Here at Metrica we are always eager to recommend to our clients, effective alternatives to AVE as a way to measure their PR activity. As Richard pointed out previously, we don’t take much notice of AVE for our own press coverage, so why would we promote it to others?

Taking this a step further, Claire recently wrote about how PR can move out of the shadow of advertising to take a more prominent position in the marketing sphere. With that in mind, isn’t it another timely reminder that PR ought to stop measuring itself against advertising?

PRs often cite AVE being a measure their board understands, which is all well and good, but how do you explain what a drop in AVE means in relation to your PR?  As Peter Preston points out, in yesterday’s Observer, “ads cost what you feel like paying” and advertising rates are subject to the “mysterious world of the 'rate card’”.

During an economic slowdown – such as the one we are in now – editorial is the cost-effective alternative to advertising. Good work by PR teams is going to help companies to thrive during these challenging times, so why devalue that hard graft with falling ad value equivalents.

Look at the good work you are conducting in terms of message penetration, ownership of coverage and increasing brand awareness. Examine how these metrics relate to your sales trends, customer enquiries and website traffic.

These are the outcomes which will have a real impact on your bottom line and with minimal effort in terms of input, we can help show you how they correlate to your PR efforts.

There’s so much value in PR at this stage of the economic cycle, so let’s prove it.