How to run your PR strategy audit

Prepare these inputs

You can complete the required fields quickly, but the recommended context produces a more specific and useful audit.

Select an organization and choose New Audit

1. 1. Sign in and open your dashboard.
2. 2. Select the organization from the top menu.
3. 3. Choose + New Audit.

The selected organization name and website are carried into the audit automatically. Choose Change in Step 1 if you selected the wrong organization.

Organization & Enterprise Context

Explain what the organization does, which business result PR should support, and whose perception or behaviour needs to change.

• Organization identity Required
  Confirm the selected name and website. Add a short description using: “We help [audience] achieve [result] through [offering].”
• Strategic outcome Required
  Choose the single business outcome the PR programme must support, such as revenue, reputation, investor perception, or employer branding.
• Primary stakeholder Required
  Choose one main group. This drives the audit's messages, channels, stakeholder analysis, and KPIs.
• Size and industry Required
  Used to calibrate recommendations and benchmarking. Choose the closest industry; use Other for a niche sector.
• Target markets Required
  Enter the countries or regions the communications programme must address, separated by commas.
• Recent crisis Required
  Choose Yes if recent negative coverage or a crisis should affect the diagnosis. If Yes, explain what happened and the current status.

Advanced inputs

Open Advanced Inputs to give the audit your current communications material.

• Key messaging Optional
  List up to five current messages, one per line. Use statements the organization is actually communicating.
• Official boilerplate Optional
  Paste the approved About Us paragraph from a recent press release.
• Campaign / product focus Optional
  Name the launch, campaign, or initiative that should receive extra attention in the recommendations.

When the required fields are complete, choose Next: Competitive.

Competitive Landscape

Add up to five organizations that provide useful context for positioning and benchmarking. This step is optional and can be skipped.

• Name or URL Optional
  A website URL gives the audit the clearest reference. Use the exact organization name if a URL is unavailable.
• Direct Competitor
  Competes for the same customers with a similar offer.
• Aspirational / Benchmark
  An organization whose reputation, communications, or market position you want to learn from.
• Emerging Threat
  A newer or adjacent competitor that could become more important.

Choose Next: Objectives, or use Skip this step when no useful competitors are available.

PR & Communication Objectives

Choose the outcomes the communications programme must deliver. You may select up to five, then rank the three most important.

• Objectives Required
  Select at least one objective, or enter a custom goal. Keep the selection focused rather than choosing every plausible outcome.
• Primary objective Required
  The most important communications result. It receives the strongest emphasis in recommendations, KPIs, and the roadmap.
• Secondary / tertiary Optional
  Rank additional priorities only when they genuinely matter.
• Custom goal Optional
  Add a measurable goal not covered by the list. Include the audience, desired change, and time period where possible.

Choose Next: Settings after confirming the ranking.

Report Configuration & Review

Add any final instructions, provide real baseline measurements where available, then verify the complete summary before creating the audit.

• Custom directions Optional
  State important constraints, audiences, regions, media priorities, exclusions, or evidence standards.
• White-label PDF Plan feature
  Removes PRstrategy.ai branding from the exported PDF. This changes export branding, not the analysis.
• Baseline metrics Recommended
  Add known values for website sessions, bounce rate, qualified leads, conversion, reviews, media mentions, LinkedIn followers, share of voice, domain authority, and brand sentiment.

Final check before submission

Read every section in the review summary. Use Back to correct anything inaccurate. Do not create the audit until the organization, strategy, objectives, competitors, and configuration all match your intended brief.

Choose Create Audit and follow its progress

1. 1Choose Create Audit once the final review is correct.
2. 2The app opens a progress page while the audit is queued and generated. You can return to the dashboard while it runs.
3. 3When complete, open the audit from the organization dashboard and review the overall diagnosis, category findings, evidence, gaps, and priority actions.
4. 4Use the report actions available on your plan to export, translate, generate a strategy, or run a future re-audit.

Re-Audit using the same settings

Use this option when the original brief is still correct and you want a fresh measurement for comparison. PRstrategy.ai copies the original organization, markets, objectives, competitors, configuration, and baselines into a new audit.

1. 1Open the completed audit from the organization dashboard.
2. 2Choose Audit Actions, then Re-Audit (Same Settings).
3. 3Check the company, URL, language, and competitors shown in the confirmation window.
4. 4Choose Yes, Re-Audit. A separate audit is created and the original remains unchanged.

Re-Audit with Changes

This option opens the same four-step audit form with the original answers already filled. Review every step, change only what is now different, and submit the revised brief as a new audit.

What to review on each step

• 1. Organization
  Update the description, strategic outcome, primary audience, company size, industry, markets, crisis status, messaging, boilerplate, or campaign focus.
• 2. Competitive
  Remove outdated competitors, add new ones, and correct each relationship type.
• 3. Objectives
  Change selected goals and re-rank the primary, secondary, and tertiary objectives. Revise the custom measurable goal if priorities or timing changed.
• 4. Configure
  Update language, report directions, white-label choice, and the latest baseline metrics. Check the final review summary before submission.

The new audit is linked to the original for future comparison, but the original report is preserved.

Generate your PR Strategy

Open a completed audit and choose Generate Your PR Strategy. The strategy uses the audit's primary objective, target market, audience, findings, and framework gaps as its foundation.

Strategy Depth

• Executive
  A concise, board-level overview. Choose this for senior leaders who need direction, priorities, and decisions without extensive implementation detail.
• Standard Default
  Balanced strategic depth and actionability. Suitable for most in-house communications teams and agency briefs.
• Advanced
  Comprehensive, consulting-grade detail. Choose this for complex organizations, multi-market programmes, or teams that need a deeper implementation framework.

Time Horizon

• 90 Days Default
  Focuses on quick wins, immediate priorities, and the first execution cycle.
• 6 Months
  Creates a medium-term strategic plan with enough time for campaigns, stakeholder development, and measurable movement.
• 12 Months
  Creates an annual communications roadmap for longer programmes, multiple campaigns, and phased measurement.

Tone

• Corporate
  Formal enterprise language for established companies, institutions, and governance-heavy environments.
• Consultative Default
  Advisory, insight-led language that explains the reasoning behind recommendations.
• Bold
  Provocative challenger-brand language for organizations seeking a more assertive market position.
• Board-Ready
  Executive briefing format designed for leadership, board, or client presentation.

Additional Context Optional

Add instructions that should shape the strategy but were not fully covered by the audit. Include focus areas, audience considerations, internal constraints, important dates, markets, channels, or exclusions.

Recommended Northstar settings

Standard depth · 6 Months · Consultative tone. This gives the communications team enough detail for launch planning while keeping the strategy practical and easy to present internally.

1. 1Confirm the read-only audit context at the top of the window.
2. 2Select the depth, time horizon, and tone that match the intended reader and execution period.
3. 3Add context only when it is accurate and materially changes the plan.
4. 4Choose Generate Strategy. The status page opens while the strategy is generated.