Recessions Don't Last Forever!

May 8
21:00

2003

Robert A. Kelly

Robert A. Kelly

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Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, ... offline ... or website. A copy would be ... at ... Net word count is 715 ... gu

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Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your
ezine,Recessions Don't Last Forever! Articles newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would
be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net. Net word count is 715
including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2003.

Recessions Don’t Last Forever!

It could, but what if it doesn’t?

Will you be prepared?

Will those key external audiences of yours, whose behaviors
REALLY affect you, look favorably at you and your business?

Because, once the economy emerges from recession, if they
don’t, you’ll have one arm tied behind your back.

Don’t let that happen. Instead, decide now which groups of
people outside your organization can help or hurt you the most.
For our purposes, that #1 group is your key target audience.

What’s going through the minds of members of that audience?
You and your people must monitor those perceptions by
interacting with these important folks, and asking questions.
Yes, that takes time, but you must do it!

Take this approach when you actually meet those members.
Start with questions. What do you think of our operation,
products or services? Stay alert for wrong thinking,
misconceptions and inaccuracies that can hurt. Watch for
rumors or beliefs that can lead to behaviors that will pain you.
And be especially sensitive to negative conversational tone.
Does it suggest that a problem may be on the horizon?

The answers you gather will let you create a corrective
public relations goal. It may call for straightening out a
damaging misconception about your service quality, or it
may seek to replace an inaccurate perception with the truth.
Sometimes, your public relations goal will zero in on a
particularly hurtful rumor with plans to lay it to rest. For
that matter, even a less than positive overall impression
of your organization can be targeted for improvement by
your public relations goal

How do you achieve that goal? You select a strategy that
shows you how to get there. There are only three choices.
Create opinion (perceptions) where none exist, change
existing opinion, or reinforce it. Select the one that
obviously fits your public relations goal.

Now, we think message. What are we going to say to
your target audience?

First, your message must aim at correcting the
misconception, inaccuracy, rumor, even a lukewarm
enthusiasm for your organization. But it must be
persuasive, and compelling with its meaning as clear as
possible. It must also prevent any further misunderstanding.
Try it out on a test sampling of members of your target
audience, then adjust the content if needed.

How will you get your message to the attention of that
key external audience? “Beasts of burden,” that’s how!
Better known as communications tactics that will carry
that message to the right eyes and ears.

And there are many tactics awaiting you. Personal contact,
radio interviews, newsletters and open houses. Or contests,
news conferences, emails and press releases. There are
literally scores available.

So, after two or three months of aggressive communications
between you and your key audience, are you making any
progress?

Only way to find out is to monitor once again what members
of your key audience are thinking. Same questions as the
first set of interviews, but now what you want to see are
perceptions altered in your direction.

For example, you want to know if that inaccurate belief has
been successfully neutralized. Or that misconception
cleared up. Or that rumor effectively killed.

Certainly, if you discover little progress in those areas, you
will revisit your message and evaluate whether it offers
believable facts, figures and rationale. In particular, you
should revet it for clarity.

And, because there are so many communications tactics
available to you, selecting higher-impact tactics, then
applying them with greater frequency, will probably be the
ticket for the second round.

However, as the day arrives when answers to your
remonitoring questions show clear, consistent improvement,
you may be excused for concluding that your public
relations effort is, at long last, taking advantage of an
economy emerging from recession.

end