Getting a seat at the table as a communicator can be difficult and frustrating, to say the least.
I recently participated on a Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) virtual panel discussion about the importance of the Strategic Communications plan.
The short answer is that developing and executing a Strategic Communications plan has never been more important to our industry and the clients we represent.
Having a Strategic Communications Plan identifies how you define success for your program, and how they are tied to organizational goals. It helps align your teams, and keep you on target as you execute the plan.
I wrote a follow up blog about it, so check it out:
Do I Really Need A
Strategic Communications Plan?
But, one of the questions we received made me pause, especially because it’s something I’m very passionate about.
An attendee asked, how can we as communicators get a seat at the (proverbial) table?
If you’re in the Communications Industry, you know that we’ve been fighting for that seat for a long time.
For decades we’ve tried to show the value of our efforts, most of the time unsuccessfully.
And let’s face it – it’s not an easy thing to do. There’s no standard to measure Public Relations efforts.
In fact, there’s really not a firm definition of Public Relations in the minds of businesses and professionals alike.
Ask five different practitioners what the definition of Public Relations is, and you’ll get five different answers.
So, if we can’t define the activity, how do we define the value?
Value Over Volume
In the most basic terms, we need to focus on value over volume.
It doesn’t matter how many press releases we write, how many news stories we get placed, how many social media posts go live, or how many blogs we create.
These are tactics and output measurements that (in most cases) don’t provide a direct line back to organizational goals.
Yes, we need those tactics and metrics, and those are amazing tools that help us accomplish a greater goal, but we need to go much deeper to find the value of these efforts.
And it all starts by thinking strategically. By that I mean we need to look at the larger picture and force ourselves, as practitioners, to understand how everything works together.
We need to do a better job at understanding and using metrics that tie to the organizational goals.
And each organization is different, so our approach needs to be different.
If your company’s goal is revenue, then we need metrics that tie back to revenue. Perhaps it’s increased website traffic that is then converted to customers.
If your company is more concerned awareness or driving membership to take action, then we need metrics that tie back to awareness.
Again, this will change from company to company, and program to program. I wrote a blog on tips to measuring your campaigns that provide more direction:
7 Tips to Measure Your Strategic Communications Campaigns
But whatever your metrics and goals are for your communications campaign, they need to be directly tied to the company goals and what the company is working to achieve.
The Strategic Plan and understanding how it’s all integrated helps us do just that.
I’ve said this before, but we all have a responsibility to lift up our industry and our clients. And we do that be showing meaningful results and value, which go beyond a national media placement.
We deserve a seat at that table, but we’ll never get there until we start thinking strategically and showing the real value of what we do.
I’ve also been discussing how you can find success following the Coronavirus crisis through the RADD approach, which is Recognize, Adapt, Develop, and Deploy. Check out our previous posts to see how you can succeed with the RADD process:
– Get RADD And Plan For Success Following Coronavirus Crisis
– Prepare for Success and Get RADD, Part 1: Recognize
– Finding Success By Getting RADD, Part 2: Adapt
– Get RADD, Part 3: Develop Plans For Success
– Deploying Your RADD Communications Plan
Here are some additional resources for your crisis planning efforts as you adapt to your new worlds:
– There’s Still Time To Communicate During the Coronavirus Crisis
– Isolation Is Actually Connecting Us In Meaningful Ways
– Is Pitching Media A Good Idea During COVID-19?
– Internal Communications During A Crisis
– A Meaningful Message, Or Pandering Without Purpose
And here are some additional blogs to help with your strategic communications planning:
– Pitching Media Like The Pros
– 7 Tips for Successful Media Interviews
– Don’t Let Perfect Be The Enemy Of Effective
– Wake Up. Kick Ass. Repeat.
– How to Create Content That Engages Audiences and Builds Brand Trust Quickly
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