Hi!

In July, T2B tackled a challenge we all know well: proving the value of our communications work when resources are tight and leadership is watching.

During our monthly Comm Convo, we talked about the moments when dashboards and clip counts alone don't suffice, and how to tell the bigger story around the impact we create. From translating our work into language that resonates with leadership to finding the “so what” behind the numbers, the session was packed with practical tips for proving comms matters.

Our top 10 takeaways:

1. Think “return on capital,” not ROI. Include human hours and effort alongside monetary spend when tracking work. Traditional money-in, money-out calculations rarely capture our value.

2. Speak leadership’s language. Swap "100 media stories" for "30% awareness increase among C-suite target audience" to resonate with leadership priorities.

3. Set baselines before launching initiatives. To showcase the positive change communications creates over time, measure reputation, influence, and relationship scores before launching a campaign.

4. Use the "what, so what, now what" framework. Move beyond data dumps to share insights and recommendations for next steps (think forward-looking).

5. Tell the story between the numbers. Pair hard metrics like sentiment tracking and message pull-through with a narrative around what’s happening between the numbers.

6. Measure key relationships. Assign scores to stakeholder relationships and track improvements as a tangible indicator of impact.

7. Engage your internal network early. Pulling in cross-functional partners from the start ensures buy-in and shared success.

8. Help other teams shine. Support HR in improving Glassdoor ratings, or help sales teams win RFPs to earn internal advocates.

9. Build trust before the crisis. Ongoing reputation work and expert voice amplification can act as insurance against future crises.

10. Use AI to scenario plan and demonstrate value retroactively. AI can simulate potential crisis outcomes without comms interventions, or show leadership what might have happened if comms hadn’t stepped in.

This session was a great reminder that demonstrating the value of our function is about making our impact more visible to the teams we support. I left feeling energized both about the future of our work and the strength of this community, and I hope you did, too!

If you missed July’s Comm Convo (or want to rewatch!) the replay is available for T2B Pro and Student members:

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for our next Comm Convo on August 19th, where we’ll dive into strategies to help comms teams weather today’s storms of restructuring and tight budgets.

Lynnea

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