negative Space

Did you stay out of negative news that, say, your peers waded into? Great job.

How much would those stories have impacted your overall metrics that reporting period? Were you mentioned but balanced the narrative? Track those mitigation efforts. Look at the reach, volume and sentiment of those stories.

At the end of your reporting period, you’ll have a much better sense of the ways your efforts protected the reputation of your organization.

Show Your Work

So the next time you start reporting your successes, don’t let some of your most important outcomes go overlooked. Instead, quantify the news that didn’t happen.