This story is a prime example of earned media, independent and credible content generated around a topic that deserves to be covered. And one public company Cision Ltd., is seeking to radically transform how corporate communications executives and public relations professionals quantify the business impact of exactly this kind of article.

“It’s super simple,” said Kevin Akeroyd (pictured), chief executive officer of Cision. “No one has ever tracked the press releases, the articles, or any of the earned media content the way people have tracked banner ads or e-commerce emails. We are for the chief communications officer what Adobe is for the chief marketing officer, what Salesforce is for the chief revenue officer, what Workday is for the chief human resources officer.”

Akeroyd spoke with John Furrier (@furrier), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, at theCUBE’s studio in Palo Alto, California. They discussed the value in tracking data derived from earned media, the rise in influence of chief communications officers, how the tech stack feeds the media infrastructure, and Cision’s own competitive landscape (see the full interview with transcript here).

Correlation between PR and results

Cision is riding a wave where C-suite executives are beginning to take greater interest in finding a direct correlation between PR programs and real business results. Vanity metrics, such as “millions of people reached” or “total impressions,” are now under greater scrutiny as communications and marketing leaders must find new data-driven ways to demonstrate impact.

“These are not irrelevant metrics, but they’re not the ones that a CEO or CFO are going to invest in,” said Akeroyd, who cited more meaningful data points, such as exactly how many people were reached, their demographics, and what they do as the kind of results that have value. “I can track that all the way to whatever that success metric is.”

In years past, chief communications officers reported to the company’s CEO. Today, the majority now work for chief marketing officers, according to Akeroyd. He views that as a positive trend, because CMOs are becoming more technologically knowledgeable and data-driven themselves. This translates into more influence as attention shifts from glitzy ad campaigns to earned media with impact.

“You’re seeing communications officers take the widest amount of real estate around the boardroom table that they’ve ever had,” Akeroyd said. “The key asset isn’t that beautiful Budweiser frog commercial that played during the Super Bowl anymore. The key asset is what’s getting done over on the communications part.”

No more clip books

The rise of firms like Cision point to the evolution of newer, dedicated resources within many companies, a tech stack to power the media infrastructure. Before the internet changed the PR ballgame, companies merely had to build relationships with a limited number of key media influencers.

Now, there are thousands of bloggers and journalists on multiple global platforms, which demands automation and constant monitoring. The time when a communications executive leisurely prepared a clip book for delivery to the CEO every Friday is long gone.

“If I’m basically streaming my senior executives in real time, curated and analyzed as to what’s important and what it means, I can’t do that without a tech stack,” Akeroyd said. “It’s become the real-time curated feed that never stops.”

Cision reported increases in both revenue and operating income for 2018 in February. The company has also been on an acquisition path in recent weeks, buying social media firm Falcon.io ApS in early January, followed later that month by the purchase of TrendKite, a digital PR platform provider.

Meanwhile, Akeroyd believes that the large cloud leaders in marketing automation have been too busy to worry about the business model Cision is building. But that may soon change as more C-suite executives begin to see the value that careful analysis of earned media can bring.

“They’ve been too focused on the big arms race against each other in paid and owned media and have not had the luxury to even go here,” said Akeroyd of the larger firms. “The ‘where are we on this’ wave is coming to communications.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s CUBE Conversations.

Photo: SiliconANGLE