Why PR is a Vital Force

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Robert A. Kelly © 2004.

Why PR is a Vital Force

Because it can alter individual perception and lead to
changed behaviors. Something of profound importance to
businesses, non-profits and associations who can sink or
swim on how well they employ this crucial dynamic.

Consider this simple blueprint that gets everyone working
towards the same external audience behaviors insuring
that your public relations effort stays focused: 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.

Winners use it to produce results like these: community
leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in
show room visits; capital givers or specifying sources
looking your way; prospects starting to do business with
you; customers making repeat purchases; membership
applications on the rise; fresh proposals for strategic
alliances and joint ventures; higher employee retention
rates, and even politicians and legislators starting to view
you as a key member of the business, non-profit or
association communities.

Here’s how they do it.

They start by finding out who among their important
outside audiences is behaving in ways that help or hinder
the achievement of their objectives. Then, they list them
according to how severely their behaviors affect their
organization.

Next, they take steps to find out precisely HOW most
members of that key outside audience perceive their
organization. Now, if you don’t have the budget to pay
for what could be costly professional survey counsel,
you and your PR colleagues will have to monitor those
perceptions yourself. Actually, they should be quite
familiar with perception and behavior matters.

Best way to get that activity under way is to meet with
members of that outside audience and ask questions like
“Are you familiar with our services or products?” “Have
you ever had contact with anyone from our organization?
Was it a satisfactory experience?” Be sensitive to negative
statements, especially evasive or hesitant replies. And
watch carefully for false assumptions, untruths,
misconceptions, inaccuracies and potentially damaging
rumors. When you find such, they will need to be
corrected, as they usually lead to negative behaviors.

Here, you must select the specific perception to be altered
which then becomes your public relations goal. You
obviously want to correct any untruths, inaccuracies,
misconceptions or false assumptions.

Clearly, a PR goal without a strategy to show you how
to get there, is like lasagna without the marinara sauce.
As you select one of three strategies especially
constructed to create perception or opinion where
there may be none, or change existing perception, or
reinforce it, what you want to do is insure that the
goal and its strategy match each other. You wouldn’t
want to select “change existing perception” when
current perception is just right suggesting a “reinforce”
strategy.

Now, you create a compelling message carefully put
together to alter your key target audience’s perception,
as specified by your public relations goal.

Here’s a thought. Combine your corrective message with
another news announcement or presentation which may
provide more credibility by downplaying the need for
such a correction.

Your message must be compelling and quite clear about
what perception needs clarification or correction, and why.
Of course you must be truthful and your position logically
explained and believable if it is to hold the attention of
members of that target audience, and actually move
perception in your direction.

I like to call the communications tactics you will use
to move your message to the attention of that key external
audience, “beasts of burden” because they must carry your
persuasive new thoughts to the eyes and ears of those
important outside people.

Happily, you have a wide choice because the list of tactics
is long indeed. It includes letters-to-the-editor, brochures,
press releases and speeches. Or, you might choose radio
and newspaper interviews, personal contacts, facility tours
or customer briefings. There are scores available and the
only selection requirement is that the communications
tactics you choose have a record of reaching people just
like the members of your key target audience.

We are all lucky in this business because things can
always be accelerated by adding more communications
tactics, AND by increasing their frequencies.

Colleagues and others will soon be asking about progress.
Of course, you will already be hard at work remonitoring
perceptions among your target audience members. Using
questions similar to those used during your earlier
monitoring session, you’ll now be sharp-eyed and on the
lookout for signs that audience perceptions are beginning
to move in your general direction.

Satisfying curiosity in this regard is largely a matter of
serving up the results you will receive when you undertake
this aggressive public relations plan. Put another way, it’s
Happy Hour time when you achieve the kind of key
stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving
your department, division or subsidiary objectives.

end