Every organization worries about whether their PR and marketing investments are paying off. In almost every case, we recommend a PR and marketing communications audit and evaluation to help answer this question. This process has to be both comprehensive and easy to implement, without disrupting the current work flow. If managed well, it will optimize your investment and improve your PR and marketing ROI. Here are the steps:
1. Understand the specific business objectives of the organization- Let’s use a not-for-profit example. To begin, understand how the appeals (getting money) impacts the distribution of money (how the organization helps). While this sounds simple, it is usually a complex relationship and their is a lot to be learned from the details. In order to effectively evaluate the optimal communications program you need to know the operational focus and resources put against each area.
2. Conduct a thorough audit of all marketing communications – Each department should complete a form that helps them identify any and all communications their department produces, including the target audience, the purpose, the format, the distribution channel, the vendor (if any), the time and resources required, the costs, the actual results (if quantitative) and the perceived value. These individual audit forms are aggregated into a master plan, which will bring complete visibility to the communications currently being produced for the organization. Remember, in communications it’s not just what you say but how you say it is very important. The audit needs to be supported by senior management with a positive message inviting participation so the whole organization can be more effective.
3. Agency audit of time-of-staff against specific programs – Vivid Ascent will review the time we spend against each project to help determine where our costs are associated. This data will be evaluated with the hours put against each project so we have a holistic perspective of the true cost/resources required to produce current programs.
4. Measuring effectiveness for each program – In this phase we will determine the metrics used to evaluate each communications component and apply these measures in the evaluation process.
5. Evaluation of the existing master communications plan - In this phase all the communications programs will be categorized to align with various areas of the organization (e.g. sales, manufacturing, PR, advertising, etc.). This will help us understand if the programs and costs are aligned with the business objectives of the organization. Optimal programs with effective cost-to-results ratios will be selected and the ones that do not meet the criteria will be eliminated.
6. Optimal Communications Plan Development and Approval – The recommended plan with programs, resources and budgets will be developed in this phase and presented to senior management for approval.
7. Implementation – In this phase we will put the new program in place and help train teams to become program champions.
8. Measurement and Repeat – This process requires real time evaluation and flexibility to make changes where required. As successes are celebrated we can determine whether increased investment in those programs is appropriate. Programs that do not deliver will also be eliminated as appropriate. This ongoing process will result in the most effective investment of resources and money.
If you follow these steps you will learn more about your organization and how it spends it’s money than you ever thought possible. You will also create a very efficient PR and marketing program that is results-driven and optimized for performance.
Let me know if you have any other ideas or additions to help improve ROI.
