In this blog, Whiteoaks’ CEO, Hayley Goff, discusses:
- What Performance PR is and how it differs from traditional PR
- How Performance PR is measured
- Why accountability matters more than ever for B2B tech brands investing in PR
What is Performance PR?
Performance PR is a results-driven approach to public relations that connects PR activity to clear business objectives and measurable outcomes. At Whiteoaks, accountability is built into our Performance PR model. We offer ‘fixed fees for fixed outcomes’ with agreed targets backed by a formal service level agreement and money-back guarantee.
But to understand more about the Performance PR approach, it helps to consider a familiar situation.
You’re a successful tech brand eager to attract new clients and establish industry credibility.
You decide to invest in PR, and enlist a top-tier agency on a monthly retainer, which promises coverage in leading industry publications. The campaign has some success, but it’s not what you’d hoped for, especially considering your investment.
There’s a distinct lack of tangible results, the phones have remained eerily quiet and the promised influx of engagement and referrals fails to materialise. Frustrated, you abandon the PR element of your marketing and communications campaign.
All you have to show are several large holes in your budget, and a boss piling on the pressure for results.
This is a frequent scenario we hear from marketing and senior leadership teams within technology businesses, who come to us deflated and disappointed with their incumbent PR agency.
After poor performance, insufficient results and a lack of accountability, the high cost is the final nail in the coffin. Expensive retainers, missed targets and a lack of transparency, which leaves brands with zero recourse, is a model that has given PR a bad name.
But there is an alternative – Performance PR – and it’s something we have preached and practised at Whiteoaks for over 30 years. This approach offers peace of mind for the client and accountability for us.
How does Performance PR differ from traditional PR?
The main difference between Performance PR and traditional PR is how the agency relationship is structured and how campaign success is defined.
Under a traditional retainer model, a client will often pay for an agreed amount of agency time or activity each month. That might include media outreach, content development, press releases and reporting.
Success can then become focused on what the agency produced, such as the number of journalists contacted or pieces of coverage secured.
These outputs can be valuable, but they do not necessarily explain whether the campaign reached the right people, communicated the right messages or supported the client’s wider objectives.
Performance PR starts with the result the business needs.
The Performance PR agency and their client agree the objective, activity, deliverables and targets at the outset. Reporting is then based on progress against those commitments rather than a record of how agency time was spent.
Media coverage still matters, but it is considered in context. A piece of coverage is more valuable when it appears in a publication trusted by the target audience, includes the messages the brand needs to communicate and encourages further engagement.
This creates a clearer connection between the PR activity and what the business is trying to achieve.
Why Performance PR matters to B2B tech brands
Marketing leaders are under growing pressure to prove that their budgets are being used effectively.
According to Gartner’s 2025 CMO Spend Survey, 39% of CMOs planned to reduce agency budgets, with eliminating unproductive agency relationships among the main actions being taken.
In that environment, a monthly PR report listing completed activity is unlikely to be enough. Marketing teams need to explain who the campaign reached and how it contributed to the business objective.
Performance PR creates that connection by agreeing relevant targets before campaign delivery begins.
Setting those targets requires a proper understanding of the business, its audience, priorities and timelines. The measures should reflect what the campaign is genuinely expected to influence, rather than applying the same set of metrics to every client.
Our approach to target setting for Performance PR explains how we turn these considerations into meaningful campaign KPIs.
This focus is also consistent with the AMEC Barcelona Principles, which state that measuring communications outcomes should be preferred to measuring outputs alone.
The purpose is not to claim PR was solely responsible for every lead or sale. It is to provide credible evidence of the role communications played in supporting the organisation’s goals.
How the Performance PR model improves the agency relationship
In practice, the Performance PR model gives clients greater clarity from the start. The campaign objectives, activity, targets and costs are agreed upfront, so both sides understand what success looks like and how progress will be assessed.
This creates:
Greater accountability: The agency is held accountable for delivering the agreed targets. At Whiteoaks, that commitment is written into a formal service level agreement and backed by a money-back guarantee.
Clearer costs: Fixed fees for fixed outcomes give clients clarity about their investment from the beginning. There are no vague promises about how a bank of retainer hours might be used.
More meaningful reporting: Campaign reporting is connected to the business and PR objectives. This helps teams explain the value of PR to senior leaders and demonstrate progress using relevant evidence.
Better campaign decisions: Regular measurement helps identify which messages, channels and activities are having the strongest impact. That insight can be used to improve the campaign rather than waiting until the end to discover what worked.
Stronger alignment with the business: Performance PR begins with the actual needs of the organisation. Campaigns are designed to build reputation, change perceptions, strengthen authority or support growth rather than generate coverage for its own sake.
What are the benefits of Performance PR?
The results will depend on what the campaign is designed to achieve, but Performance PR can help brands:
Increase brand awareness: Consistent, well-targeted coverage across the channels your audience actually pays attention to keeps your brand front of mind as they start researching a solution.
Attract more relevant leads: Campaigns designed around your actual buyers, rather than broad reach alone, tend to attract enquiries from people who are a genuine fit rather than a high volume of the wrong audience.
Strengthen credibility: Positioning your business and its experts as trusted voices, through media coverage, thought leadership and third-party endorsement, builds a kind of credibility that advertising alone cannot buy.
Demonstrate clear return on investment: Because targets are agreed upfront and tracked throughout, you can show, in commercial terms, what your PR investment has actually delivered.
How Performance PR is measured
Measurement against business objectives and absolute accountability sit at the heart of Performance PR.
There is no single set of KPIs that applies to every campaign. Every client’s goals are different, so a programme designed to raise awareness should not be measured in exactly the same way as one focused on executive visibility, thought leadership or audience engagement.
The KPIs should always reflect the purpose of the Performance PR campaign.
For awareness-led activity, they could include coverage in priority publications, audience reach, key message penetration, share of voice against competitors or visibility around key industry topics.
For a campaign focused on building credibility, they might include quality of thought leadership opportunities, executive commentary in relevant media, engagement with expert content, invitations to contribute to industry discussions or changes in how the brand is represented.
Where the objective is to encourage an audience to take action, the campaign might track website referrals, content downloads, event registrations, social engagement, enquiries or other meaningful responses
Coverage volume can form part of the Performance PR measurement framework, but it should not be viewed in isolation. A high number of articles in publications that do not reach the target audience may have less value than one detailed feature in a title that buyers know and trust. Effective measurement considers the quality, relevance and impact of the result.
These KPIs are tracked across the different channels of an integrated campaign, from media relations to content and social media to creative work, all pulling in the same direction toward the agreed targets.
Why choose Whiteoaks for Performance PR
Performance PR isn’t just another marketing tactic at Whiteoaks. It’s ingrained in our approach, because it embodies our values and behaviours as a B2B tech PR agency.
Our values – quality, teamwork, integrity and commerciality – underpin our performance-led approach. In our employee-owned business, every member of staff is personally invested, so your results are our success too. That alignment translates into better outcomes for clients.
Performance PR allows us to be one hundred per cent accountable to our clients, and to continually improve and evolve our services.
Over our 30-year heritage, that’s helped us become a trusted partner to many. You can see the approach in action across our client work.
Want greater clarity and accountability from your PR investment? Talk to our team about a Performance PR campaign built around your business objectives.
FAQ
What is Performance PR?
Performance PR is a results-driven approach to public relations that connects PR activity to clear business objectives and measurable outcomes. At Whiteoaks, accountability is built into our Performance PR model. We offer ‘fixed fees for fixed outcomes’ with agreed targets backed by a formal service level agreement and money-back guarantee.
How is Performance PR measured?
Performance PR is measured using metrics including media coverage quality, website traffic, organic search performance, lead generation, conversions and engagement.
How is Performance PR different from traditional PR?
Traditional PR relationships are typically based on a monthly retainer and a set amount of agency activity. Performance PR instead focuses on agreed campaign outcomes, with defined targets linked to business goals and agency accountability for delivering them.
Why is measuring PR performance important?
Measuring the performance of PR campaigns enables B2B businesses to understand campaign effectiveness, optimise future strategies and demonstrate return on investment.
