UGOCHUKWU UGWUANYI
Unlike the physical sciences, where 2 + 2 always equals 4, that’s not a given in public relations. This explains why the parent faculty – mass communication – is domiciled in the humanities or social sciences, not the biological or physical sciences. While natural science is formulaic and predictable, the art, where PR also belongs, is variable. As the former deals with what lacks a mind of their own, the latter interacts with beings who are strong-willed and unpredictable in their ways.
In other words, while scientific research can be controlled through test tubes and laboratories, social experiments don’t lend themselves to such manipulations. For there to be an equation of the fractions, therefore, messaging must level up, taking audience perplexities and complexities into consideration every step of the way. Trust is earned, not plucked. Perception is engineered, not imposed. Credibility is conferred, not commandeered. Goodwill is consequential, not graciously given. As such, the hypodermic needle theory may find expression in other genres of mass communication, but definitely not public relations!
Output versus Outcome
As it were, output can be likened to when a projectile strikes the bull’s face, chest, or misses the animal entirely. Outcome, on the other hand, is when a thrown object hits the bull’s eye. It’s the slam dunk! For golfers, you can think of output as a lip-out and outcome as the birdie. As the saying goes, “Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades”. The successful campaign is the one with an outcome, not just an output. Granted that output guarantees brand amplification (with noise sometimes embedded), outcome delivers much more in terms of stronger relationships, warmer sales conversations, better referrals, increased trust, and opportunities that would never have otherwise existed.
Outcome shapes perception, builds credibility, and instigates trust long before someone is ready to buy, partner, invest, or advocate. Outcome is of such importance in PR that it featured in the discipline’s updated definition by PRCA, thus: “Public relations is the strategic management discipline that builds trust, enhances reputation and helps leaders interpret complexity and manage volatility – delivering measurable outcomes including stakeholder confidence, long-term value creation and commercial growth.”
At its core, public relations concerns itself with the poser: How does the world understand and interpret what you do? Messaging, which falls under “what you do,” is the output, whereas “interpretation” (what people do with the information) is the outcome. This is synonymous with results that manifest as stakeholder confidence and authority-building, topical relevance, and long-term value creation through enhanced brand perception and commercial scalability.
Output-outcome divergence is when the message purveyed by public relations isn’t what the audience needs to hear. Influence and impact are engineered when public relations reads the room, studies cultural movements, and strategically cinches messaging with actionable insights harnessed from social listening. It is for the sake of outcome, not output, that PR is a deliberate endeavour, not one that is left to chance. Communications is objective-driven; hence, strategies are designed, messages crafted, narratives built, stakeholders engaged, and campaigns executed to authentically resonate with the people these activities are meant to influence.
Meaning over Messaging
Successful public relations activities have always turned ideas, innovations, and identities into narratives people could relate to and trust because they pack meaning. For a long time, public relations has been misconstrued as visibility, media coverage, events, and ‘noise’. In reality, however, PR is not about saying more but saying the right things to the right people at the right time and through the right channel.
How it works is: One brand. One narrative. One story that holds across every touchpoint towards supporting a unified purpose. Everything to be said must support the organisation’s core mission and “Why.” The same language, tone, and values must also be used across all platforms to build trust and avoid confusion. In the highly competitive business environment, success is not only about what is best but also what is best communicated.
Brands and businesses must not be so bent on what they want to say that they forget what their audiences need to hear. The most successful PR campaigns are not the ones that shout the loudest but the activities that are genuinely relevant and emotionally connect with target audiences. Every message must have intent, with every channel strategically chosen to enhance this meaning in the audience. This is in keeping with “The medium is the message” concept coined by Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan in 1964.
Placing messaging over meaning is tantamount to regarding visibility over value or promotion over connection. The role of the communication professionals is not merely to communicate organisational intentions but to create content, experiences, and engagements that naturally advance those intentions. When meaning is so prioritised over messaging, output seamlessly elicits outcome. And the best PR is the kind with an outcome that feels natural, not manufactured.
From the discussions so far, we can approximate messaging as the output, while meaning/connection is the outcome.
PR should sit in the Boardroom, not the Newsroom
Business leaders have got to stop treating public relations as an afterthought, that is, if they care more about the outcome than output. PR and communications shouldn’t function like the press that reports or explains decisions after they have been made, but a department that determines whether those decisions can hold. Inviting the public relations team after the fact reduces the department to a mere newsroom rather than the critical arm of business that it should be.
Without PR, even the most valuable work will remain unnoticed or misunderstood. The fact that public relations defines objectives, understands audiences, crafts messages, and anticipates/mitigates risks should earn the strategic discipline a seat at the table. After all, the discipline rallies the troops who will influence how people think, feel, and talk about the brand when its human resources are not in the room.
No forward-thinking organisation relegates what builds trust, strengthens reputation, and turns visibility into long-term influence to the background. Trust and other outcomes aren’t just by-products of effective messaging (which is what you get with the newsroom approach), but built over time through consistency, transparency, and behaviour. PR must therefore remain in the boardroom to guide organisations through the delicate and intricate trajectory.
An organisation will be shooting itself in the foot by not carrying along the department that matches business goals with the needs of stakeholders, be they employees, customers, or partners. Corporate comms officials must be in boardrooms where decisions are made as trusted counsels and partners to leadership, helping executive directors untangle and interpret complexities for a multitude of audiences. Every resolution at important meetings must be weighed against their professional judgment, ethical counsel, stakeholder insights, and assessment of risk before it becomes a crisis.
All said, outcome matters more than output in public relations because it is the actual return on investment (ROI)!
Ugochukwu is a storyteller, branding strategist and media trainer, who can be reached via [email protected]
