So They've Given You Six Months
to Turn Things Around?
Here Are the Six Most Important
Things To Do.

by Mark G. Daly

Headquarters has given you the ambiguous task of turning things around. Your job depends on your actions in the next six months. The strategy is simple: benchmark, plan, and then communicate.

Month 1. First Things First: Benchmark You’ll never get to where you’re going if you don’t know where you are.

Step 1. Conduct an online search of all relevant publications, ‘zines, discussion groups and web sites. Determine the following:

• What’s my share of discussion: Of all the chat/talk/quotes/media coverage/sponsorship and speeches given, how much is about your company or product?
• What’s my positioning relative to my competition: How have the competition framed the discussion, Where do you fit in? How are your products positioned relative to the competition?
• Who is driving the coverage: Which thought leaders are quoted most often? What publications cover your industry/company/organization most frequently?

Step 2: Conduct a survey of at least 100 members of your target audience. Find out:

• What’s keeping them up at night? What are they worrying about, which competitors, which regulations, which industry threats? If you don’t know what’s on their minds and what’s important to them, you’ll never be able to get their attention.
• Where do they go for information? To whom do they listen? What do they read? What conferences do they go to keep current with the industry. This will tell you where and how to focus your efforts.
• What do they think of you now? Have you pissed them off? Disappeared from their radar screen? Been subsumed by other companies? Unless you know how you are currently perceived, you don’t know what to change.

The data gleaned from measurement research will identify successes and failures that you can address immediately. Many companies are surprised to find that they are not performing as well as they had expected. Some find themselves ignored or neglected by the media in critical areas; some find that their key messages are not being communicated. Some reporters or magazines may need to be addressed directly, and only timely measurement can show you these things and give you reaction time.

Month 2. Brainstorm Once all this data is in hand you need to make sense of it, and figure out what to do with it.

The best way to do this is to brainstorm with your peers, and ideally with customers or prospects. Don’t just ask communications people—involve product development, sales, and even accounting. See what comes up for ideas.

Month 2-3. Planning You’ve got the research and the ideas in hand, so what?

Research is just trivia unless you interpret it and act upon the information. You need to take your data and your ideas and write a strategic plan. The purpose of a plan isn’t so much a road map that will dictate your every move as it is a memorandum of agreement with management that you are headed in the right direction, that your measure of success are the same as theirs and that they will get behind you efforts. Included in the plan should be clearly defined audiences, key messages and tactics.

Month 3-4: Act

In the 21st century, words are too frequently greeted with skepticism. You have to prove to your audiences that your turnaround is real, and the only proof they’ll buy is action. So don’t say a word until whatever is the problem is fixed, or at least well on the way to being fixed. If you’re suffering from poor financials, make sure you can demonstrate improvement. If you’ve damaged the environment or society, make sure remedial steps have been taken.

Month 5. Effectively communicate with the world. Tune your key messages and write good press releases.

The last thing you need to do is issue a press release. Public Relations is first and foremost about building relationships. Develop relationships with the key thought leaders and media identified in Step 1. Bring them in for updates and briefings, when the time is right, give them the story.

Even worse than a press release is a press conference. It’s hard to get a “scoop” out of a press conference, and most reporters hate them. Secondly, it’s much more important that you demonstrate your actions—and standing in front of a podium talking seldom demonstrates much at all. If you have to do an event, make sure the venue, the invitations, the attendees and everything about it communicates your key messages.

Messages should be concise and powerful and tailored to whichever audience you are addressing. Make sure all company spokespeople know the messages and are ready to communicate them when the opportunity presents itself.

Month 6. Develop a dashboard to measure your results.

Think of ongoing measurement like a dashboard: You need a “gas gauge” to indicate your level of resources, a speedometer to know how fast you’re getting where your going, an odometer to know how far you’ve gotten, and an overall ROI gauge to know if your cost-per-contact is within normal guidelines. The dashboard will not only give you valuable insight as to what tactics have been most effective, it will also provide tangible proof to your management and board that you are managing your program well. Update your media analysis at least once a quarter, and survey your audience at least once a year to keep your dashboard up to date.

Mark G. Daly is an independent PR analyst in Portsmouth, NH. He can be reached at markgdaly@aol.com.

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