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Robert A. Kelly 2005.
Managers: Should Your PR Budget
Stress Tactics or Strategy?
If public relations tactics like special events, brochures,
broadcast plugs and press releases dominate your answer,
youre missing the best PR has to offer.
Such a budget would tell us that you believe tactics ARE
public relations. And that would be too bad, because
it means you are not effectively planning to alter
individual perception among your key outside audiences
which then would help you achieve your managerial
objectives.
It would also tell us that, even as a business, non-profit or
association manager, youre not planning to do anything
positive about the behaviors of those important external
audiences of yours that MOST affect your operation. Nor
are you preparing to persuade those key outside folks to
your way of thinking by helping to move them to take
actions that allow your department, division or subsidiary
to succeed.
So, it takes more than good intentions for you as a manager
to alter individual, key-audience perception leading to
changed behaviors. It takes a carefully structured plan
dedicated to getting every member of the PR team working
towards the same external audience behaviors insuring
that the organizations public relations effort stays sharply
focused.
The absence of such a plan is always unfortunate because
the right public relations planning really CAN alter
individual perception and lead to changed behaviors
among key outside audiences.
If this sounds vaguely familiar, try to remember that your
PR effort must require more than special events, news
releases and talk show tactics if you are to receive the
quality public relations results you deserve.
The payoff can materialize faster than you may think in
the form of welcome bounces in show room visits;
customers beginning to make repeat purchases; capital
givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way;
membership applications on the rise; the appearance of
new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures;
politicians and legislators beginning to look at you as a
key member of the business, non-profit or association
communities; prospects actually starting to do business
with you; and community leaders begin to seek you out.
Its always nice to simply hire a survey firm to handle
the opinion monitoring/data gathering phase of your effort.
But that can cost real money. Luckily, your public
relations professionals can often fill that bill because they
are already in the perception and behavior business.
But satisfy yourself that the PR staff really accepts why
its SO important to know how your most important outside
audiences perceive your operations, products or services.
And be doubly certain they believe that perceptions almost
always result in behaviors that can help or hurt your
operation.
Share your plans with them for monitoring and
gathering perceptions by questioning members of your
most important outside audiences. Ask 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?
But whether its your people or a survey firm asking 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.
Its goal-setting time during which you will establish a
goal calling for action on the most serious problem areas
you uncovered during your key audience perception
monitoring. Youll want to straighten out that dangerous
misconception? Correct that gross inaccuracy? Or, stop
that potentially painful rumor cold?
Of course, setting your PR goal requires an equally
specific strategy that tells you how to get there. Only
three strategic options are available to you 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 onion gravy on your rhubarb pie. So
be sure your new strategy fits well with your new
public relations goal. You certainly dont want to select
change when the facts dictate a strategy of
reinforcement.
Its always time for good writing, but never as now.
You must prepare a persuasive message that will help
move your key audience to your way of thinking. It must
be a carefully-written message targeted directly at your
key external audience. Select your very best writer
because s/he must come up with really corrective
language that is 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.
Heres where you need the communications tactics
certain to carry your message to the attention of
your target audience. There are many available.
From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures
to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters,
personal meetings and many others. But be certain
that the tactics you pick are known to reach folks
just like your audience members.
How you communicate, however, is always a major
concern. The credibility of any message is always
fragile. Which is why youll probably want to unveil
your corrective message before smaller meetings and
presentations rather than using higher-profile news
releases.
When the need for a progress report appears, youll
want to begin a second perception monitoring session
with members of your external audience. Youll
certainly use many of the same questions used in
the benchmark session. But now, you will be watching
closely for signs that the bad news perception is
finally moving positively in your direction.
Fortunately, if things slow down, you can always
speed things up by adding more communications
tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.
Allow the tacticians a free hand in selecting whether
this tactic or that tactic should be used as the beast
of burden needed to carry your message to your target
audience.
You take a broader view of public relations and stress
the strategic approach because it requires you as the
manager to effectively plan to alter individual perception
among your key outside audiences, thus helping you
achieve your managerial objectives.
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