Let’s be honest — measurement in strategic communications used to be an afterthought. A slide at the end of the deck. A dashboard you dusted off for quarterly reporting. A pile of clips that looked impressive but didn’t always mean much.
That’s not enough anymore.
Key Takeaways We’ll Cover in This Post:
- Measurement must be outcome-driven, not just output-focused: Tracking clip counts or impressions alone isn’t enough; strategic communications measurement should connect directly to business goals like awareness, influence and conversion.
- Context matters more than raw numbers: Metrics like impressions or reach only have value when tied to the right audience, relevant channels and meaningful business impact.
- Integrated, cross-channel measurement delivers clearer insights: Blending PR, social, content, SEO and paid into a unified strategy reveals how each tactic works together across the full funnel.
- Continuous optimization turns reporting into a growth engine: Analyzing what’s working, refining tactics and aligning efforts with strategic objectives ensures communications remain a business driver, not a silo.
How Strategic Communications Measurement is Evolving
If your feed looks anything like mine, you’ve probably seen a flood of hot takes on the “right” way to measure strategic comms. Some of it’s great — I love the growing transparency around what success actually looks like in our field. But a lot of it is also overly prescriptive. Impressions are dead. Clip counts are useless. Don’t bother with top-of-funnel metrics.
I don’t buy it.
Because measurement isn’t black and white. It’s contextual. The real question isn’t what you measure. It’s why you’re measuring it in the first place. At Walker Sands, we’ve always believed that the strongest measurement frameworks are built from the inside out — grounded in business goals, tailored to the audience, and aligned to what success actually looks like for each client. That’s what makes it strategic.
And that’s more important now than ever.
Here’s why:
- The media world is noisier and more fragmented – and the rise of nontraditional channels is redefining where audiences find trusted information.
- LLMs are changing how brands get discovered – and the sources GenAI platforms cite now shape visibility and perception.
- Marketing leaders are expected to connect the dots between awareness, influence and conversion.
- The pressure to prove ROI is higher, especially in uncertain or competitive markets.
- Comms doesn’t operate in a silo anymore — alignment across channels is expected, not optional.
Strategic communications has a direct line to business impact, influencing revenue, shaping brand perception and protecting reputation. But only when it’s measured with intention.
Today’s executives don’t just want to see coverage and social posts go live. They want to understand who it’s reaching, what it’s changing and what comes next. Measurement isn’t a post-mortem anymore. It’s the engine that proves value, earns trust and helps strategic comms show up as the business driver it is.
At Walker Sands, we stay ahead of this curve — building, refining and applying a measurement approach that centers impact over activity.
What Does Strategic Comms Really Look Like?
We’ve all seen it: the long list of media hits, the stacked bar charts of impressions, the inflated reach numbers from social.
Sure, they’re easy to grab and easy to report – because they measure outputs, not outcomes. A media placement is an output. The outcome is what that placement actually achieved: Did it deliver key messages? Did it reach a decision-maker? Did it drive action? Those are the questions that matter to business leaders.
It’s worth stating plainly: Modern strategic communications is so much more than a tally of coverage.
Yes, media coverage is still one of the most powerful tools in our toolbox, but it’s one piece of a broader ecosystem. Today’s strategic communications programs blend podcasts, award wins, brand and executive social, analyst engagement, sponsored content, speaking opportunities, online communities and more.
Whether we’re amplifying voices through influencer partnerships or sharing product vision via a keynote, each of these tactics plays a unique role in how a brand shows up in the market, and each can (and should) be measured strategically.
This isn’t to say traditional metrics don’t matter. They do — when they’re outcome-focused and viewed in the right context. A spike in impressions means nothing in a vacuum. But if those impressions come from top-tier outlets that your buyers actually read? Now we’re talking.
The bottom line: Context is everything. Measurement should reflect the strategy, not distract from it.
How We Measure Strategic Communications at Walker Sands
At Walker Sands, measurement starts with strategy and ends with impact. That’s not a tagline. It’s how we operate.
We’ve built our measurement philosophy on three core pillars:
1. Strategic Alignment
Every program starts by mapping to business outcomes. Want to build awareness with decision-makers? Grow share of voice in a specific category? Drive more traffic to a solution page? We work backwards from those goals, not just forward from tactics.
2. Insightful Reporting
Our reporting doesn’t just track what happened, it explains what it means. We look at metrics like message pull-through, which publications have the highest citation ranking in GenAI platforms, backlink quality, narrative share, domain authority and social amplification. And we tell the story of how they connect to audience engagement and business growth.
3. Continuous Optimization
Measurement isn’t a static report. It’s a tool to learn and improve. What channels are working? Which messages are landing? What can we double down on? Our teams use these insights to inform the next pitch, the next post, the next campaign.
An example: Let’s say we landed 10 media placements. On the surface, that’s a win. But we go deeper: Seven reached your target decision-makers, three included product links that drove traffic and two were in publications your competitors have never touched. That’s not just a win — it’s business impact.
Measurement Is Not a Checklist, It’s a Strategy Engine
There’s no one-size-fits-all template for measurement here. Sure, we’ve got proven frameworks and tools, but every framework we build is tailored to your business. Your industry. Your audience. Your objectives.
Our reporting helps sales and marketing leaders understand what’s working and where to go next. We map every tactic to funnel stage using the PESO Model©, created by Gini Dietrich, so you can see exactly how paid, earned, shared and owned content work together across awareness, consideration and conversion.
Because we’re not just tracking performance — we’re advising on the strategy behind it.
Unlock Full-funnel Measurement with Walker Sands
Our outcome-based measurement philosophy set the foundation for how we approach strategic communications.
Today, we’re advancing that approach with full-funnel measurement – integrating PR, social, content, SEO and paid into a single unified strategy that’s designed to drive impact at every stage of the buyer journey.
And we offer modern methods to get us there, including Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and the AI Domain Impact Index. Both are designed to drive and track strategic influence in smarter ways.
Measurement isn’t the end of the story. At Walker Sands, it’s how we help you write what comes next.
Want to better understand the business outcomes your PR efforts are driving? Contact us today.
