Size Doesn’t Matter: Clear Goals and a Strong Operating Model Drive PR Effectiveness

PR agency ITCOMMS has conducted the first-ever PR satisfaction study among IT companies in Central Asia. The research shows that PR performance is driven not by company size, but by how the PR function is structured and whether leadership and PR teams are aligned on goals. Where executives and PR work toward the same objectives, communications stop being a cost center and become a growth lever.

The Central Asian IT market is maturing. Amid rising interest in AI and an increasingly competitive attention economy, companies are learning to communicate not louder, but more precisely.

The findings are based on a survey of IT company executives, including CEOs and founders, chief commercial officers, heads of marketing and communications, and PR leaders.Geographically, the study primarily covers Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as other countries in the region.

Respondents were asked about:

PR function structure

Satisfaction with PR results

Alignment of goals and metrics with leadership

Budget dynamics and future plans

PR’s impact on business KPIs

Metrics used and key barriers to effectiveness

All scores below reflect average self-reported PR satisfaction on a 1–5 scale (1 = very dissatisfied, 5 = very satisfied).

Companies with a dedicated PR function consistently report higher satisfaction:

Hybrid model (in-house + agencies): ~3.7

Fully in-house PR: ~3.7

PR handled by marketing: ~3.5

No dedicated PR resources: ~2.5

The gap between having a PR function and not having one is about +1.3 points.

This indicates that scale of activity matters less than structure. Even a small, clearly defined PR setup (in-house plus contractors) delivers significantly better results than ad-hoc efforts or the absence of PR altogether.

The single most important success factor is alignment on goals and measurement.

Full alignment: average satisfaction ~4.5

Conflict or lack of shared language: ~2.0

This gap is larger than the impact of any individual PR tactic. Management alignment is the foundation of effective PR: first agree on goals and metrics, then choose channels and scale activities.

Company size alone does not make PR more effective.

At first glance, larger companies appear more satisfied. However, once PR structure and leadership alignment are accounted for, the size advantage disappears. In simple terms:

A smaller company with clear processes can easily outperform a larger one without them.

Investment grows where the PR function is already established:

Hybrid model: ~82% plan to increase PR budgets next year

PR within marketing: ~67%

No PR resources: ~29%

This reflects a maturity threshold: once a dedicated PR function exists, companies begin investing systematically.

Again, on a 1–5 scale:

1,000+ employees: ~3.8

However, this gradient is explained by PR maturity and alignment, not size.

Companies whose PR budgets grew last year report higher satisfaction (up to ~3.9).

Those with flat or reduced budgets score lower (~2.8–2.5).

Companies uncertain about next year’s budget rate their PR lowest (~2.6).

This shows that clarity and consistency matter: when PR is structured and investment is sustained, results improve. Uncertainty and budget freezes undermine effectiveness.

Real impact appears only where leadership and PR teams agree in advance on goals and how to measure them. Simply believing that PR influences KPIs is not enough.

More metrics do not mean better outcomes. What matters is relevance:

Fewer metrics tied to real business objectives (leads, sales, hiring)

Not long lists created for reporting’s sake

Kazakhstan, on average, demonstrates more mature PR practices:

More companies with dedicated PR resources

A higher average number of metrics

Higher satisfaction scores

The regional market is not uniform, and PR strategies should be adapted to country-specific contexts.