Managers and PR: One Thing Is Clear

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Robert A. Kelly © 2004.

Managers and PR: One Thing Is Clear

As a business, non-profit or association manager, you
have a clear choice when you set up your public relations.
Arrange your resources to generate a variety of product
and service plugs on radio, and in newspapers and in
magazines. Or, use a broader, more comprehensive and
workable public relations blueprint to alter key external
audience perceptions that lead to changed behaviors –
behaviors you will need to reach your managerial
objectives.

Which is why it also seems clear that your department,
division or subsidiary can fail or succeed depending on
how well you employ a crucial dynamic like this one:
persuade your key external stakeholders with the greatest
impacts on your organization to your way of thinking,
then move them to take actions that help your unit succeed.

Best place to start is with the blueprint itself: 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.

As you can see, because they are important, publicity
placements are still part of the blueprint – they just are not,
and should not be the tail that wags the PR dog.

So, if this approach to public relations is of interest, you
may be amazed at what could happen. Fresh proposals for
strategic alliances and joint ventures; Customers starting to
make repeat purchases, and even prospects starting to do
business with you; 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.

Who shoulders the work needed to produce such results?
Your own full-time public relations staff? A few folks
assigned by the corporate office to your unit? An outside
PR agency team? No matter where they come from, they
need to be committed to you, to the PR blueprint and to
its implementation, starting with key audience perception
monitoring.

Please keep in mind that simply because someone describes
him/herself as a public relations person doesn’t guarantee
they’ve bought the whole shebang. So by all means make
certain the public relations people assigned to your unit
really believe – deep down -- 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.

Layout 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 our chief executive? 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?

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.

Now, set 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.

With your 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
mustard on your pancakes, 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, write a moving 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 tough 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 the entire 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.

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

Before long, questions about progress will be heard, which
tells you and your PR team to get busy on a second perception
monitoring session with members of your external audience.
You’ll want to use many of the same questions used in the
first benchmark session. Difference this time is that you will
be watching very carefully for signs that the bad news
perception is being altered in your direction.

Should the program begin to slow down, you can always
accelerate matters by adding more communications tactics
as well as increasing their frequencies.

When it comes down to it, 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.

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.

end