Insights

The Mid-Year Communications Checkup: 5 Questions Every Organization Should Ask

By Alexia Rose

Communication strategies aren't set-and-forget. Here's how to evaluate what's working, identify gaps and prepare for the second half of the year.

As organizations reach the midpoint of the year, communication teams often find themselves balancing two priorities at once: evaluating what has worked so far and preparing for what comes next. Fall campaigns, budget discussions, strategic planning and year-end reporting are all closer than they seem. Communication is not static. Taking time for a mid-year communications checkup can help identify gaps and ensure your efforts remain aligned with your goals.

Here are five questions every organization should ask.

1. Are we reaching the right media contacts?

Newsrooms change constantly. Reporters shift beats, outlets restructure coverage areas and new publications emerge while others quietly disappear. A media list that was accurate six months ago may already be outdated. Mid-year is a good time to review key contacts and ask a few simple questions:

Are reporters still covering this topic?
Are there emerging outlets, newsletters or niche publications shaping the conversation?
Are there new journalists worth building relationships with?

Updating media lists is not just administrative work. It helps ensure your stories reach the right audiences when news breaks and prevents pitches from landing in inboxes that have not covered your issue in years. Journalist are inundated with too many emails. Sending a journalist the wrong beat could harm your future pitches.

2. Are our communication materials still accurate?

Most organizations accumulate communication materials the same way closets accumulate storage bins. Over time, multiple versions of documents appear, statistics become outdated and teams are no longer certain which materials are current.

One day someone is referencing a fact sheet from 2019. Someone else is using a messaging document from last year. Meanwhile, the website says something slightly different than both. Before planning accelerates in the second half of the year, review the resources your team relies on every day, including:

Messaging documents and talking points
Boilerplate language and organizational descriptions
Fact sheets and backgrounders
Website resources and blog posts
Media kits and press pages

Look for outdated information, inconsistent language and duplicate materials. Cleaning this up reduces confusion internally and leads to a more efficient workplace. Plus, there is a new GEO bonus. Consistent and well-maintained content helps AI search engines. Keep your data up to date and have it in multiple locations.

3. Where are communication breakdowns happening?

Today's workplace spans multiple generations, communication preferences and technology platforms. Some employees prefer email. Others rely heavily on messaging platforms. Some want detailed updates while others prefer quick summaries, and some generations might even assume you hate them with the use of an ellipses… nothing is wrong, but unclear expectations can create unnecessary friction. Ask your team:

Are response time expectations clear (EOD 11:59 pm or EOBD 5:00 pm?)
Do employees understand when to use email versus messaging platforms?
Are meeting outcomes being documented consistently?
Do your teams or newer employees even feel empowered to make decisions?

Think of it as the workplace equivalent of every rom-com ever made. Most problems could be solved if everyone simply agreed on how and when information should be shared.

4. Are our communication efforts supporting our goals?

The halfway point of the year is one of the most valuable moments to evaluate communication performance. By now, organizations have enough data to identify trends, adjust tactics and refocus resources before year-end goals. Ask your team:

Are we focused on awareness, reputation or policy influence?
Are we measuring the right indicators of success?
Have organizational priorities shifted since January?
What do we want stakeholders to remember about us by the end of the year?

It is easy to fall into a routine of producing content, sending pitches and maintaining channels without stepping back to evaluate whether those activities are producing meaningful outcomes. Even the most organized communication strategy will struggle if it is not aligned with current organizational priorities.

5. Can people and AI understand your organization?

AI-powered search tools continue changing how people discover information and organizations need to think beyond traditional search engine optimization. Recent research analyzing more than 25 million AI citations found that approximately 84% of citations come from earned media sources, while journalism alone accounts for roughly 27% of all citations. More than half of journalism citations came from content published within the previous 12 months.

That means the information AI uses to understand your organization is increasingly shaped by the same earned media, third-party validation and digital content that communications teams have been building for years.

The good news is that many of the practices that strengthen traditional communications also strengthen AI visibility. In many ways, good communications has become good AI optimization. Remember to check:

Is information about our organization easy to find and understand?
Are our programs and services described consistently across multiple platforms?
Are we regularly contributing fresh content and thought leadership?

Organizations invest significant effort developing communication strategies but often spend far less time maintaining them. A mid-year checkup is only as valuable as what comes next and Inspire partners with organizations every day to turn communications insight into measurable success. Connect to learn more.