Are you employing multiple communications tactics, but you’re not sure which activities are resonating with your target markets? Do you know how your core audiences perceive your company? Can you articulate the strengths and weaknesses of your current communications strategy? Are precious resources being allocated properly? 

In today’s competitive and turbulent communications environment, you are challenged with rethinking what you are doing, why you are doing it and how your communications strategy benefits your company. A Communications Audit is a method of research that addresses all of these issues and questions. 

FSR Ventures has a proven three-step process in conducting communications audits: preparation, participation and product. First, we gather information about your organization. We then review different defined scope areas including: Vision/Mission, Situational Assessment, Target Audiences, Messages and Product/Service Positioning. We conduct working meetings and interviews to expand our knowledge and understanding. And, in our final step, we review, test and assess all information to write a report. 

A Communications Audit helps to determine how your core audiences perceive your company. It helps define the relationship between an organization’s objectives and the communications methods used to promote those metrics. The final report provides real-life, executable recommendations to take your program to the next level.  But most importantly, a communications audit works to establish a benchmark.

What do your customers think is your strongest attribute? Do existing clients know about all of your product and service offerings? Do prospective customers have an opinion about your company? What gems of information can you reveal that you can turn into news? Let’s take an inside look and find out.

FSR Ventures leverages qualitative research techniques such as in-depth interviews to uncover company perceptions among target audiences. By design, interviews involve one-on-one discussions with participants for exploratory research purposes. The findings from these discussions are not statistically projectable to larger segments in the population because of the small sample size and non-random selection. However, the intent of qualitative research is to gain insights concerning the participants' attitudes, beliefs, motivations and behaviors. In-depth interviews indicate the "why" of people's behaviors and attitudes about a given issue.

Phone surveys, also qualitative due to sampling size, provides insight into a target audience’s attitudes and behaviors. A survey takes the temperature of an audience segment. As a result, this research tool might identify additional areas that need to be further examined.

Focus groups gather target audiences together to react to company product messaging, corporate image and more. These gatherings provide great insight into people’s perception of your company and products. Focus groups can be conducted in-person or online to gain a sampling of opinions that can be used to refine communications efforts.

Creating online polls and surveys to find out information which findings can be released as news is a creative and strategic strength of FSR Ventures. Media grabbing surveys can yield national coverage and further position you and your company as industry experts. Revealing trends and citing your company as the expert is a unique way to move beyond the traditional press release.

Informal, qualitative market research taps into your customers, prospects, key perception brokers and other audiences’ image of your company and products resulting with findings giving a roadmap for future marketing initiatives to further shape your image and position among these influencers.