Can you hear me now?

Communication without a message is useless.

I wish I had a dollar for every client or potential client who said to me over the years “we need some public relations for our business”but couldn’t clearly articulate what they wanted to communicate and to whom.

Before a business invests in implementing a communications strategy, it needs to clarify what its messages are, to whom the messages aretargeted and what outcomes it hopes they achieve.

How? Begin with a message audit. This should answer three questions:

1. What are you current messages?
2. Are they consistent across all platforms?
3. Do they resonate with your target audience

While it may be helpful to engage a third party to conduct the audit, you can do a simplified version on your own. Here are some tips to help you:

• Review all your existing materials to determine what messages you are delivering now – website, marketing materials, RFP responses, intranet and employee communications, social media sites, etc. In other words, what are you saying now?
• Talk with senior management to see what messages they think the organization is delivering.
• Talk to key constituents to find out what messages they are receiving. This may include employees, customers (existing and potential), vendors and investors.

Then, analyze all of what you find, see where there are conflicts, where clarification is needed and what is missing. The result should be an effective message platform.

Need a third party to assist you in a message audit? If so,let’s talk. Contact Katcher Strategic Communications today.