The other day I got into an debate with someone who has been a mentor to me for most of my career.
Well, it wasn’t a debate, really. More of a disagreement. Or a difference of opinion. But while it’s always a little unsettling to disagree with someone who has taught you so much over the years, I’m pretty sure I’m right this time.
The topic was communication audits. I know . . . I know. Few words or phrases in the English language are more stimulating and, dare I say it, sexy than “communication audit.”
It’s right up there with “Would you like another martini?” and “Do you want to join the Mile High Club?” in terms of getting the old blood racing.
The argument started because Cindy and I are teaching a Webinar for IABC next Wednesday, March 10, titled: “Guerilla Research.” It’s going to show communicators who can’t hire consultants (and there are a lot of communicators who can’t even hire interns, let alone consultants) how to do use some basic research techniques to improve their communication vehicles and strategies.
I’ve taught similar versions of this class before, both over the phone and in person, and it always goes over well. Cindy and I don’t claim to be measurement/research experts, but we do enough of it in the real world to allow us to share some proven tips and tactics.
The problem with my mentor arose because in the marketing copy, which I wrote myself, I refer to learning how to do a “do-it-yourself communications audit.”
That set my guy off.
“A do-it-yourself audit?” he e-mailed to me. “What’s next? Do-it-yourself financial audits? ‘I don’t need no stinking accounting firm. I’ll audit my own goddam numbers!’
“I think you can conduct some of your own measurement, but an AUDIT?” he continued. “A research study from the Institute of Public Relations revealed that this is EXACTLY why communicators have credibility issues in their own organizations.”
Well, I call bullshit on the Institute of Public Relations and their “revelation” (probably “revealed” by a team of measurement consultants) that you can’t audit yourself.
Now, I will be the first to admit that if you CAN hire a professional researcher/measurement expert to do your research and measurement, by all means do it!
If every company could afford to bring in two of my idols in the industry, measurement gurus Angela Sinickas or Katie Paine, they should. Right now. Today. This morning, actually. It will be money very well spent.
But for every person who can afford to bring in a good consultant, there are 100 communicators who can’t. They work in hospitals and utilities and small companies and mid-sized companies, and even large companies with no budget for communications.
They are one-person shops and two-people shops. They aren’t allowed to even go to a conference to hear Angela or Katie speak, let alone bring them in to do work!
But that doesn’t mean they can’t do some research and measurement on their own, to determine if a vehicle is working, or if an important message is getting through. It doesn’t mean they can’t do the research they need to do in order to build a workable strategic plan.
I mean, if you can’t afford to hire a maid, do you not clean your house? Maybe you won’t scrub the bottom of the toilet bowl like a professional would (I know I wouldn’t) . . . but you still have to do some cleaning, right?
Obviously, most communicators realize this. A competitor of IABC, when he heard that we were doing this Webinar, immediately announced that he would do a FREE Webinar on the exact same topic, one day after our Webinar, so that nobody would sign up for our Webinar.
His Webinar is actually a taped rerun of a Webinar they did a couple of years ago, and it actually has the words “Do it yourself audit” in the title! And guess what? He claims to have more than 700 people signed up for it! For a taped rerun!
Seven hundred people sign up for a rerun of a Webinar that originally ran two years ago, and you are going to tell me that communicators aren’t clamoring for this information?
Oh, and by the way, we have great numbers for our Webinar as well, which costs money, but it’s live. So obviously there are plenty of people willing to pay money for this information, too.
So what’s the problem? Well, since my mentor admits that communicators can do their own research, his problem seems to be with the word “audit.”
I admit that it’s a scary word. It implies teams of geeks, reams of paperwork, stacks of PowerPoint, multi-page surveys, dashboards and metrics and focus groups conducted with secret measurement gurus hiding behind one-way mirrors, studying the body language of the participants in the group.
But if you break down an “audit” into its components, it’s not that scary.
Cindy and I do about four or five big communication “audits” a year. We do them ourselves, occasionally bringing in outside help to run focus groups, if we need to.
Crescenzo Communications tends to focus more on planning and tactics . . . but you can’t do planning without research, and you shouldn’t do any communication without measuring whether or not it’s working. So we find ourselves doing research and measurement all the time.
Our “audits” consist primarily of these elements:
* Executive Interviews
* Focus Groups
* Survey(s)
* Vehicle(s) Analyis
Sometimes, we do all of those things. Sometimes, depending on the client need, budget, and time frame, we just do some of them.
But here’s the thing: With the exception of a good vehicle analysis (it’s really hard to analyze your own communication vehicle; but we actually have some good tips on that, too), communicators can do these things themselves.
You can’t do them as good as a professional who does it for a living . . . but you can do them.
Sure, a focus group participant might be more honest and forthcoming if the moderator has no ties to the company. But does that mean you can’t talk to your employees or other audience members?
Sure, a measurement consultant will know more about how to construct a statistically valid survey. But that does that mean you can’t use Survey Monkey and quick polls to get some numbers on whether or not your tactics are working?
And sure, an executive might tell an outside expert things he might not tell his own communicators. But that does mean you shouldn’t log some valuable time with your executives, to get their perspective–and give them yours?
Like I said earlier, if you CAN afford a consultant, hire one!!
But it doesn’t have to be either/or. Surely my mentor would agree that some measurement is better than no measurement. Surely my mentor can see that to try and communicate with NO research, just because you can’t hire someone to do it, is like deciding to never cut your lawn because you can’t afford a professional landscaper.
You can do focus groups. You can construct simple surveys that will yield good information. You can do executive interviews. You can use polls and other quick measurement techniques to get instant feedback.
Don’t call it a “Do It Yourself Audit” if you think the Institute of Public Relations will think less of you because of it.
But if you ask me, the Institute of Public Relations has it ass backwards.
I don’t think communicators lack credibility because we think we can do our own measurement and research. I say we lack credibility because we’re so afraid of words like “audit” and “measurement” and “surveys” and “research” that, if we can’t hire someone to do it for us, we don’t do it at all.
And that, to me, is the real danger: not doing it at all.
Communicators, what do you think? Should we try to audit ourselves? Or should we leave it to the professionals and the people who can afford them?
And don’t forget to sign up for Guerilla Research next Wednesday. It won’t turn you into a research and measurement expert . . . but it will give you some practical tips and tactics to improve your communication efforts.
And if you want to learn how to tie that research and measurement into strategic planning and creative tactics, including social media, then be sure to sign up for our full-day Strategic Communication Seminar on March 12, at the Allerton Hotel in Chicago.

