Earned media
Coverage you got because a journalist chose to write about you, not because you paid for placement. For membership organisations this is often the cleanest proof of influence because it shows someone outside the organisation judged the story useful enough to publish.
Use it in reports when you can name the outlet, the story, the member or partner featured, and the reason it matters. Do not mix earned media with advertorial, paid listings or syndicated reposts unless the distinction is clearly labelled.
Share of voice
Your share of all press mentions across a named peer set over a defined period. A chamber might compare itself with neighbouring chambers. A BID might compare against other city-centre BIDs. A DMO might compare against destinations competing for the same visitor.
Share of voice is useful because it turns coverage into a comparison the board already understands. The rule is simple: keep the peer set stable and report the trend, not one noisy month.
AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent)
The cost of buying the column inches you got as advertising. It has been discredited by AMEC and the PR industry for over a decade because editorial coverage and advertising do not behave the same way.
If a stakeholder asks for AVE, explain that it creates a false price tag and hides the more useful question: did the right members, places or issues get visible in the right outlets? Offer named coverage, share of voice and member amplification instead.
Reach
The audited or estimated audience of an outlet. Reach is useful context, especially when comparing a local trade title with a national newspaper, but it becomes misleading when treated as the main result.
Use reach as a supporting column, not the headline. One relevant mention in a niche trade publication may matter more to your members than a larger number attached to a generic national pickup.
Impressions
A digital proxy for how many times a piece, post or page may have been displayed. It does not mean that many people read it, understood it or cared about it. The same person can count multiple times.
For social posts and press room pages, pair impressions with clicks, dwell time, saves, shares or enquiries. Otherwise the number can reward volume rather than value.
Sentiment
Positive, neutral or negative classification of coverage. It can be useful during a crisis, a campaign launch or a long-running policy issue, but only when the coding is consistent and reviewed by a human.
Machine-only sentiment often misses sarcasm, local context and sector nuance. If you use sentiment in a board report, include a short method note so directors understand how the classification was made.
Engagement
The actions people take after seeing the story: journalist opens and clicks, press room downloads, member shares, newsletter clicks, enquiries or event sign-ups. Engagement is where PR starts to connect with operational value.
For Press Pilot-style reporting, engagement is often more useful than raw reach because it shows which stories moved people from passive awareness to action.
Member amplification
The visible benefit delivered to members or partners through press, website, newsletter and social channels. This is the metric many membership organisations should report more often because it connects comms work to member value.
A simple version is enough: members submitted, members featured, members quoted, channels used and coverage landed. It gives a clearer answer than a single vanity total.
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