Proving PR ROI in 2026

I have met a founder. Brilliant guy. Series A closed.

Product doing well.

His previous PR agency had just sent him their quarterly report.

50 million impressions. 500 media mentions. AVE calculation showing €2.3 million in “earned value.”

He looked at me and said: “Denisa, what does any of this mean for my business?”

I didn’t have a good answer. Because the truth is, those metrics mean nothing.

And here’s the uncomfortable part: PR has been lying to founders for decades.

Not intentionally. But we’ve built an entire industry on metrics that sound impressive in reports but don’t move the needle where it matters—revenue, pipeline, actual business growth.

That era is over. 2026 will be the year of reckoning.

PR is not Press Release. PR is not impressions either.

I’ve been saying “PR is not press release” for years now. But let me take it further.

PR is not impressions. PR is not AVE. PR is not “we got you mentioned in 47 publications.”

PR is building trust. PR is building relationships. PR is creating credibility that converts into real business outcomes.

If your PR can’t prove it’s driving those outcomes? In 2026, you won’t have a PR budget to argue about.

Here’s the reality:

52% of PR agencies can’t link their work to revenue. That’s not a gap—that’s a crisis.

Nearly 50% of agencies expect budget cuts in 2026. The teams that survive won’t be the ones with the best media lists. They’ll be the ones who can walk into a board meeting and say: “Our PR influenced €3.2M in pipeline this quarter.”

I’ve watched this shift happening in real-time with our clients in tech, MedTech, cybersecurity. The founders who get funding? They don’t ask “how many impressions did we get?” They ask “did my investor see me in the right publication before our meeting?”

That’s the game now.

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Why Traditional PR Metrics Are Dead

Let’s be brutally honest about what’s broken.

Impressions? 69% of searches now end without a click. People see your headline. They don’t click. They move on. Your “50 million impressions” might as well be 50 million times someone scrolled past you in 0.3 seconds.

AVE (Advertising Value Equivalency)? This is the biggest scam in PR. “If we had paid for this as advertising, it would have cost €1.8M.” What kind of metric is that? It ignores the credibility premium of earned media. It’s completely arbitrary. Yet agencies still put it in reports because it looks impressive.

Media mentions? Quantity ≠ quality. I’ve seen startups with 200 mentions that couldn’t close a single deal. And I’ve seen startups with 3 strategic placements that raised their entire round off of them.

Share of voice? Your competitors can also buy noise. Having a higher share of voice than them means nothing if both of you are shouting into the void.

None of these answer the question that matters: “Did this change how my target audience thinks, feels, or acts?”

When I talk to founders and CEOs of tech companies, they don’t care about impressions. They care about:

Did that investor see me before our pitch?

Did that enterprise buyer read about us before the sales call?

Did our credibility increase with the people who write checks?

Those are the questions PR should answer.

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The New Metrics That Actually Matter

So what should we be measuring instead?

I’ve been testing this framework with our clients, and it’s working. Here’s what separates vanity from value:

1. PR-Influenced Pipeline

This is the big one.

When a prospect is researching your company, they’re exposed to multiple touchpoints—PR articles, analyst reports, your founder’s LinkedIn content, speaking engagements, customer reviews.

The question: What percentage of your pipeline had PR touchpoints early in their buying journey?

If 40% of your current sales pipeline had at least one PR touchpoint in their research, and your average deal is €200K, you can calculate your PR-influenced pipeline in real euros.

That’s a number your CFO understands. That’s a number that protects your budget.

2. Sentiment Change Among Decision-Makers

Not generic sentiment. Sentiment among the people who matter.

If you’re a MedTech startup, you don’t care what random Twitter users think about you. You care what hospital procurement officers think. What investors think. What regulatory affairs leaders think.

A 40-point sentiment improvement among your target investor segment? That’s outcome-level impact.

3. Sales Cycle Acceleration

Here’s something I’ve observed with our tech clients: PR-influenced deals close faster.

When a buyer has already consumed your CEO’s thought leadership, read a case study, seen you in CzechCrunch before the sales call—they’re already warmed up. They skip the “who are you?” phase.

If your average deal takes 6 months but PR-influenced deals close in 4.5 months, that’s a 25% productivity gain for your entire sales team. Calculate the revenue impact of that.

4. Lead Quality (Not Just Volume)

PR-sourced leads convert differently than other leads.

Track this: What’s the conversion rate of leads that came from earned media vs. all other sources?

In my experience, PR-sourced leads convert at 2x the rate because they come with pre-built trust. The prospect already read about you. They already believe you’re credible. The sales team isn’t starting from zero.

5. Competitive Positioning Gap

Not just your share of voice—your differentiation in that voice.

Are you winning mentions in the specific topics where you want to be known? If you’re a cybersecurity company, you care about visibility in “zero-trust architecture”—not generic tech coverage.

Track the sentiment gap between you and competitors. If you’re at +45 and they’re at +30, that 15-point advantage compounds over time.

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How to Actually Measure This

“Okay Denisa, this sounds great. But how do I actually do it?”

Fair question. Here’s the practical part.

Step 1: Audit What You’re Currently Measuring

Be honest. Look at your last PR report. How many of those metrics are vanity vs. value?

If you’re still reporting AVE, stop. Today. It’s embarrassing at this point.

Step 2: Align PR Metrics with Business Goals

Meet with your CEO or CMO. Ask: “What are our top 3 business objectives this year?”

“Increase pipeline by 15%”

“Improve brand perception with enterprise buyers”

“Establish CEO as industry authority”

Then map how PR can influence each of those. Build your measurement around business goals, not PR activities.

Step 3: Build Attribution Infrastructure

You need three things:

CRM Integration: Your sales team tags opportunities with their sources. When a prospect says “I saw you in Forbes,” that’s PR attribution.

UTM Tracking: Every PR placement should have trackable links. Know exactly how much traffic comes from earned media.

Regular Surveys: Ask sales: “In the last 10 deals, how many mentioned seeing us in press or hearing our CEO speak?”

This isn’t complicated. It’s just disciplined.

Step 4: Start with One Campaign

Pick your next big PR push—a product launch, a funding announcement, a thought leadership campaign.

Before you start, capture your baseline:

Current brand sentiment among target personas

Current lead volume and quality

Current sales cycle length

Current pipeline composition

Run the campaign. Measure impact 30-60 days later. Then you’ll have real data.

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What Your Dashboard Should Actually Look Like

Executives don’t want 50 metrics. They want 5-7 that matter.

Here’s what I recommend:

1. PR-Influenced Pipeline: “€8.2M in pipeline had PR touchpoints (↑12% vs. last month)”

2. Target Persona Sentiment: “Investor sentiment: +52 (↑18 points vs. last quarter)”

3. Share of Voice in Key Categories: “Leadership category: We’re at 28% vs. Competitor A at 22%”

4. Sales Cycle Impact: “PR-influenced deals close 18% faster”

5. Lead Conversion Rate: “PR-sourced leads: 22% conversion vs. 14% average”

6. ROI Summary: “PR investment: €85K | PR-influenced pipeline: €8.2M | Influence ratio: 96x”

That last number? That’s what stops budget-cut conversations.

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The Real Talk

Let me be direct with you.

The PR industry has been coasting on vague value propositions for too long. “Brand building.” “Reputation management.” “Thought leadership.”

All important. All real. But all impossible to justify when CFOs are cutting budgets.

In 2026, the agencies and teams that survive will be the ones who can prove business impact.

The ones still sending reports with AVE calculations and impression counts? They’ll be the first to go.

I’ve seen it happen. A great PR team gets cut because they couldn’t articulate their value in business terms. Meanwhile, a mediocre team keeps their budget because they showed one clear chart: “PR influenced 40% of pipeline.”

It’s not fair. But it’s reality.

#BasedonTrueEvents

When I started our agency, I was obsessed with getting coverage. More mentions. More outlets. More impressions.

It took me years to realize: that’s not what clients actually need.

They need credibility that converts. They need visibility that drives decisions. They need PR that proves its value in the language of business.

That’s what we’re building now. That’s what 2026 demands.

The founders and CEOs I work with in tech, MedTech, cybersecurity—they’re brilliant innovators. But they also need strong communication. They need visibility with the right people at the right time.

And they need to know that investment is paying off.

What You Should Do This Week

1. Pull your last 3 PR reports. Count how many metrics are vanity vs. valuable. Be honest.

2. Talk to your sales team. Ask: “In your last 10 closed deals, how many mentioned seeing us in press or hearing our CEO speak?”

3. Ask your CFO: “What metrics would convince you that PR is worth the investment?” Then start measuring those.

4. Kill AVE. If your agency is still reporting it, have the conversation. It’s 2025. We can do better.

Set up one attribution touchpoint. Even if it’s just asking every new lead “How did you hear about us?” and tracking the answers.

The Bottom Line

PR in 2026 isn’t about getting more coverage.

It’s about proving that coverage drives business.

The teams that figure this out will thrive. They’ll get bigger budgets, not smaller ones. They’ll have seats at strategic tables because they speak the language of revenue and pipeline.

The teams that don’t? They’ll keep reporting impressive-sounding numbers that nobody believes anymore.

I know which side I’m choosing. You?