ROI is always difficult to pinpoint. Other than actual sales, of course, people have tried to determine ROI by counting how many hits their website receives, how many homes watch their television commercial, etc. ROI isn't necessarily just about financial profits; it's also about public awareness and whether or not you've achieved the outcome of your goal.

For example, let's say that a certain movie star (we'll call him Mr. Fantastic) has been out of the limelight for a lot of years. He wants to return to the limelight - Mr. Fantastic is tired of wallowing in obscurity, he's ready to move on, he's ready to move back to the big time. So, Mr. Fantastic hires a public relations consultant. A public relations consultant will advice Mr. Fantastic on how best to relate to the public. Times have changed, after all, since Mr. Fantastic was last in the public eye. When Mr. Fantastic was popular the internet hadn't been invented yet. When Mr. Fantastic was popular cable and satellite TV hadn't been quite as popular as they are now. Therefore, Mr. Fantastic's public relations consultant will suggest to Mr. Fantastic how he can use these new forms of media (as well as the old forms, such as radio and basic television) to his advantage when attempting to make his big comeback.

Mr. Fantastic issues a press release; he says: "Hey, I'm back; I'm interested in making movies again." Mr. Fantastic starts his own website. Mr. Fantastic appears on a variety of talk shows on television and on the radio. Mr. Fantastic, in short (following the advice of his public relations consultant), gets his name out there in a big way. He highlights himself in every forum possible, and spends considerable time and energy in doing so (not to mention money). In this case, Mr. Fantastic's publicity ROI would be calculated by the effectiveness of his publicity campaign. His publicity ROI isn't concerned with money as of yet; as of yet, his ROI is only concerned with one question: How successful has Mr. Fantastic been in accomplishing his goal, that is, how successful has Mr. Fantastic's public relations campaign been in returning Mr. Fantastic to the public eye, to the big time, to the limelight?

Likewise, a politician's publicity ROI wouldn't necessarily have to do with how much money he's raised for his campaign (though money would obviously play in important role); in the politician's case, he might determine the effectiveness of his publicity ROI by how many votes he receives and how many votes his pet causes receive. The politician will use press releases, internet sites, radio, television, newspaper, and magazine advertisements to broadcast his cause, and he'll spend quite a bit of money in doing so. But his main goal is to get elected. If he gets elected, his Return of Investment is satisfactory and more than satisfactory.

Advertising campaigns, political campaigns, etc., are designed so that their ROI at least matches (in terms of goals met, accomplishments made) the time and money they put into their venture. As we said before, ROI is often difficult to precisely gauge. Public relations, advertising, and marketing experts try to create effective, simple, streamlined campaigns in order to get as good a return as possible on their investment.

To learn more about the secrets of ROI and how to generate a good ROI, please visit the following websites.

http://101publicrelations.com/soloentrepenuer.html
http://101publicrelations.com/pressreleases.html