A Great Way to Do PR

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Robert A. Kelly © 2004.

A Great Way to Do PR

As a business, non-profit or association manager trying to
get a bang for your PR buck, you could pretty much
concentrate on simple print and broadcast mentions or, for
that matter, the whole basket of tactical public relations
weaponry including old favorites like high-visibility speech
appearances and newsworthy special events.

But if you really want premium public relations results, you
must use a broader, more comprehensive and workable
public relations blueprint to alter your key, external audience
perceptions – perceptions that lead to the changed behaviors
you’ll need to reach your managerial goals.

In short, you had best take steps to persuade those key
external stakeholders with the greatest impacts on your
organization to your way of thinking, then move them to
take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary
succeed.

The PR blueprint is the best place to start: people act on
their own perception of the facts before them, which
leads to predictable behaviors about which something can
be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion
by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the
very people whose behaviors affect the organization the
most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Publicity tactics, of course, have their role in the blueprint,
but they are not the be-all or end-all of the public relations
plan, nor should they be.

Savor for a moment premium results like those mentioned
above. Prospects starting to do business with you, and
customers starting to make repeat purchases; fresh proposals
for strategic alliances and joint ventures; welcome bounces
in show room visits; rising membership applications, and
community leaders beginning to seek you out; new
approaches by capital givers and specifying sources, not to
mention politicians and legislators viewing you as a key
member of the business, non-profit or association communities

But who will do the work such results demand? People
assigned by the corporate office to your unit? Possibly
your full-time public relations staff? Or even an outside
PR agency team? No matter who they are, they must
be committed to you, to the PR blueprint and to its
implementation, starting with key audience perception
monitoring.

Sad to say, simply because someone describes him/herself
as a public relations person doesn’t mean they’ve
accepted PR as you understand it. So by all means make
certain the public relations people assigned to your unit
honestly believe why it’s SO important to know
how your most important outside audiences perceive your
operations, products or services. Make sure they accept the
reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that
can help or hurt your unit.

Sharpen your plan – your blueprint -- for monitoring and
gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most
important outside audiences. Questions like these: how much
do you know about us? Have you met our chief executive or
other senior managers? Have you had other contacts with our
staff 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?

Use professional survey firms in the perception monitoring
phases of your program if you can afford them. But your PR
people are also in the perception and behavior business and can
pursue the same objective: identify untruths, false assumptions,
unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other
negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Here, it’s time to establish your PR goal, one that aims to do
something about the worst distortions you turned up during
your key audience perception monitoring. It could be to
straighten out that dangerous misconception, correct that
gross inaccuracy, or stop that potentially fatal rumor dead
in its tracks.

Now, with the PR goal established, select the right strategy,
one that tells you how to proceed. But keep in mind that there
are only three strategic options available to you when it
comes to handling a perception and opinion challenge.
Change existing perception, create perception where there
may be none, or reinforce it. Since the wrong strategy pick
will taste like onion gravy on your raspberries, be certain the
new strategy fits comfortably with your new public relations
goal. You don’t want to select “change” when the facts
dictate a “reinforce” strategy.

With that homework complete, prepare a clear message and
aim it at members of your target audience. Because crafting
action-forcing language to persuade an audience to your way
of thinking is hard work, you need your best writer because
s/he must create some very special, corrective language.
Words that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable,
but clear and factual if they are to correct something and shift perception/opinion towards your point of view leading to the
behaviors you are targeting.

Run it by your PR team for impact and persuasiveness.
Then, select the communications tactics most likely to carry
your message to the attention of your target audience. 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. But be sure that the tactics you pick are known to
reach folks just like your audience members.

Rather than using higher-profile news releases, since a
message is often dependent for its credibility on the means
used to deliver it, you may decide to unveil it before smaller
meetings and presentations

When questions about progress are heard, you and your PR
team should get busy on a second perception monitoring
session with members of your external audience. And
remember to use many of the same questions used in the
first benchmark session. Difference this time is that you will
be alert for signs that the bad news perception is being altered
in your direction.

If momentum flags, you can always accelerate matters by
adding more communications tactics and increase their
frequencies.

When all is said and done, you want your new PR blueprint
to 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.
Period.

And, when you think about it, we are fortunate indeed that
our key stakeholder audiences behave like everyone else –
they act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about
you and your operation. Leaving you little choice but to
deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions by
doing what is necessary to reach and move your key external
audiences to actions you desire.

A great way to do PR.

end

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to 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 communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com