Auditing is not just for taxes! It's for communications, too and this episode walks you through the simple steps to audit yourself and explains why you would ever want to do it in the first place.
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Today I’m talking about a different type of audit. A communications audit. If you’ve never heard of this, it’s honestly exactly what it sounds like where you audit all of your communications. But why would you do this? And do people really do this? Well because and yes. And for more complete answers, stay tuned…
INTRO
Well an audit just doesn’t sound like it would be fun, does it? But a communications audit, when you are opening yourself up to seeing the awesome things you’ve been doing and shall we say the areas for opportunity, that’s fun! Maybe that’s just me but if there’s a little piece of you that’s cringing inside, guess what? Tell yourself it’s fun, tell yourself you love this stuff to bits, channel your inner me and take an afternoon to do one. It’s easy.
But why, I hear you ask. Why would I sit down and do that when I have five million other things to do? And I understand your potential reluctance but here’s the thing. It’s precisely because you have five million other things that you need to stop for an afternoon and do this. When you take the time to review what is and isn’t working, and analyze why, it’s going to help you improve or even streamline your activities. It’ll make you not only more efficient but also more impactful. And if you don’t think you have enough communications pieces to look at, I beg to differ. You do. I don’t even know you but I know you do. If you have sent an email, tweeted, posted on any of the socials, hit LinkedIn, you have communications to review.
A communications audit is something that should ideally be done on a regular basis. Just like you review your business processes or your spending and earnings, you should review your comms. Sometimes there are natural times in your business when auditing makes sense, such as planning a new launch or looking back at one you’re just wrapping up. Sometimes you need to do one because something isn’t working right, you aren’t seeing the results you think you should or getting the engagement or reactions that you feel you should. Sometimes an audit is built in as part of your communications plan, complete with targets and review date, and that’s just when you previously decided to assess your plan. An audit can help you figure out which tactics and tools are working best for your different audiences and you can then use that information to guide your strategy. And, if you want some help with your communications planning, get on the wait list for my Cut the Waffle program and make wondering what you’re going to say to reach your goals a thing of the past!
Okay, so I know you agree an audit sounds like a smart thing but how does this happen? What do you need to do?
First off, you need to think about your strategy behind the audit. What information are you looking for or what is prompting this? You can do a mini audit, look at the last three months or you can review a campaign, or review everything for the last six to twelve months before you create your new communications plan. If you just need to know why you aren’t getting the take up on a recent sale campaign or offer, there may not be much point to you looking at everything you’ve done in the last eighteen months unless you want to compare against a similar campaign. And, depending on the business you’re in, you may not even be looking at your communications with customers. You may be looking at how you communicate with suppliers or collaborators, employees or members, shareholders or partners. So define your focus for this activity, we’re being efficient not wasting more time!
Second, step is to gather your materials. Make a nice list of all the different ways you communicated about x to y in the agreed upon time frame. Think about this one, because sometimes there’s a different method that you tried twice and forgot about; include it because it might tell you something when you compare it to other methods you’ve been more consistent with. Start a spreadsheet. (Decidedly less fun in my world but a necessary evil.) Log a column of the communications. If you are prolific, like post on IG six times a day, first of all, why? Do you have sales directly from instagram that back up that effort? (An audit would show the data on that, by the way.) Secondly, take a reasonably representative sample. You don’t have the time or energy to go through and evaluate 600 Insta posts, take a sample. What you are looking for here is a way to keep track of what you’ve done so you can analyse it in an orderly fashion.
I know, people talk about communications and PR like it’s so soft and fluffy. This perception makes it seem like it’s not actually that important. It’s nice to have, it’s not a must have. No. Strategic communications and public relations are vital to your business. You do them every day without even realizing it, with no training. Alvin Adams once said that public relations are a key component of any operation in this day of instant communications and rightly inquisitive citizens. He was basically the father of express shipping and he said that in the mid 1800’s. Imagine how true that is today. Because it is strategic, there needs to be numbers and data involved in execution. Sure, sometimes the data is based on the soft fuzzies like feelings, but it’s data nonetheless and useful for planning your future moves.
Ok, side rant over. Get a spreadsheet going.
When you have a list of your relevant communications, take a moment and congratulate yourself on all of that work you had done. So many people fall at the first hurdle, they never promote themselves or their product and go out of business. But not you, you tried and kept at it. So take a minute.
Third thing you want to do is nail down what you’re evaluating and get to work. Did you have goals set up and did these communications activities meet them? Or at least support them? For example: Did you want to increase your email list by 25 per cent? Then how many posts pointed back to your email list? Did you always do it on LinkedIn but never in Facebook? Why? Were those posts where you pointed back to your email list strong calls to action? Clear? Or did you only allude to the fact that you have an email list? Maybe you didn’t care to set up an email list but look back at your goals and see if your communications efforts over the past while helped you reach them.
Fourth is to have a think about what you’re going to do going forward. Some things will have gone brilliantly but it’s a given that nothing was perfect. So how can you change? What can you do differently? Maybe it’s not you, maybe it’s the fact that there is an obstacle in your way that was not in your control. I heard of someone who launched her product on the day of the American presidential swearing in. That’s an obstacle. It had nothing to do with her, her messaging, her offer, but everything to do with something that was happening in the world. And it’s a great lesson for the future.
And the fifth thing you want to do is make a list of the opportunities you’ve just created. The ideas for ways to improve certain things or phase out others. And prioritize it. Get your quick wins in there. Change your call to action on your Instagram posts, you know? Do what is free, what is quick and high five yourself for making such a killer move for your business. You may need some more time to work on other items, you may save spending money on tactics for later, but the awareness of what worked is key. That awareness will continue to subtly shape your communications until you are in a place where you can make bigger moves and that’s a win in itself.
I had a brief conversation with someone in a similar field to me regarding our methods at attracting our clients. We were bumping up against the same issues and she just beat me to the punch, saying that she had had a look at where her customers were coming from, who they are and where they hang out, and realized that her customers weren’t even where she had been spending time posting and trying to attract them. She was able to make a decision, based off the data, and changed her strategy to be more efficient and impactful. I love that, having the knowledge that enables you as the business owner to make a good decision for the benefit of your business. That’s proper management.
No matter what people may tell you or what their instagram and pretty websites might imply, running a business isn’t easy. There are loads of things that you need to be aware of, if only to make a conscious decision to ignore them or pay someone else to do for you. I hope that this episode - heck this podcast - helps you with at least one aspect of it. And if you know someone else who would benefit from this information, I’d be really honored if you shared it with them. Thank you so much and until next week, my friends.
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