Monthly PR reporting template
By Joel Andren · Published by PressFriendly, a PR agency · Reviewed July 15, 2026 · 6 of 6 in this section
Use this template to connect the month's work to the program objective and the next decision. It works for a founder, in-house team, freelancer, or agency. Agree on definitions, data sources, baselines, targets, owners, and causal labels before the first reporting period.
Program context stays fixed
- Reporting period: [dates]
- Business objective: [organizational result]
- Communication objective: By [date], [audience] will move from [baseline] to [target] on [belief, behavior, or result].
- Measurement owner: [name]
- Known constraints: [data gaps, timing, concurrent campaigns]
The executive readout states what changed
- Status: [on track / at risk / off track / too early to assess]
- Change from baseline: [metric and value]
- Strongest evidence: [one result with causal label]
- Decision needed: [continue, stop, change, approve, or instrument]
- Measurement caveat: [what the evidence cannot establish]
The result chain separates work from impact
AMEC's framework separates activities, outputs, outtakes, outcomes, and impact. Complete each row even when the result is zero or unavailable.
| Level | Plan | Actual | Interpretation and evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activities | [work planned] | [work completed] | [variance, reason, link] |
| Outputs | [audience-facing result] | [result] | [quality, relevance, link] |
| Outtakes | [attention or understanding target] | [result] | [method, sample, link] |
| Outcomes | [belief or behavior target] | [result] | [method, baseline, link] |
| Impact | [organizational target] | [result] | [valuation and causal label] |
Output and activity registers preserve detail
Output register. Record item, outlet or channel, date, format, target audience, original or syndicated status, message inclusion, qualitative assessment, and a link, clip, or file.
Activity register. Record campaign, angle, target segment, first contacts, follow-ups, qualified replies, open opportunities, learning, and next action. Use these counts to diagnose execution. Do not substitute them for audience or business results.
The final section changes the plan
- Continue: [work supported by evidence]
- Stop: [work that did not support the objective]
- Test next: [hypothesis, measure, owner, due date]
- Dependencies: [approvals, data, spokespeople, product, legal, or customer input]
Use consistent definitions. A placement is one original earned item; list syndicated copies separately. Potential reach is an estimate, not a reader count. AVE is excluded. Label business claims as directly attributed, incremental estimates, associated movement, or reported contribution.