Sinickas shines at comms’ network meet-up

By Kelly Dyer, Editor of Strategic Communication Management, Melcrum

Angela Sinickas was the star of Melcrum’s communicators’ network London group meeting held earlier this week. The research and measurement guru gave an informal talk on the subject of calculating ROI from communications during her brief European visit.

Angela had approached the group’s organizer, Matt O’Neill, asking if she could come along whilst in town and was told “yes, but only if you facilitate the meeting!” Over 30 members gathered to hear Angela’s wisdom on the subject.

It seems that the need to prove the ROI that communication brings has never been so pressing. One participant revealed to the group that a sales colleague had come to her internal comms department asking that they send out a parcel for him. When asked why he felt the internal comms department should be responsible for this, he replied “That’s what you do isn’t it? Send stuff out?” Oh dear. I can imagine where his parcel ended up…

As well as running through the maths behind calculating ROI, Angela made it clear that sometimes specifics aren’t necessary. “It doesn’t have to be ROI, just having the right attitude will help”. This was illustrated with an example of an internal comms practitioner known to Angela, who, by asking the correct questions in a survey, had been able to ascertain that 94% of sales people within her organization believed that reading the employee magazine helped increase their knowledge of the organization, which in turn helped when speaking to clients. This was a direct connection to profit and upon hearing this, senior managers immediately decided not to cut the magazine’s budget.

Angela also had advice for those in the public sector wanting to calculate their comms ROI, which she admitted could be trickier than for the private sector: “To make it work in the public sector, be more creative and be prepared to think broadly – the ROI may not be seen in your specific area, but it will be seen.”

The London group's next meeting will be in April, but the location has yet to be decided. For more information on joining this group, or one of the many others, please click here.