PR Where it Matters Most

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Robert A. Kelly © 2004.

PR Where it Matters Most

What’s more crucial to the success of a business, non-profit
or association than its most important outside audiences and
stakeholders?

Nothing.

Those stakeholder behaviors directly impact virtually every
management and operating activity of the organization. From
retail patronage, recruiting, civic activity, contributions, and
strategic alliances to membership, program participation, plain
old sales, and just about everything else.

Which means, if you are such a manager, you may have a real
opportunity to do something positive about the behaviors of
those important outside audiences of yours that most affect
YOUR operation.

In other words, you can create the kind of external stakeholder
behavior changes that lead directly to achieving your own
managerial objectives.

You can do so by persuading those key outside folks to your
way of thinking, then help move them to take actions that
allow your department, division or subsidiary to succeed.

When you decide to move your managerial public relations
to a whole new level, here’s some real help for you.

It’s called the fundamental premise of public relations and it
goes like this: 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.

But it won’t be of much use unless the PR team members
assigned to your unit understand that blueprint and commit
themselves to its implementation, starting with key audience
perception monitoring. Truth is, your PR people are already
in the perception and behavior business, so they will be of
real use for this initial opinion assessment project.

But pause here. You must reassure yourself that your public
relations people truly understand just WHY it’s so important
to know how your most important outside audiences perceive
your operations, products or services. Be certain they accept
the reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors
that can help or hurt your unit.

Why not take some time to review with them your plan
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? Are you familiar with our services or
products and employees? Have you experienced problems
with our people or procedures?

Yes, survey specialists can always be brought in to do the
opinion monitoring work, and they also can run up your
costs. But, no matter who asks the questions, the objective
remains the same: identify untruths, false assumptions,
unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any
other negative perception that might translate into hurtful
behaviors.

Your objective, obviously, is to do something about the
most serious distortions you discover during your key
audience perception monitoring. Will it be to straighten
out that dangerous misconception? Correct that gross
inaccuracy? Or, stop that potentially bloody rumor dead
in its tracks?

Unfortunately, you’ll make no headway at all without the
right strategy to tell you how to proceed. But keep in mind
that there are just three strategic options available when it
comes to doing something about perception and opinion.
Change existing perception, create perception where there
may be none, or reinforce it. The wrong strategy pick will
taste like bleu cheese dressing on your liver and onions,
so be sure your new strategy fits well with your new public
relations goal. You wouldn’t want to select “change” when
the facts dictate a “reinforce” strategy.

The challenge now is to prepare a nicely put together
message and direct it to members of your target audience.
It’s always a problem to create an actionable message that
will help persuade an audience to your way of thinking.

Obviously, you need your best scribes for this one because
s/he must build some very special, corrective language.
Words that are not merely 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.

Once your PR team has vetted the work product, it’s on to
the next selection process -- the communications tactics
most likely to carry your message to the attention of your
target audience. There are tons available. From speeches,
facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings,
media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many
others. But you must be certain that the tactics you pick are
known to reach folks like your audience members,

By the way, you may wish to avoid distributing such a
corrective message from the rooftops, and unveil your
message before smaller meetings and presentations rather
than using higher-profile news releases Reason is, the
credibility of any message is fragile and always at stake.

You’ll soon hear calls for progress reports which will tell
you and your PR team to get busy on a second perception
monitoring session with members of your external audience.
You’ll also want to use many of the same questions used
in the first benchmark session. Big difference this time is
that you will be on constant alert for signs that the bad news
perception is being altered in your direction.

I’ve always thought it fortunate that such matters usually
can be accelerated simply by adding more communications
tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

At the end of the day, what you want your new PR plan to
do is 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.

Your biggest success secret will be when your “target
publics” -- those all important outside stakeholder audiences
– actually act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear
about you and your operation. Which means you really
have little choice but to deal promptly and effectively with
those perceptions by doing what is necessary to reach and
move those key external audiences of yours to actions you
desire.

end