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The metrics that matter: Moving past vanity in PR and marketing performance
03 September 2025
Surface-level metrics dominate most PR and marketing reports. Impressions climb, followers rise and click-throughs offer a quick sense of activity. These numbers suggest momentum, yet they rarely reflect trust, credibility or long-term influence.
Here, Richard Stone, Founder of technical PR agency Stone Junction, explains what to measure instead – and why it matters.
Engineering firms don’t succeed by attracting attention. They succeed by earning the right kind of attention, given to the right people in the right spaces, with content that provides value over time.
The metrics that track this kind of trust tend to live deeper in the stack. They include domain authority shifts that support technical search terms and share of voice in trade media. They tie back to lead attribution models that reward enquiry quality over volume. They reveal themselves in how long someone reads, whether they return and which related resources attract clicks.
Generating coverage may be the visible output, but the real objective is lasting credibility that shifts how your audience sees you and strengthens your position in the market.
Consider two campaigns. One fires off reactive content triggered by trending hashtags and keyword spikes. Early results look good: traffic surges, social attention rises. But engagement collapses and there’s little follow-through.
The other campaign takes time to build. It centres on expert-led analysis in respected vertical publications. Audience numbers arrive slowly, but time on page deepens, return visits increase and key prospects engage with technical resources. Six months in, this effort keeps shaping perception while the first has lost traction.
Depth makes the difference
In technical sectors, sales cycles stretch over quarters or years. What matters isn’t only the number of touches but the quality of impression at each stage. Shallow metrics miss this entirely. A campaign that shapes a specifier’s view or builds trust with a procurement lead may not feature in analytics reports, yet it might open a conversation that turns into a deal further down the line.
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make but about the stories you tell,” writes Seth Godin in All Marketers Are Liars. “And the only way to make a difference is to truly see and understand the people you seek to influence.” In technical PR, that difference shows up long before contracts are signed.
This idea matters even more in engineering and manufacturing. Decisions unfold slowly, often collectively, and usually rely on evidence. High-quality coverage in credible outlets earns respect. Technical content that attracts backlinks from relevant domains improves authority. Consistent messaging reinforces a clear narrative over time. These aren’t just marketing outcomes, they shape how your audience perceives your capability and intent.
This doesn’t mean ignoring data, it means being strategic about it. Engineering firms shouldn’t chase metrics designed for software marketing or consumer brands. They should track trust, reinforce expertise and support the long, deliberate path from interest to decision.
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