What does a good monthly PR report look like?
You can audit a good monthly PR report in five minutes. It names every reporter pitched, with send dates. It lists every reply, every placement with a live link, every conversation still open, and the angles queued for next month. Five sections, all countable. If you cannot click through to the coverage and count the pitches yourself, the report is not measurement.
PR activity is countable. PressFriendly activity records count 7,000+ targeted pitches a year to 2,500+ reporters across the agency, with sends, replies, and placements tied to names and dates. A client program operates at a smaller scale. The evidence format should remain traceable.
| Section | What good looks like |
|---|---|
| Activity log | Reporters and outlets pitched this month, by name, with send dates |
| Replies | Who answered, who passed, who is interested but waiting on a hook |
| Placements | Live links to published coverage, with outlet names and dates |
| In progress | Open conversations and the catalyst each one needs to convert |
| Next month | Specific angles and announcements queued, tied to your calendar |
A complete report includes passes and unanswered pitches. Interpret the counts against the target outlets, story calendar, and activity baseline defined at kickoff.
Red flags:
- Impressions, "buzz," or awareness scores with no outlet names. The page on which PR metrics matter explains why these are vanity numbers.
- Any dollar figure labeled "ad value." That is AVE (advertising value equivalency, the discredited ad-rate metric), and the page on why AVE is discredited covers the full case.
- Your own blog post, a webinar, or a syndicated reprint counted as a media hit.
- A polished summary slide in place of the raw activity log you can audit.
- No clickable link to confirm the coverage exists.
The test: can you reconstruct the month from the report alone, without a call? If yes, you have measurement. If the report only makes sense once the account lead walks you through it, you do not.
Before you sign with any firm, ask to see a real report from a recent month, with client names redacted. A firm that reports this way will hand it over without flinching.