Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

How To Justify Comms Costs & Have Its Measurements

Posted by Anonymous on 7/17/2008 at 5:25 AM ET 100 Points
Hi all, I just registered onto this forum and I think it’s great!

Our parent company decided to setup an HR Shared Services Centre (where I work) to support all the businesses under its corporate umbrella, so our ‘clients’ are under the same organization. We do not provide any services to external parties.

We are still in the middle of transition, with different entities going ‘live’ or ‘onboard’ with our services at different time line so the Communications is focusing on the intranet, road show sessions, quarterly newsletter (to the ‘Live’ clients), premiums (mugs, post-it notes…etc) and brochures.

I could detail out the target audience, purpose, messages and the time line of distribution or usage for each of the material but I’m stuck with how to measure the effectiveness of these materials. As the entities have already gone ‘Live’ and the senior management team puts more attention on the transition team and the operation team, I feel quite difficult to sustain and increase the value of communication once the operation and the transition teams are stabilized.

Materials:
• Mugs
• T Shirts
• Coasters
• Post it notes
• Lanyards
• Stickers
• Complimentary Info Cards
• Folder
• Brochure/Flyer
• Posters
• Intranet
• Video : for presentation on our company
• Road Show presentation slides

The materials were used with the Communication plan rolled out to the employees of the clients to make sure they got the appropriate messages and set the right expectations on the ‘change’ they’re going to face with payroll, updates of personal and general work information, training and recruitment functions.

Then, we’d still like to give out the free stuffs to the clients each year, updated brochure/flyer, quarterly newsletter, to have a professional video about our company…etc. But I need to sell the idea to the senior management that the spending (production, vendors, software) is a great investment along with some measurements in place.

I was an intern last year and my previous boss left at the end of last year. So this year I’ve been heading Communication and I’m looking for help and advices from experts in this area.

Please let me know if you need more information.

Thanks.

Dan
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 7/17/2008 at 9:36 AM Accepted
    You have a house "agency" as opposed to a full service one. There are great limitations as a house agency but I will not start to discuss it because it is not the point of your concern now.
    Saying the above, I assume you have some sort of employee satisfaction survey before you rolled the plan. If so, one way to measure the results is to follow up with another survey after the roll out. It will somehow show you the effectiveness of your communication plan.
    Another thing I would try to find out is the brand recognition and brand awareness your people have now and a tracking study let's say every year will show the changes. It is a long term process you are involved in now so short term results are no guarantee for a long term success.
  • Posted by melissa on 7/17/2008 at 4:49 PM Accepted
    Hi Dan,
    Assuming I'm understanding your question, it appears as though you are trying to justify the costs of that list of materials to your boss, by measuring the increased efficiency and productivity created by providing those items?

    If so, then the first thing I would do is eliminate the first 6 items from your list entirely. Mugs, coasters, notepads, etc. will not serve to encourage your team or make them any more productive, efficient, or satisfied in their work. Once you eliminate those costs, I would look strategically at each of the other materials listed, and determine what the employee would gain by having them in their possession. Most people are not too enthused by corporate videos, but if that is necessary to explain your corporate structure, then perhaps enlisting employees in the creation/production of a video would make sense? If you upload it to your intranet, you can also save on the production cost of DVD's and players, as well as provide a convenient way for viewers to watch, since they won't have to use a set meeting space.

    As far as posters, flyers, and an "on the road" video presentation, my suggestion to use is to use the savings from eliminating the above elements to hire a professional design or marketing company to develop, print, and deliver these elements to you. If you're looking for increased efficiency & productivity, with lower overall costs, this will help you save on both ends. The amount of time it will take you to develop these items, and possibly have to pay to have them redeveloped anyway if they are not done correctly the first time, is usually far more expensive than hiring a professional on a project basis.

    If you need more information, I'd be happy to discuss this with you further.

    Melissa
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