What does a good monthly PR report look like?
By Joel Andren · Published by PressFriendly, a PR agency · Reviewed July 15, 2026 · 4 of 4 in this section
A good monthly PR report connects the objective and baseline to completed work, outputs, audience response, outcomes, and impact. It also explains what the team learned and what will change next. An activity log makes execution auditable, but activity is one layer of the report rather than the definition of success.
Page one states the result and decision
Open with the reporting period, target audience, objective, baseline, target, current status, strongest supporting evidence, and decisions needed. State whether each claimed result is directly attributed, estimated, correlated, or qualitative. This summary should make sense whether a founder, employee, freelancer, or agency ran the work.
The evidence follows the result chain
AMEC's Integrated Evaluation Framework provides the structure:
| Section | What to report |
|---|---|
| Activities | Planned and completed research, outreach, briefings, content, events, and dependencies |
| Outputs | Coverage and other published work, with audience relevance, prominence, message inclusion, and links or archived evidence |
| Outtakes | Available evidence of attention, understanding, recall, engagement, or consideration |
| Outcomes | Changes in trust, preference, intent, inquiries, applications, conversions, or other target behavior |
| Impact | Qualified pipeline, hires, retention, funding progress, risk reduction, or another organizational objective |
Report zeroes and missing data. A blank outcome section can identify an instrumentation gap or a result that needs more time. It should not be filled with impressions or activity counts.
Registers keep the evidence auditable
The output register should identify the item, outlet or channel, date, format, target audience, original or syndicated status, message inclusion, qualitative assessment, and a link, clip, or file. State how reach, sentiment, and share of voice were calculated.
The activity register should group outreach by campaign, angle, target segment, first contacts, follow-ups, qualified replies, open opportunities, and learning. Include names or correspondence only when needed for management and permitted by the working agreement. Summarize sensitive reporter exchanges rather than copying them into a broad report.
The report ends with changes to the plan
Close with what worked, what did not, why the team believes that happened, the next test, owner, due date, and any client or internal dependency. Keep the prior forecast visible so changes do not erase missed commitments.
Warning signs include AVE, potential reach presented as actual readership, duplicated syndication counted as independent coverage, outputs described as business outcomes, causal claims without a method, and metrics with no baseline or decision attached.