As we approach the end of Quarter one of 2014, there is no gainsaying that a lot has been happening between the corporate affairs and marketing teams of any organization, together with their PR agency. Product launches have been done, corporate campaigns have been executed, and the internal communications tactics are in place with the company publications moving closer to the editorial review. Incidentally, 80 percent of the listed companies have actually announced their full year results. Some have recorded double digit profits while some have had a drop in profit (that’s the PR euphemism for making losses)
My interest is not really to share the PR diary since the beginning of this year, but to shed some light on how all this can be measured beyond the media clippings that we proudly fix on any single power point presentation we make to the business. But how can you prove beyond reasonable doubt that you played a key role in the business growth bearing in mind that the sales manager has already shared his sale numbers vs. the target while the IT manager has proved that he rolled out all the efficiency systems the business needed?
Well, do you remember the periodic PR audits I mentioned to you late last year; this is the opportunity for the internal team as well as the agencies to review together so that you can be able to measure the percentage of activities that you have undertaken so far. This PR audit should be combined with the annual PR plan that was presented to the business when you were lobbying for the budget from the business.
This may sound like a tall order but as a PR practitioner this is the right time to engage the various user departments that you supported with PR activities, for instance the various product managers should be able to share with the sales figure before and after the product launch and campaign that was spearheaded by the PR team.
For the CEO’s office, you need to showcase the impact that the meeting you facilitated between the regulator and the business heads had on the business; after all a chat with the Kenya Bureau of Standards about the counterfeits being sneaked into your market is likely to have a lasting impact on the business articles in all the leading dailies on a Monday morning.
To cap it all, please spare a few slides to highlight the impact that the CSR campaign you launched in Q4 last year did to your business. But kindly desist from sharing the amount of money the business pumped into this noble initiative, instead quantify the impact. For instance, if at all you were investing in financial literacy, how many businesses picked up from that, and if all you did was on sanitation, did we see a drop on sanitation related illnesses?
This should secure you a speaking opportunity in the Q2 budget review meeting.
