Most organisations employ a PR company because they want to improve their profile with external audiences. However, there is another important audience that is often ignored - the internal audience.

Every employee from the receptionist to the managing director is a potential ambassador for your company - and a potential liability. Employees who are kept in the dark about the reasons for management decisions are likely to present very negative messages to the outside world, which could have a very damaging effect on your organisation's image.

Many companies only look at internal PR in times of crisis: when morale is at an all-time low, or redundancies are threatened. However, "stakeholder" PR should be part of your strategy in good times as well as bad.

Include internal PR within your agency brief, and why not undertake a culture audit to find out how people really feel about the company? Make the most of simple, in-house communication tools such as noticeboards, meetings and regular memos. All too often internal information is treated as an afterthought.

Ask yourself honestly if you can rely on employees telling friends, relations, customers and suppliers that you are a great company. If you can't, you have some serious internal communications work to do. To find out how The Partners Group can help, contact us.

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