In marketing, there’s an established concept that turns out to be surprisingly useful for PR as well: Excess Share of Voice (ESOV). At its core, it’s a simple yet powerful metric for determining whether you’re visible enough to drive growth. When your share of communication—your share of voice—exceeds your market share, you know you’re occupying more space than your size would normally justify. That’s how PR can make you better known than larger competitors.

Traditionally, ESOV is used in advertising, where you compare how much a brand invests in visibility with its actual position in the market. But the same logic works perfectly well in PR. The difference is that here you measure your presence in editorial contexts: how often you appear, in which channels, and how you compare to competitors.

This makes ESOV a concrete way to evaluate PR efforts. If you consistently capture a larger share of media coverage than your market position suggests, you’re outperforming in communications. You become more visible, more relevant, and more present in the minds of your target audience than competitors who are actually bigger than you. That’s a clear sign that your PR is working—and giving you an edge.

At the same time, it provides a long-awaited answer to one of the most common questions: how much should you really invest in PR? Many struggle with this and end up relying on budget constraints or gut feeling. But instead, you can base it on your level of ambition. If your share of voice only matches your market share, you risk standing still. To gain ground, you need to exceed it. It’s as simple as that.

Thinking in terms of ESOV therefore leads to a more proactive, focused, and goal-driven way of working with PR. The emphasis shifts to consistently being heard more than your size would suggest, which over time makes you top of mind among in-market buyers. In the end, that’s what truly drives results.