A Stern Glance

Public Relations is a costly and important expense for any company. The dollar cost is significant; the program requires the time and attention of senior management; and there is a substantial potential opportunity cost if it’s not being done well, or as well as it might be.

Like any service, the value and effectiveness of Public Relations is difficult to evaluate. Most Public Relations agencies accept that premise, as they are frequently reluctant to have the quality and impact of their work evaluated. Moreover, they may not even know how to accomplish that evaluation. In short, if your agency didn’t effect a communications audit or inventory at the outset of its engagement, chances are you’re involved with a firm that believes that the generation of “ink” is more important than the advancement of its client’s objectives; that simply doesn’t understand that Public Relations is critically important because it shapes the client’s image and reputation, which affects everything from sales, vendor relationships and market capitalization to recruitment and merger activity. Simply defined, a Communications Audit or Inventory is a survey of a company’s key audiences. In attempting to respond to perceived or actual problems, or simply target a communications program to a particular audience, senior executives frequently rely on their own perceptions, which sometimes are based on flawed or insuffiecient information. An Audit will accurately identify problems or opportunities and suggest possible solutions or methods to take advantage of positive prospects because it draws conclusions directly from interviews with the audiences of special concern to the client. Among the groups that might be surveyed are journalists, employees, financial analysts, customers, a segment of the general public, professionals and community leaders.

An Audit is a base requirement of Strategic Communications, whether the client be large or small, public or private. And therein lies a significant difference in retaining Strategic Communications counsel and a public relations agency. Without that base requirement satisfied, there can be no truly strategic approach to the development and implementation of a communications program or campaign. While there certainly is a cost involved in designing, executing and analyzing the audit, however, an Audit need not be especially costly.

Since an Audit is a serious inventory of key audiences, the research and design techniques will vary with each situation. Beware the hastily conceived “strategies” or “proposals” derived from a single client meeting that comprise an “Audit.” They come from the client alone and do not gauge the client’s publics. And, if it is to be a true Communications Audit, it will be a problem solver or a discoverer of opportunities; uncovering why a communications breakdown has occurred, or where unassailed opportunities exist and point the way to solutions.

It is critical to keep in might that an Audit’s information is worthless unless you know how you will be able to make it actionable. Every Audit must conclude with an analysis of findings and concrete recommendations for subsequent action.

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