words that SPEAK

business & marketing

communications writing


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Unleash the raw, natural power of words to communicate to and motivate your target audience.

What Your Communications REALLY Say

How often does your organization pause long enough to consider how others truly perceive it? Most organizations interact frequently with diverse communities, including employees, vendors, customers, investors, and that too-often-overlooked group -- prospective employees. The steady stream of messages management sends to its various audiences--intentionally or otherwise--shapes the impression each recipient holds of the organization. The arrival of each new message invariably strengthens or reshapes those impressions. And because such impressions ultimately help or hinder organizational success--often in obscure ways--management should periodically evaluate the cumulative impact of their messages on key constituencies.

Assessing how each community actually perceives the organization is not easy. A survey can be effective tool, but designing and implementing one that will elicit the desired information without bias is the realm of experienced market researchers. The time and effort surveys demand can also carry substantial cost. Surveys therefore are generally best reserved for addressing broad communications issues.

A simpler tool used by many professional communications firms is the communications audit. As its name implies, it involves assembling all of the relevant messages that have recently been sent by the organization and others, and analyzing them collectively to determine the overall message they send. While comprehensive audits for large organizations, divisions, or subsidiaries can be complex, the tool can also be used effectively on a limited scale.

MINI-AUDIT ADVANTAGES
The communications audit is a relatively flexible tool that is easily adapted to fit a wide range of communications needs. Here are some of its key advantages:

SCALABILITY: Users can adjust the audit scope to include anything from a small market area to multiple international markets, and to address from just a single product or service to several.
FLEXIBILITY: When an audit reveals a communications problem, it can be immediately adjusted to delve more deeply into the respective area.
FAST TURNAROUND: Small audits require less time and effort to implement, enabling organizations to unearth problems and react quickly.
LOW COST: Mini audits can usually be implemented with in-house staff, thereby avoiding the cost of retaining professional services.
INFORMAL: Unlike broad, comprehensive audits, organizations can implement mini versions without extensive formal planning and analysis.

These attributes make the limited communications audit an excellent way to gain a quick grasp of the impression your organization is creating in a specific area, or to identify the cause of misleading impressions so you can take corrective action.

One example of how organizations unintentionally generate wrongful impressions is when different divisions send conflicting messages. This may result from a breakdown in internal communications, cultural differences between markets, or when an employee misspeaks. Problems also arise when journalists report inaccurate or incomplete information, which is why audits must include any relevant mentions in the media.

IMPLEMENTING THE MINI AUDIT
While simple in concept, conducting an audit is more or less complex depending on how extensive its scope needs to be. Here are the basic steps:

PLAN: Identify the specific area or issue the audit must cover, whether it is a particular market, product line, service, target audience, or a combination of factors.
LIST: Research and compile a list of all relevant messages--even those that could be marginally relevant--that might influence the impression a recipient holds of the organization with respect to the areas of concern.
GATHER: Collect unabridged samples of each message that was sent and identify its source.
EVALUATE: Carefully evaluate the contents of each message from the viewpoint of its audiences, e.g. investor, vendor, customer, or prospective employee.
UNIFY: Assess the collective impact of the messages from the perspective of each audience community.

Because everyone interprets messages based on their unique background and experience, involving several people of different backgrounds in the evaluation typically generates findings of greater quality and reliability.

The mini communications audit is an excellent and affordable way to quickly assess how effectively the organization is communicating with its critical constituencies. It often reveals problems while they are still small enough to address and before they can have a significant negative impact. While full-scale audits by professional communications firms are still important tools, the mini audit ican be a vital component of the corporate communication and marketing toolbox.

The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.

Anais Nin



	Š2009 Peter Jacobs