In today’s economic environment, public percep-tion can be the greatest asset — or the greatest lia-bility — of any company. But while reputation

may be one of the first considerations during thecorporate decision-making process, PR profession-als may not be leading the discussion. The reasonboils down to this: When it comes to reputation, theC-suite needs to talk business, not public relations.Those PR professionals able to lead business discussions arethe ones who will play the central role in managing a compa-ny’s reputation. All others will likely be relegated to a reac-tive mode where we are only able to communicate the deci-sions that others have finalized.

This leads to some important questions. How can a PRdepartment switch from the common reactive and tacticalmodes to actively providing counsel during the decision-making process? Furthermore, how can public relationsmove from merely talking about media relations to manag-ing reputation risk and espousing the economic valuearound major business decisions such as customer-serviceinvestments?

An active strategy for public perception managementrequires that a company view its relationship with PR rep-resentation as a partnership. The PR team should beinvolved at multiple levels of the company and should beviewed as a critical component in decision-making process-es. Instead of simply offering counsel when requested, thePR team should be a valuable resource that is engaged at the

earliest stages of business planning through the final stagesof measurement and analysis.

Maximum effectiveness requires that the PR team beplaced in a position where it can truly understand how thecompany is seen by core audiences, primarily customers,prospects and investors. The team must be able to projecthow company actions will affect those perceptions and mea-sure any changes in audience opinions. This is a major strate-gic shift; however, it is one that PR departments can facili-tate through the implementation of three crucial actions.

1. Introduce opinion-survey and market-analysistools into the departmental skill set

Understanding the influences of audience perceptionsof a company and what changes the company can implementto spur positive action, such as investing in or purchasingfrom the company, are fundamental to any strong and effec-tive strategic PR program.

In current PR practice, professionals search for correla-tions and analyze data to determine how messaging and tac-

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THE STRATEGIST/FALL 2008 PAGE 34

The Three Rules of C-Level PR Programming: Research, Language and Counsel

“If I deliver results in PR-speak,I get blank, bored stares. I need totalk the same business language

with the same business focusas my company’s

senior management team.”— SVP, corporate communications

BY EPHRAIM COHEN

the

imag

e ba

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THE STRATEGIST/FALL 2008 PAGE 35

tics affect the audience’s opinion. But what if we simply asked them? Instead of establish-

ing program recommendations on how tactical output ( i.e.,media) might drive sales, base them on what audiences saywould actually increase their purchase intent. PR profession-als could then use this research to recommend specific actionsto positively impact audience perceptions or to gauge howactions recommended by other departments would have animpact on audience perception and actions. The latter can belikened to a lawyer providing legal counsel or an accountantsimilarly offering tax advice. A company’s PR team shouldalways be positioned to provide insight about the reputationimplications of any suggested action or have the ability to con-tribute suggestions themselves.

Skills in areas including risk management, opinionresearch and business analysis, which are critical to active PRmanagement, are in short supply. Not only do too few havethese skills, but the profession also underestimates its need forthese skills. It’s easy to find a PR department searching forsomeone with media contacts. One is far less likely to find onesearching for someone with risk-management and opinion-research analysis skills.

Politics is one domain in which such tools and strategiesare hard at work and highly valued. Politicians keep pollstersaround precisely because pollsters provide critical informa-tion about what people are thinking, what influences theirthinking and what needs to be said. Pollsters can then followup, finding out if the program changes worked. Campaignmanagers don’t read clip books; they read survey results.CEOs may get clip books with fancy graphs, but those don’tprovide the bottom line — which is whether we effectivelyaltered opinions.

2. Change from PR-specific language to high-levelbusiness language

A company’s executive leadership is interested in howreputation drives bottom-line metrics, including sales and val-uation. While the PR function may drive these metrics on adaily basis, PR language doesn’t always make that clear.

Switching from PR to business language can bothincrease the company’s understanding of the importance of thePR function and elevate the level of counsel itself. Instead ofjust talking about brand and corporate reputation, talk aboutreputation risk management and economic value. For pro-gramming, it’s about the reputation impact of business movesas well as the risk and economic values of that impact. When itcomes to measurement, metrics should focus on audience opin-ion surveys with an emphasis on the opinions that impact the

bottom line most. This information can also concretely demon-strate how output like media coverage can drive audienceopinions. The important point is that PR professionals shouldbe speaking at the same level at which the senior managementteam is operating.

3. Provide business — not PR — counsel Similar to the switch from PR to business language, PR

counsel should become overall business counsel.Communications is simply one means to having a better-runbusiness.

This strategic move can be accomplished in two stages.First, counsel should address how business moves will impactreputation. Not only should PR professionals indicate howspecific business moves affect opinion, but they should alsorecommend alternative moves. Instead of simply showing howcutting customer service will negatively impact consumeropinions, counsel should suggest strategies such as improvingcustomer-service scripts and lowering online response timesto neutralize those negative effects.

An active approach should measure awareness and opin-ions as well as impact on reputation. It should make forward-looking recommendations for the business. In the exampleabove, this would mean not only measuring communicationaround the changes in customer service but also explaininghow additional changes in customer service could continue toimpact reputation.

Management may not always act based on PR recom-mendations, but the smart leaders understand that reputation(the bottom-line measurement of public relations) is the resultof a combination of business decisions and communication.They’ll also realize that the job of the PR department is towatch, recommend and manage the company’s reputation atthe highest strategic level, not just at a tactical level.

A shift to a financial, value-focused effort is a major move,but it is not without reward. Benefits include bigger budgets,greater respect, more influence and the lead communicationsrole. PR practitioners can truly take charge of a company’sreputation and prove their program’s economic value. �

Ephraim Cohen is executive director of leadershipstrategy at MWW Group as well as the principal con-sultant of the communications consulting firm FortexGroup. His articles and posts can be found at the Seatat the Table blog.

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