Shhhhh! There are eyes everywhere, you know. Constantly watching, cataloguing and analysing. Nothing that appears in the media escapes their gaze.

Every time a word or name of a product relevant to them makes it on to the page of this newspaper, for instance, they know all about it.

And they make sure the people they represent know all about it too.

While the above illustration serves as a useful - if extreme - illustration of what goes on in the world of media intelligence, the truth is somewhat more prosaic.

In a competitive marketplace, most major companies are only too aware of the importance of understanding how they are perceived by others.

With this in mind, many employ the services of companies that can monitor the media for them and report back on any references relevant to their bottom line.

By providing clippings services, in print, broadcast and, to a lesser extent, from the internet, such companies allow their clients to keep up to date on what is happening in their specific market.

So how do such systems work - and just how important is it for a company to constantly monitor the media?

Michael Farrelly is the managing director of Media Market, a company which specialises in media intelligence in Ireland, the UK and elsewhere. His typical clients include Plc's, telecoms companies, financial institutions and semi-state agencies.

There are, he says, two sides to the service which his company provides. Firstly, by digitally capturing the output of all Irish media outlets, including national, regional and trade titles, as well as radio and television and some internet sites, it can search for references to its clients.

They can then receive e-mails, tailored specifically to their needs, summarising this content. at a set time each day.

Information can also be provided on their competitors, as well as about specific topics of interest to them.

"They get a website which, every morning, is updated with say 40-50 articles. An e-mail alert is sent to 40-50 senior executives in this company they can click on links and can access immediately what has been said," he explains. The other side to Media Market's work involves analysis and evaluation of that same media content.

This qualitative approach includes looking at the profile of the company or brand in the media, and whether it is positively or negatively received.

"Analysis and evaluation has very little to do with how much coverage they have received," he explains. "It is feeding back into a company's planning process. It allows them to set communications objectives, based on previous campaigns so it allows the strategy to be tailored." Other areas where this can come in useful is in analysing the effectiveness of a particular campaign, as a research tool for executives if they are going to meet their clients, and in identifying trends, Mr Farrelly adds.

In this way, he says, his clients can also build up a useful picture of their corporate profile in the media - and that of their competitors.

According to Ed McDonald of the Marketing Institute of Ireland, information such as that provided by Media Market can be crucial for a company. While much depends on the quality of the information provided, it can represent an opportunity for it to gain different, even negative, insights into their business.

"(Particularly) for bigger companies who get their own name mentioned very often, they might get a perspective they don't want to hear. Very often if there are negative comments it can be a learning process," he explains.

Smaller companies in particular frequently don't pay enough attention to what their competitors are doing, he says. So to be able to get that kind of information through services like Media Market's can be very useful, once it is cost effective.

"I think is hugely important that people always look for information about themselves and their competitors - and about alternatives or trends. I'm not concerned with a company coming back to me saying there were 27 mentions about you in the media this week, though. You need to know what it is. If not, then you have to ask what are you paying for?"

From a public relations perspective, the reputation of a company or brand can to a large extent be formed by how it is portrayed in the media, says Sharon Plunkett, managing director of Plunkett Communications.

As a result, she says it is vital that companies monitor this either themselves or through employing the services of others.

"Media monitoring can help in assessing effectiveness. The key is to define key messages and then monitor them. But there is no secret formula for media coverage," she explains.

"Certain clients would have certain weightings against those messages. They would tend to employ a specialist in that area, who would weight it and analyse it. Then they would compare it against their competitors. You need to know what they're saying, and what level of coverage they're getting." Anybody who is serious in business would look at their coverage in the media, she adds. If not, it is likely that their competitiveness might suffer, as they are not analysing how they are being portrayed to prospective customers.

"If they don't do any media monitoring, then there is no way of telling what is being said about them," she explains. "In turn, how do they know how they are being perceived?"

www.mediamarket.ie www.mii.ie