LEADERSHIP

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 to
talk the same business language
with the same business focus
as my company’s
senior management team.”
— SVP, corporate communications

BY EPHRAIM COHEN

n today’s economic environment, public percep-

I 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 the
corporate decision-making process, PR profession-
als may not be leading the discussion. The reason
boils down to this: When it comes to reputation, the
C-suite needs to talk business, not public relations.
Those PR professionals able to lead business discussions are
the 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 PR
department switch from the common reactive and tactical
modes to actively providing counsel during the decision-
making process? Furthermore, how can public relations
move from merely talking about media relations to manag-
ing reputation risk and espousing the economic value
around major business decisions such as customer-service
investments?
An active strategy for public perception management
requires that a company view its relationship with PR rep-
resentation as a partnership. The PR team should be
involved at multiple levels of the company and should be
the image bank
earliest stages of business planning through the final stages
of measurement and analysis.
Maximum effectiveness requires that the PR team be
placed in a position where it can truly understand how the
company is seen by core audiences, primarily customers,
prospects and investors. The team must be able to project
how 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-analysis
tools into the departmental skill set
Understanding the influences of audience perceptions
of a company and what changes the company can implement
to spur positive action, such as investing in or purchasing
from the company, are fundamental to any strong and effec-

viewed as a critical component in decision-making process- tive strategic PR program.

es. Instead of simply offering counsel when requested, the In current PR practice, professionals search for correla-
PR team should be a valuable resource that is engaged at the tions and analyze data to determine how messaging and tac-

THE STRATEGIST/FALL 2008 PAGE 34

 LEADERSHIP
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 say
would actually increase their purchase intent. PR profession-
als could then use this research to recommend specific actions
to positively impact audience perceptions or to gauge how
actions recommended by other departments would have an
impact on audience perception and actions. The latter can be
likened to a lawyer providing legal counsel or an accountant
similarly offering tax advice. A company’s PR team should
always be positioned to provide insight about the reputation
implications of any suggested action or have the ability to con-
tribute suggestions themselves.
Skills in areas including risk management, opinion
research and business analysis, which are critical to active PR
management, are in short supply. Not only do too few have
these skills, but the profession also underestimates its need for
these skills. It’s easy to find a PR department searching for
someone with media contacts. One is far less likely to find one
searching for someone with risk-management and opinion-
research analysis skills.
Politics is one domain in which such tools and strategies
are hard at work and highly valued. Politicians keep pollsters
around precisely because pollsters provide critical informa-
tion about what people are thinking, what influences their
thinking and what needs to be said. Pollsters can then follow
up, finding out if the program changes worked. Campaign
managers don’t read clip books; they read survey results.
CEOs may get clip books with fancy graphs, but those don’t
provide the bottom line — which is whether we effectively
altered opinions.
2. Change from PR-specific language to high-level
business language
A company’s executive leadership is interested in how
reputation drives bottom-line metrics, including sales and val-
uation. While the PR function may drive these metrics on a
daily basis, PR language doesn’t always make that clear.
Switching from PR to business language can both
increase the company’s understanding of the importance of the
PR function and elevate the level of counsel itself. Instead of
just talking about brand and corporate reputation, talk about
reputation risk management and economic value. For pro-
gramming, it’s about the reputation impact of business moves
as well as the risk and economic values of that impact. When it
comes to measurement, metrics should focus on audience opin-
ion surveys with an emphasis on the opinions that impact the
THE STRATEGIST/FALL 2008 PAGE 35
bottom line most. This information can also concretely demon-
strate how output like media coverage can drive audience
opinions. The important point is that PR professionals should
be speaking at the same level at which the senior management
team 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-run
business.
This strategic move can be accomplished in two stages.
First, counsel should address how business moves will impact
reputation. Not only should PR professionals indicate how
specific business moves affect opinion, but they should also
recommend alternative moves. Instead of simply showing how
cutting customer service will negatively impact consumer
opinions, counsel should suggest strategies such as improving
customer-service scripts and lowering online response times
to 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 example
above, this would mean not only measuring communication
around the changes in customer service but also explaining
how additional changes in customer service could continue to
impact 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 result
of a combination of business decisions and communication.
They’ll also realize that the job of the PR department is to
watch, recommend and manage the company’s reputation at
the 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 communications
role. PR practitioners can truly take charge of a company’s
reputation and prove their program’s economic value. 
Ephraim Cohen is executive director of leadership
strategy at MWW Group as well as the principal con-
sultant of the communications consulting firm Fortex
Group. His articles and posts can be found at the Seat
at the Table blog.