The directors of data-focused media evaluation start-up Metricomm have suggested that the PR industry is losing out on potential sales, and evolution is needed to reap the benefits of online media coverage.
Mark Westaby and Karen Williams are the directors of the company, launched in 2020, as a spin-out from Chester-based agency Tribe Communications.
The idea for the company began after the pair, who initially met as PR founder and client when he owned the Portfolio Group, met for a coffee.
Drawing on their decades of experience within the PR industry, they shared a plan to evolve media evaluation and “make it fit for purpose in the digital world.”
Metricomm works with business leaders, marketing and PR teams, and uses data to showcase how online media coverage can have an impact on audience behaviour, and sales.
“We discovered that the power of online media coverage is far greater than people realise,” Westaby told Prolific North, “it has an enormous reach.”
The pair are seeking to “step in” with the firm to encourage the PR industry to evolve due to the shared belief that “PR evaluation has lost its way.”
He said the PR industry is “wedded” to traditional metrics including the volume of coverage, but it should be instead aiming to understand the impact that coverage has on audience behaviour, and sales.
“What we’re doing is helping businesses understand the impact of online media coverage,” Westaby explained, because “the PR industry is missing out on a lot of sales,” he said.
The firm is urging PR teams to shift into “the 21st century” to understand the impact PR executives can have in driving sales for a business, if online media coverage is utilised.
Metricomm’s data approach
The firm’s technology was built by Westaby, with his background as an engineering graduate and love of data.
The company has developed an algorithm, based on academic research, to calculate the probability an audience will engage, and take action, as a result of viewing online media coverage.
The algorithm takes into account how an audience may behave when it sees content in a Google search position, and how likely the content is engaging enough for them to read to the end.
In Metricomm’s analysis, it integrates data from an organisation’s marketing activities and combines it with data ranging from Google search to sales, in order to identify any patterns.
“We take the data that we generate and we use big data analysis,” explained Westaby.
“When you add that up through all the online media coverage that an organisation gets, you end up with very powerful insight and information that you can then use to feedback in to increase your sales.”
“The industry has enormous potential because we know the business results it can generate,” he added.
