KPIs are eating your braaaaaaiiiiiiins

Have we lost the art of creating things with intention? Or hear me out *gasp* for fun?

I see so many people and organisations feeling pressure to pump out content on a daily, weekly, monthly basis – all tightly algorithmed and templated and KPI’ed to grow “audience”.

I’ve lived it – walked into jobs where the comms team has a list of KPIs to hit. Produce 5 media releases a month, make 365 social media posts a year, get 200k website hits, create 10 videos a year, etc, etc.

And when I ask “Okay, but why is that the KPI? What’s the KPI meant to achieve?” I’ve gotten a blank stare and look of confusion. Or a vague reference to a “funnel”. Or “that’s what the CEO/board/funding body asked for”.

And those organisations have been hitting or surpassing those KPIs for years – their eNews goes out diligently every month. They put out a media release every time the CEO sneezes. They’ve got a big number of web hits to crow about.

So it feels like “success” – but is anything actually being achieved?

Here’s some of the comms KPIs that might be holding you back:

Your weekly/monthly/quarterly eNews

Firstly I’ll start by saying that email is still an incredibly effective tool. Having an “owned” audience you have direct access to can be invaluable.

But unfortunately I’ve seen a lot of KPI driven eNewsletters that exist purely to tick a box.

You probably receive 20 of them each month. Each department in the organisation gets their section of the “eNews” to write for every month. The manager of that department has a calendar reminder every month to write the “[Department name] update” – they get to an hour before the deadline and use ChatGPT to make sure their section isn’t empty this month. The newsletter blows up to 15 sections to feed the ego of every department manager because being in the eNews = status.

Repeat every month. Each department writes their section of the eNews because it’s a KPI.

But has anyone asked your email audiences if that’s what they actually want? Was any of the eNews written with an audience or a goal in mind? Are you just talking for the sake of talking?

You might have great open rates, but does anyone read past the 1st or second section?

An alternative to try: Email when you have something to say.

Do shorter, more targeted emails when you have something to say and when it’s relevant to your audiences. Segment your email list and email people about things that are directly relevant to them, their needs and their interests.

Audience “reach”

This one is related to a lot of crappy KPIs – web hits, social media followers, media hits, etc. Because big number = good, right?

But say you’re a non-profit dedicated to serving a particular community group – are your web hits, social media followers and media hits actually reaching your community group?

Would 10 phone calls directly to people in your community group achieve more actual outcomes than 10,000 web hits?

Are you spending so much time responding to members of the “general public” that you’re missing your target audiences?

An alternative to try: Don’t accept “the general public” as a KPI.

Set KPIs around your audiences and set KPIs based on quality and not quantity. Do you have the trust of your audiences? Are the people most in need aware of your services? Are you getting valuable and ethical donors that will stick by your charity? Are your messages influencing decision makers?

Focus on audiences that actually achieve your goals and produce outcomes for your organisation.

Make 20 [insert output here] a year

It could be videos. It could be briefing notes. It could be reports. It could be mail-outs. It could be position papers. It could be media releases.

And because it’s embedded in your KPIs, your organisation does them every year. There’s a schedule in place and you produce those things.

Did they achieve anything? Who knows! Because you’re setting targets on the outputs and not the outcomes.

Humans change all the time – good comms adapts with them. What worked 10 years ago won’t necessarily work now.

An alternative to try: Set challenges for your comms team around outcomes, not outputs.

Challenge your comms team to increase enquiries from people underrepresented in your service. Challenge your comms team to ensure your published resources are actually being used by your target audiences.

Don’t give them the output you want – give them the outcome you want.

Tap into their skills and knowledge of how to reach audiences – don’t embed an output into their KPIs that stops them using more effective tools or strategies.

Let your comms team create, collaborate and have fun

Too many people dread working with the comms team because of their crappy KPIs and pressure to hit them.

It leads to comms teams acting as a production line and “extracting” content from colleagues – not creating, not collaborating and not thinking about the audience at all.

But if you give your comms team outcomes to achieve – you can tap into their creativity.

You can tap into their knowledge, their collaborative abilities and their curiosity. You can help make working with the comms team fun and actually enjoyable for your staff and stakeholders.

Your comms team can help educate everyone in your organisation to communicate more effectively – not just be a cog in the machine.

Most importantly – you can achieve much more with your limited resources by giving your team flexibility to achieve outcomes and stop doing things that aren’t serving you anymore.

-JB

Hi, I’m JB – I’ve been working as a broadcaster, content maker and comms advisor for nearly 20 years. Aus Comms Guide is my newsletter to share comms tips for good people and good causes. Sign up on email at auscommsguide.com

Interesting stuff!

Totally addicted to bass

My old friend and colleague Tahlia Azaria gave me a mega-earworm this week by bringing up the old “backup CD” we had at SYN Media back in the day. If you’re wondering what the “backup CD” does at a radio station – it’s what plays when the link between the studio and transmitter goes down. And when you work at a community radio station that runs on the smell of an oily rag…it can be something you hear a lot.

A fun memory to look back on: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/melbourne-mornings/changing-tracks-tahlia/105600442

Essential services can’t outsource service to bots and online forms

A disappointing, but important read about the struggles First Nations communities are having accessing their superannuation. A good reminder that essential services can’t and shouldn’t cut humans out of their processes: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-23/report-superannuation-access-issues-first-nations-australians/105557598?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

But, nice to see some organisations are making good steps:

I did spot a post from another old friend Declan Kelly who has started working at the Connellan Airways Trust and it was nice to see their organisation (focused on outback communities) offer some alternative options for those who may not have access to reliable internet.

Check them out: https://www.connellanairwaystrust.org.au

Q&A

I’ve been a communications advisor in community broadcasting, community legal, financial counselling, consumer advocacy, climate science sectors and more for nearly 20 years.

I love love love mentoring early career comms professionals – so if you have any questions you’d like me to ponder for this newsletter send me an email to comms@jbau.com.au

Thanks for reading! I’m a Melbourne based comms consultant and media trainer – get in touch at jbau.com.au or comms@jbau.com.au