Our Approach

Step One: Where Are You Today?
Compared with the US or Western European business environment, a lot of the basic market and competitive data that you need is not readily available. Best’s first step is to research the marketplace for your products or services from a public relations point of view: what is your profile (if any)? What do the media and key stakeholders think about your sector? Which competitors (if any) matter, and what are their perceived strengths? This analysis provides you with a comparative Familiarity/Favourability Chart and an Interest/Influence Stakeholder Grid.

Step Two: Where Do You Want To Be?
You may have fixed your business objectives or they may develop as you find out more about the market environment. In either case, Best will propose media and stakeholder perception targets which will facilitate the achievement of your goals. These will be expressed in terms of quantitative and qualitative reputation assets which can be monitored and measured numerically according to an agreed timeframe.

Step Three: How Will You Get There?
The Best Communications Message/Audience Matrix gives an at-a-glance picture of the entire communications programme, with priorities, costs, milestones and methods. Reaching the key audiences with messages they will remember is the heart of the programme: this is where 13 years of local knowledge and a flair for original communications ideas play their part. Central & Eastern Europe is already awash with corporate and commercial communications: new ideas which are relevant, appropriate and engaging achieve rapid cut-through, saving both time and money.

Step Four: How Will We Know If It’s Working?
The only real test is income growth. Are you reaching sales targets when you planned to? Are PR-generated enquiries reducing your sales acquisition costs as expected? Are distribution channels ready to list your products? Are you receiving a co-operative attitude from central government and local authority officials?

PR does not stand alone – it is one component in your business growth strategy. Best has developed a series of checks which isolate the effect of PR in your overall commercial activity, and which show you – numerically – the contribution made by your investment in public relations and public affairs. Equally valuably, these checks tell us what could work better, so we can fine-tune the programme as it rolls out.

How to continue