Communication professionals in the financial sector must move beyond intuition and experience and adopt research, analytics and measurable outcomes if they are to protect trust and sustain their businesses.
This was the central message of a webinar on data-driven public relations and business sustainability in investment banks, hosted by Mr Victor Adaha as part of the Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) Project Based Internship (PBI) Programme.
Delivering the keynote address, the Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Lagos State Chapter, Dr Samuel Ayetutu described trust as the primary product investment banks sell, and positioned PR as the function responsible for building credibility and confidence.
Ayetutu urged finance communicators to be “intelligent communicators” who base decisions on data rather than intuition.
His presentation rested on three pillars: trust, data as a predictive tool, and the need for data-literate communicators.
Ayetutu defined data-driven PR as public relations guided by facts, analysis, and data to inform strategy, implementation, and evaluation.
Executive Director, Minds & Brains Media & Events Limited, Mr Olalekan Otun, another speaker, outlined five ways data-driven PR supports sustainability in investment banks: strengthening investor confidence through stakeholder surveys, feedback analysis, and stakeholder mapping to identify concerns about transparency and governance.
Otun added, “Supporting ESG responsibilities with verifiable sustainability performance and guarding against greenwashing.”
He opined that Data PR, “Reinforces strategic management and excellence theory by positioning PR as a source of intelligence for organisational decision-making.”