As you look over your marketing plan for 2026, you are probably asking yourself questions like “Are we spending enough, or are we spending too much?” and “Are we presenting ourselves in the best manner possible?”

If there was an easy answer to those questions, marketing would be easy.

But the reality is that coming up with a plan that makes your marketing dollars work as efficiently as possible is hard work.

A marketing plan is based on a keen understanding of your product or service and the most effective way to reach folks who have need of what you are selling…or to create a need for what you are selling.

The notion of ‘effective levels of communication’

The idea of “effective levels of communication” is one of those vague terms that marketing folks love to toss out in client meetings, particularly advertising folks, who are constantly compelled to justify how much you are paying for costly advertising expenditures.

When one’s level of advertising spending is questioned, the counterargument is often something like “Well, if you cut back, you will fall short of ‘effective levels of communication.’”

That sounds pretty threatening…and generally results in leaving spending alone or even kicking in a few more dollars to ensure those hard-to-see levels of communication are reached.

So, what are effective levels of communication?

At this point, you are may be frustrated by your inability to fully understand just what effective levels of communication are, what you have to do to achieve them, and how much they are going to cost you.

In esoteric terms, effective levels of communication are achieved when your message not only reaches your intended target, but is remembered, understood, and influences whatever behavior you are seeking from your target.

In plain English, it means that you are reaching your target with enough marketing “oomph” to be clearly understood and remembered to the point that your audience is sufficiently motivated to buy whatever you are selling.

Where does public relations fit into effective levels of communication?

Public relations is a part of an overall marketing approach to reaching those nebulous effective communication levels.

PR, by itself, cannot serve as a substitute for advertising, promotion, and sales.

In combination with those marketing tools, however, PR is a powerful tool for:

• Gaining recognition for your business
• Underscoring the trust people can have in you and your organization
• Breaking through the clutter of the thousands of advertising messages people experience daily

What if there was a way to gain the advantage of a less-costly PR staffer AND the services of a qualified PR firm?

Make sure PR is part of your fight to reach effective communication levels

If your marketing budget is squeezed, take a second look at your marketing plan and look for a way to include PR, which may provide you a new, previously overlooked or unused weapon in the battle for people’s attention.

PR is considerably less costly that the other marketing disciplines. And when it works well, the payback in terms of reaching those mythical levels of communication can be substantial.

If you want to learn more about how much a start-up PR program would cost, pick up the phone or shoot and email to Wellons Communications. We will be eager to share more about how an injection of PR can boost your marketing plan and give you a candid assessment of where it might fit into your marketing mix.

Contact us at 407-339-0879 or will@wellonscommunications.com … we are ready to hear from you.