Organisations with arcane objectives need to be articulate. The same goes for those with deeply technical products. This requires the twin gifts of understanding and communication. From geographic information systems and rubber compound components to clean coal and operating software, hopwood provides support as clients ameliorate the world in a minute way.

It is a fiction that no-one likes change. But when businesses make change, they should expect someone will object, perhaps vociferously. External changes - especially those that relate to big media issues such as the environment - can attract seriously damaging flak. Planning to contain, if not avoid, conflict makes sound sense. Within the organisation, failure to communicate even minor developments can cause a negative response. This looks especially profligate when a little effort could have the opposite effect (see below).

Businesses invest in design, customer service and quality because they want to evoke a specified response. Sometimes, this is pronounced in a grand vision statement, a Pollyanna vista of corporate responsibility and achievement. The way companies really appear to the outside world can be astonishingly different. Just as an individual is both who he is and who he is perceived to be, true corporate identity is a reflection. And what is true for an organisation and a person is also true for a brand. We take an outsider's view and conduct research to present a true picture. By comparing the reflection with the vision, we see the distortion. This is where effective communication will straighten out the picture. Mark Wood, a corporate philosopher, says, "When the people see you as you want to be, you have no choice but to make the image corporeal." Now the vision statement is a mirror.

PR is a powerful staff motivator. Build a pyramid of communication lines within the company and successful media campaigns have a morale-boosting effect on the entire staff.

As much as 40 per cent of PR activity is aimed at employee relations. By placing cuttings on a bulletin board or in binders for employees and visitors to browse through, PR works twice.

The marketing circle is complete when PR is employed as a subsidiary ingredient of direct marketing. For some companies, the greatest value of media coverage is mailing cuttings (with the appropriate copyright clearance) to customers and prospects.