Slava
Balykov
I have worked in PR, media and corporate communications for 15 years across technology, financial services and telecoms.
My work has included international media programmes, launches, executive communications, mergers, reputation risk and crisis response.
Working across those roles taught me to look beyond the brief itself and focus on what would make the communication work in practice. That might mean narrowing a claim because the evidence does not support it, rebuilding a story before a launch, making better use of material already inside the organisation, or changing how decisions are made when pressure arrives.
The diagnosis only matters if it leads to a practical next step. That way of working became the basis for the systems on this site.
How I work
I like to understand what an organisation is trying to achieve before deciding what the communications work should look like.
That means examining the story it wants to tell, the evidence behind it and the people it needs to reach. I also pay attention to what the organisation already has available, because useful research, expertise or opportunities can be overlooked when teams focus on their immediate priorities.
The work can involve assessing the current approach, developing something new or improving a programme that’s already running. I use the methods on this site to bring structure to those decisions and help turn the findings into practical work.
Writing and conversations
I write about PR, reputation, communications decisions and the changing ways people find and evaluate information.
I’m a member of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (MPRII) and have contributed to professional conversations including the On Top of PR podcast.
Based in Cork, Ireland.