The 5-Step Communications Audit™.
The one thing we do better than anyone, and where every engagement begins.
You're operating in the most complex geopolitical communications environment in a generation. The leaders who win aren't just the ones with the best strategy, they're the ones who know how to communicate it, from the boardroom to the newsroom to the halls of government.
The 5-Step Communications Audit™ is where that work begins. Led by Marc A. Ross, the audit has guided senior leaders across the Fortune 1,000, private equity, founder-led companies, and government, including a former US cabinet official.
Think of it as your own private strategic communications director, focused entirely on you.
What the audit does.
The audit reviews your existing assets and tools, asks questions without bias toward any particular solution, and hands you a clear, actionable path forward. Not generic communications advice, a rigorous, structured process designed to align your communications with your strategic vision and equip you to execute with confidence.
It measures your communications against the E-STOCK Framework™, the proprietary six-part discipline behind every successful global business communications program: Event, Strategy, Tactics, Organization, Consistency, and Know-how.
Why an audit.
The audit establishes a baseline on the issues, players, and audiences shaping how your communications are understood by the people who matter most: boards, investors, employees, customers, regulators, journalists, and the public.
It draws on the three frameworks that form the Caracal operating system.
SIGNAL™ reads the world you operate in.
TWIN™ identifies the audiences that must move for your decisions to land.
E-STOCK™ turns the findings into a working communications program.
How it works.
Each step feeds the final E-STOCK score and the path forward.
Step 1 — Vision. We start where everything starts: your goals. We ask you to describe your strategic vision, how you differentiate, and what communications success actually looks like for you. How do you win in the marketplace? What makes you different? What's your strategy in ten words or fewer? This gives us a direct read on where you are, where you want to go, and what's standing in the way.
Minimum 120-minute conversation.
Step 2 — Personification. Communications without personality is noise. We run you through exercises to define the personality your communications should convey, and the arenas and vehicles that will carry it. If your communications were a famous actor, who? If they were a city, which one? These force clarity about the identity you're projecting, and that clarity shapes everything that follows.
Minimum 120-minute conversation.
Step 3 — Synthesis. We review the recordings, transcripts, and notes from the first two sessions and produce a working synthesis: where the gaps are, where the opportunities are, where the path forward runs. This is the step that turns conversation into defensible analysis.
One week of Caracal Global analysis.
Step 4 — Score + Grade. Using our proprietary 100-point system, we score your current communications against the six dimensions of E-STOCK: Event, Strategy, Tactics, Organization, Consistency, Know-how. You'll know exactly where you stand and where the gaps are.
One week to conduct the audit.
Step 5 — The path forward. We present our findings, identify the highest-impact opportunities, align them with your vision and communications personality, and match them against the realities of your tools, talent, staffing, commitment, and budget. You leave with a clear, sequenced strategy executable over 12, 24, and 36 months, with TWIN™ segmenting the audiences to win or neutralize and SIGNAL™ reading the environment those findings will land in.
Two-hour presentation.
Program details.
→ Location. We prefer an off-site first session, a museum, private club, or neutral setting that encourages open thinking. Your office or a video call will work, but off-site is better.
→ Duration. Roughly three hours on-site across the first two conversations, plus a two-hour path-forward presentation. Most audits are scheduled within 2–8 weeks, depending on season and schedule.
→ Deliverables. Audio recordings and printed transcripts from the first two sessions; a detailed, sequenced path-forward strategy executable over 12, 24, and 36 months; and a complimentary advance copy of the forthcoming E-STOCK book on publication.
→ Post-audit guidance. For three months after, Caracal Global stays accessible via up to three strategic touchpoints by phone or email, to pressure-test the path forward as you execute, not ongoing coaching.
Investment. From $20,000, with increased fees for additional engagements, research, and added complexity.
Three equal installments: one-third on confirmation (non-refundable), one-third three days before the first session, one-third three days before the final presentation.
Ready to build the communications foundation your strategy deserves?
Contact Marc Ross directly:
marc@caracal.global · +1 202 596 5270