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PR: Focus on What Matters!
Sure, as a manager, you have a talented member
of the PR team assigned to your department, division or subsidiary, or
housed at your agency, and s/he is darn good at placing product and service
plugs on radio and in the newspaper. Which may be all you want. And
that's fine.
Unfortunately, when your PR folks concentrate
primarily on tactical fixes like publicity placements, at least be aware
of what you are NOT getting.
You don't get a comprehensive effort that
persuades those important outside folks to your way of thinking, then
moves them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary
succeed.
You don't get the use of the high-impact, fundamental premise
of public relations to deliver external stakeholder behavior change –
the kind that leads directly to achieving your managerial
objectives.
And you don't get the creative potential of your assigned
PR team needed to positively impact the behaviors of the very outside
audiences that MOST affect your business, non-profit or
association.
That's a fair amount NOT to be getting!
It certainly
doesn't sound like the best use of your public
relations resources, but it's
fixable. In which case, you might
begin to see results such as prospects
starting to do business
with you; fresh proposals for strategic alliances
and joint
ventures; membership applications on the rise; customers
starting to make repeat purchases; capital givers or specifying
sources
starting to look your way, community leaders beginning to seek you out;
welcome bounces in show room visits; politicians and legislators starting to
view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association
communities, and even higher employee retention rates.
From Day 1,
you have to get the public relations people
assigned to your unit on board.
Make certain they all accept the realities that it's vitally important to
know how your outside audiences perceive your operations, products or
services. And that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can hurt
your unit.
Get your team involved in plans for monitoring and
gathering
perceptions by questioning members of your most important
outside audiences. Questions like these: how much do you know about our
organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with
the interchange? How much do you know about our services or products and
employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or
procedures?
After all, your PR people are in the perception and
behavior
business to begin with, so they can be of real use for this
opinion monitoring project. Professional survey firms are always
available, but that can be very expensive. But whether it's your people or a
survey firm who asks the questions, your objective is to identify untruths,
false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, and misconceptions
.
Then you must decide which of the above troubles rate
designation as
your corrective public relations goal – for example, clarify the
misconception, spike that rumor, correct the false assumption or fix a
certain inaccuracy.
In the same way soy sauce goes with stir fry, the
right PR
strategy tells you how to reach your goal. But just three
strategies are available in matters of perception and opinion -- change
existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce
it. But be sure your new strategy is a natural fit with your new public
relations goal.
When you finally have the chance to address your key
stakeholder audience to help persuade them to your way of thinking, what
will you say?
Here's where a talented writer earns his or her keep
because s/he must put together some very special, corrective language.
Words that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and
factual if they are to shift perception/opinion towards your point of view
and lead to the behaviors you have in mind.
Now the job gets easier –
select communications tactics to carry your message to the attention of your
target audience. Making certain that the tactics you select have a
record of reaching folks like your audience members, you can pick from
dozens that are available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and
brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal
meetings and many others.
As the method of communication can affect
the credibility of the message, you may wish to deliver it in small meetings
or presentations rather than through high-visibility media
announcements.
Questions will soon surface as to progress. And that
will require
a second perception monitoring session with members of your
external audience. Employing many of the same questions used
in the
first benchmark session, you will now be watching
carefully for signs that
the offending perception is being altered
in your direction.
In this
business, we're fortunate that efforts such as this can be accelerated by
adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies,
if deemed necessary.
We're also fortunate that the people we deal with
behave like
everyone else – they act upon their perceptions of the facts
they hear about us and our operations. Which leaves us little choice but
to deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions by doing what is
necessary to reach and move our key external audiences to action.
So,
in the proverbial nutshell, here you have a workable public
relations
blueprint that can help you persuade your most
important outside
stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that
leads to the success of your department, division or subsidiary.
end
Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and
association managers about using the fundamental premise of public
relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR,
Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport
News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi-cations, U.S.
Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White
House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major
in public relations.
mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com
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